Sony in high definition audio gamble

Some say only dolphins, bats and mice appreciate the high definition audio, but Sony believes humans will love it too.

Sony’s Abel Makhraz displays HDA speakers at the CES technology show in Las Vegas.

Can we humans appreciate the supreme quality of high-definition audio? It’s a vexing question with several eminent musicians lining up with “yes”, and ardent sceptics with “no”.

As far as the sceptics go, dolphins, bats and mice, who hear higher frequencies than us, will be the real beneficiaries of HDA equipment and tracks.

But that hasn’t stopped Sony pressing ahead with even more HDA equipment.

HDA goes beyond standard smartphone audio quality, which loses higher frequencies when compressed to reduce the file size. It also goes beyond the CD sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, which many regard as adequately matching what the human ear can hear.

Perhaps the biggest benefit Sony gets from its push into HDA is that it brands the Japanese multinational as a stickler for quality in music reproduction whereas its rivals seem more relaxed about compromise.

This uncompromising approach must be adhered to every step of the way. There’s little point listening to high-definition FLAC tracks if you have lousy speakers, poor amplification and dull room acoustics. Sony already sells HDA amplifier systems, and its Xperia smartphones can play FLAC. At the CES technology show in Las Vegas this month, it showcased three ranges of HDA equipment.

They start with Extra Bass, speakers with a bassier sound, and the range is now wireless. There’s Extra Bass 2 at $169 and Extra Bass 3 for $249 for an even meatier sound. Or you can opt for Extra Bass 7, with LED and strobe lights, for $549. “It’s not just about a really nicely designed speaker, this is about a party now,” said Abel Makhraz, Sony head of Video and Sound for Australia New Zealand.

There’s also Sony’s HDA multi-room system. You can have a speaker in each room, which you select from your source. You can play the one song in different rooms or a combination of rooms, or different music in each, all with high-definition quality.

Further, you can combine them to create 5.1 home theatre sound. An app separates the sound tracks and sends the appropriate music to each speaker.

At CES I enjoyed some HDA jazz tracks on a Sony Walkman wearing the h.ear on HDA noise-cancelling headset. I couldn’t tell if it was true HDA, but the sound-quality was rich, instrument tone textured, and incredibly clear. In Australia, the walkman costs $499 and has 32 Gigabytes of storage. Mr Makhraz says it will fit 200-300 high-resolution songs. The h.ear on headphones cost $399.

As you’d expect, Mr Makhraz is sold on high-definition audio. “When you listen to instruments for example, certain parts of the music you just don’t hear with an MP3, but when you play a high-res version you definitely hear it,” he said. But it will require some faith for customers to buy into HDA and then buy tracks again.

Sony is not the only exponent of HDA. Canadian rock legend Neil Young brought out his Pono Player last year after 18,220 backers pledged $US6.2 million ($8.87m) on Kickstarter.com. The player sells online for $577.

Meanwhile, Apple is rumoured to once more be considering adopting audio better than CD quality. Japanese blog Macotakara says Apple has been developing hi-res audio and was making Lightning-based headphones that would support it.

Chris Griffith travelled to CES as a guest of Sony and Acer.