[dburna]

Pretty simple question, really: I picked up some CDs in China (Chinese folk music) last year that state they were recorded in 24bit/96kHz.  Now since these are CDs, I was assuming they'd be written to the disc in 16/44.1 regardless of how they were recorded, right?  So I'm wondering if:

1. Could these CDs really have information burned on them at 24/96?  Is that technically possible?

2. If these are really 24/96, can iTunes pull the information off the CD so that my Apple Lossless rips are 24/96 also?  If so, is there anything in the settings/preferences I would need to revise (couldn't find anything that addressed this)?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

-dB (a unit measure of noise)

[mchuckp]

Lots of stuff is mastered at a higher rate than CDs, but CDs are only 16/44.1.  I know HDCD has a method of getting a little higher rate but I haven't really researched it.  It's like movies being mastered in HD then downrez'ed for DVD. 

You can use iTunes or other favorite ripper.  If you want the best, convert to AIFF or ALAC.

[srb]

Pretty simple question, really: I picked up some CDs in China (Chinese folk music) last year that state they were recorded in 24bit/96kHz.  Now since these are CDs, I was assuming they'd be written to the disc in 16/44.1 regardless of how they were recorded, right?

Although any resolution file can be written to a CD-R, If the CD can playback in a CD Player, then it is written as and limited to 16bit/44.1 KHz.
 
iTunes software will support 24bit/96KHz using Apple Lossless, .wav and .aiff formats.

The iPod and the Airport Express will only support 16bit/44.1KHz. and your 24bit/96KHz will be downsampled when using either of them.
 
Steve

[JCarney]

iTunes is capable of pulling a 24/96 recording into a lossless format, if the full 24/96 exists. However, it is technically not possible to put a 24 bit file on a cd for 2 reasons. Here is an excerpt from a techinal specification document on DVDs
"DVD uses 650 nm wavelength laser diode light as opposed to 780 nm for CD. This permits a smaller pit to be etched on the media surface compared to CDs (0.74 ?m for DVD versus 1.6 ?m for CD), allowing for a DVD's increased storage capacity."

Hope this helps,
JCarney

[dburna]

Thanks for the info. folks.  Good to know that I could get 24/96 if its available.  Looking at these CDs now, it seems that they tout 24/96 mastering, but they don't say anything about the content on the CD, so it seems almost certain they are 24/96 source files downsampled to 16/44.1.

Much appreciated,  -dB