Is there really a difference in sound between lower sampling rates like 44.1 and 48 KHzand hi-res such as 88.2 and 96KHz?
Yes there is but it’s not for the reason you might think. It’s not likely to be the difference in high frequencies that you’ll hear. The range of human hearing is 20 Hz to 20 KHz. A 44.1 KHz sample rate (the sample rate of audio CDs) does reduce the high frequencies a little bit above 18 KHz. Higher sample rates do preserve theseultra high frequencies. Even a 48 KHz sample rate can represent frequencies up to 20 KHz (the limit of human hearing). However the truth is that studies show most people over the age of 30 cannot hear anything above 17 KHz and this reduces further as you get older.
Yet people reliably report that high sample rates like 88.2 and 96 KHz sound better than 44.1 and 48 KHz. The reason for this, as the legendary mastering engineer Bob Katz explains, is in the way currently designed digital to audio converters (DACs) work. When converting from digital to analog for playback, it is very difficult and expensive to produce an undistorted signal with lower sample rates like 44.1 or 48 KHz. There are at present no commercially available systems that can reproduce these sample rates without distortion. However, once you are at a high sample rate like 88.2 or 96 KHz a good converter can produce a completely undistorted analog signal with ease. So the difference people are hearing, is not the high frequency content, but the fact that lower sample rates cause the converters to distort the analog signal. For the tech minded, this is due to ripples in the bandpass filter cased by restricted high pass bandwidth in lower sample rates. For more in formation and detail on this we recommend Bob Katz’s excellent book Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science 3rd edition.
There is another very important reason to record at either 88.2 or 96 KHz. Digital processing tools work much better at88.2 and 96KHz than they do at lower rates. This can have a big effect on the quality of the sound both during mixing and mastering.
Also the audiophile market has moved to hi-res audio. Hi-res music vendors require88.2 and 96KHz.
These days more and more music is being recorded at 88.2 or 96 kHz. There are various reasons for this. One important reason is that many audio plugins used in mixing cause aliasing (unpleasant digital distortion) at the lower sample rates of 44.1 or 48 kHz. However recording at 88.2 or 96 kHz will mean that this distortion does not occur. Some plugins oversample the audio to reduce or remove this distortion, but many do not (including many from the major vendors). This distortion accumulates with each plugin used so the results will vary a lot depending on how your album is mixed. However since recording at 88.2 or 96 kHz avoids this whole problem, it’s worth considering.
We can work at any bit depth or sample rate, so don’t despair if your music was recorded at lower rates.
The difference in sampling rates is a lot more subtle to the point where they may not be noticeable on all listening systems. Many people record at the lower rates of 44.1 or 48 KHz due to CPU restrictions of the mixing computer. Although these rates are fine, 88.2 or 96 KHz will sound slightly better on many playback systems, especially audiophile systems. If your target market might be audiophiles, 88.2 or 96 is recommended.
It’s not that these higher rates actually contain extra musical information, the issue is to do with the filters playback systems need to use to decode digital. Higher rates allow playback systems more room to work, and many will sound better as a result. Some people even record at 192 KHz, however there is some evidence that rates this high are actually less accurate due to the maths involved.
We feel that 88.2 or 96 KHz are a very safe bet, and this is what we recommend, unless your mixing computer can’t handle them. If you have recorded at 44.1 or 48 do not change to a higher sample rate. The difference between this and higher rates is small and will not make or break how good your music sounds.
FAQs
Is there really a difference in sound between lower sampling rates like 44.1 and 48 KHz and hi-res such as 88.2 and 96 KHz? Yes there is but it's not for the reason you might think. It's not likely to be the difference in high frequencies that you'll hear. The range of human hearing is 20 Hz to 20 KHz.
Can you hear the difference between sample rates? ›
While using high sample rates like 96 kHz and 192 kHz will give you the highest resolution audio, it takes a lot of processing power and the difference is rarely noticeable to the human ear.
Can you hear the difference between 44.1 and 48khz? ›
Differences in the audio spectrum might be noticeable during the editing process, but between 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz, they're not audible. With proper playback equipment and training, you might be able to hear differences between the standard sample rate and higher options.
Can you hear the difference between 96khz and 192khz? ›
The noise floor comes from the number of bits per sample, not the sample rate. 192K and 96K will in many cases sound different when doing A/B comparisons. However, 192K will not always sound better. Depending on the particular DAC and its design, 192K can in some cases sound worse.
Should I use 48kHz or 96kHz? ›
For mastering, 96kHz or even archival mastering at 192kHz is usually a good idea. Regardless, recording at 44.1 or 48kHz through a high-quality modern audio interface will give you excellent results, depending on the situation, very similar to what you'd get at higher rates.
Can you tell the difference between 44.1 and 96? ›
In theory, humans cannot hear the difference between 44.1kHz sample rate and 96.0kHz sample rate. If we could build perfect equipment, you would not hear the difference.
What sample rate do professional producers use? ›
For most music applications, 44.1 kHz is the best sample rate to go for. 48 kHz is common when creating music or other audio for video. Higher sample rates can have advantages for professional music and audio production work, but many professionals work at 44.1 kHz.
Why use 96kHz sample rate? ›
Source instrument harmonics at 23kHz will appear at 21.1kHz, for example, slightly attenuated, but definitely present and very unmusical! In those kinds of conditions, shifting up to 96kHz sample rate will move the anti‑alias filter turnover far above the wanted audio band, and completely resolve the problem.
Should you record at 44.1 or 48? ›
Here's the bottom line. I recommend that you record with a sample rate of 48kHz. I recommend that you then bounce down to 44.1kHz for the final release. Recording at 48kHz enables you to record everything within the range of human hearing while leaving ample room for the anti-aliasing filter.
Does 96kHz sound better? ›
Recording at 96kHz can improve the sound quality but it can also make no difference, depending on your collection of plug-ins and the musical material. In any event, you do have to consider the CPU resources tradeoff.
TL/DR conclusion: While you CAN change from 44.1k to 48k, your original . wav files will NOT be affected unless you 'Export Stems'. For the cleanest project you'll always want to START your project in 48khz as to not rely on upsampling/converting/timestretching.
What is the best Hz for audio? ›
44.1kHz is the most common sample rate for music CDs. It captures the entire audible frequency spectrum accurately. This sample rate is ideal because it won't use much disk space or more CPU power. Yet it will still deliver the authentic sound you need for your professional recordings.
What do audiophiles hear? ›
Audiophiles play music from a variety of sources including phonograph records, compact discs (CDs), and digital audio files that are either uncompressed or are losslessly compressed, such as FLAC, DSD, Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless and Apple Lossless (ALAC), in contrast to lossy compression, such as in MP3 encoding.
Can humans hear 96kHz? ›
Human hearing is generally limited to a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz, which means that the increased sampling rate of 96kHz may not necessarily result in a more audible difference compared to 48kHz.
What is the best kHz for voice over? ›
The two most common Sample Rates we use for VO recording are 44.1 kHz (44,1000 Hz) and 48 kHz (48,000 Hz). We basically inherited 44.1 kHz from audio CD's, while 48 kHz lines up nicely with the 24 frames per second rate of most video (48,000 divided by 24 is a whole number).
Can humans hear 48 kHz? ›
Recording at 48kHz enables you to record everything within the range of human hearing while leaving ample room for the anti-aliasing filter. I don't recommend recording any higher than 48kHz. That's because the higher the sample rate, the bigger the file sizes and the more processing power they require.
Can you tell the difference between 48kHz and 192khz? ›
Again, very, very subtle but on the upper highs of the cymbal percussion there is more detail with 192khz compared to 48khz. I'll be staying with the 192khz for sure.
What is the difference between 48kHz and 96kHz microphone? ›
Higher Sample Rate Benefit #1: Can capture higher frequencies. Higher sample rates allows us to capture higher frequency data above 22.05 kHz. In fact, if we sample at 96 kHz, we can reproduce audio signals as high as 48 kHz, which is more than twice as high as humans can hear.
