What's HI-RES

We know that natural sounds have frequencies, to record these sounds, we need to sample and save the sound signals. Audio sampling rate refers to the number of times the recording equipment samples the sound signal in one second,the higher the sampling frequency, the more realistic and natural the sound restoration.

Today's mainstream sampling frequency is generally divided into 22.05khz, 44.1KHz and 48Khz levels. 22.05khz can only deliver the sound quality of FM broadcasting, 44.1KHz is better than the former one, can achieve the CD sound quality, 48Khz is more accurate, 192Khz is already an ultra-high sound quality
The bit depth describes the detail precision that can be achieved by hardware or software processing audio data. Bit depth refers to the number of bits used by an object. The standard CD sound quality of 44.1khz/16bit is to sample the sound signal 44100 times at equal intervals in a second, in which 16bit data is saved each time.

For each additional bit, you get will double details of music data. For example, if you now have a 16 bit audio processing device, you will get 65536 scale possibilities, and 24 bit hardware will be able to provide 16777216 different scales.

The higher the sampling frequency and the deeper the bit, the more accurate the description and restoration of sound.

HI-RES is high resolution audio in full name, also known as high resolution audio. HI-RES audio is a high-quality audio product design standard proposed and defined by Sony and developed by JAS (Japan audio Association) and CEA (Consumer Electronics Association). The specific concept given by Sony is that the audio quality is higher than that of CD (i.e. higher than 44.1KHz / 16bit). According to the current situation (taking Sony selected music as an example), the standard is sampling rate higher than 96KHz /24bit.

The purpose of HI-RES audio is to show the ultimate music quality and reproduction of the original sound, and to get user feel live atmosphere in live performance.

Sony is the promoter of hi-res standard. Naturally, many of its products are labeled with hi-res logo to show its status in the industry and the quality of its product in terms of sound quality. With the upgrading of consumption and the maturity of consumers, more and more headphones and audio players begin to adopt hi-res standard, "small gold badge" has become one of the symbols of whether the device can reproduce the high-definition music quality.

It is not easy to get the "small gold badge". JAS will first check the applicants' qualifications, then test the products and check the packaging design. The whole process is no easier than obtaining the MFI authorization. This kind of threshold also guarantees the quality of products to some extent.

In order to be able to produce earphones with "small gold badge", WATA acoustics has made corresponding arrangements from product design, manufacturing to quality control, striving to produce each earphone that can meet the standard requirements and realize the reproduction of the details of high-definition music on the earphones.

However, as a remind, that it's not enough to just buy a headphone carrying on “small golden badge”, but also get in hand Hi-Res sound source.