Standards Review - HDMI 2.0, The Evolution of a Winner

The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) specification currently supports one of the most successful consumer electronics standards. Fourteen years passed since the original HDMI 1.0 specification the HDMI Forum announced the new HDMI 2.0 specification with some interesting features for the audio industry, including better support for high-resolution audio options.

Why is it so easy to find an audio enthusiast claiming that his new headphones, DAC, preamplifier, or pair of speakers “completely changed his perception of the music” and “made it possible to hear things in a totally new way,” and yet so many consumers cannot actually hear the difference when listening to high-resolution audio?

TEAC introduced the AI-301DA Hi-Res Audio Player, a pre-main amplifier outfitted with Bluetooth, USB, support for Direct Stream Digital (DSD), and integrated Digital-to-Analog conversion. The new AI-301DA Hi-Res Audio Player delivers a dramatic sonic improvement over physical media such as vinyl, tapes, and CDs, as well as compressed audio formats.

High Resolution Audio will be a major focus at the 137th Audio Engineering Society Convention in Los Angeles (October 9-12, 2014). The Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) will present a comprehensive program on the topic, which is simultaneously causing excitement and passionate debate among audio professionals.

An agreement on the definition for High Resolution Audio was achieved, together with generic Master Quality profiles. High Resolution Audio is defined as “lossless audio that is capable of reproducing the full range of sound from recordings that have been mastered from better-than-CD-quality music sources.”