7 ms·

1080p video with sound only recently improved from "FM radio" quality - what a strange combination.

th0ma5 15y ago
You made me think about how audio has been generally far ahead of its technical development, so in theory maybe this just means that 44.1k 16-bit PCM is so ubiquitous and good enough that it is considered a pinnacle even though options that are better exists. I love my 192 kHz sample rate on my device, but admittedly this is for audio recording and ham radio, so, almost a scientific instrument really.
- stcredzero 15y ago
  A $25 platform for scientific instruments would have tremendous benefits!
liz_upton 15y ago
The article doesn't mention the HDMI sound, which was always high quality. The upgraded audio is from the 3.5mm jack, which means you can now run two high-quality streams at once - something that some people have been requesting.
jodrellblank 15y ago
Promoting a cheap computer for education/learning by demonstrating it playing Quake 3 and 1080p video - what a strange combination.
- sitkack 15y ago
  So it is capable of immersive 3d and high resolution video of fluid flow. Not strange at all.
zokier 15y ago
My feelings exactly when reading the title. "CD quality" was great in the 80's and good in 90's. In 2010's it's certainly no high standard.
- pbhjpbhj 15y ago
  CD quality audio is good enough to play back through someone's old TV though isn't it. If you can afford speakers good enough to make the best of even this level of sound then they're probably not targeting you with the product. They're also going for high efficiency which may be part of the balance here.
  - zokier 15y ago
    Yeah, certainly CD quality is good, I'm not arguing that. I'm just saying that it's not anything to write headlines about (literally, in this case).
    - pbhjpbhj 15y ago
      That a $25 USD computer can also have on-board audio that is CD quality is of note though isn't it? Probably not headline worthy like you said.

You made me think about how audio has been generally far ahead of its technical development, so in theory maybe this just means that 44.1k 16-bit PCM is so ubiquitous and good enough that it is considered a pinnacle even though options that are better exists. I love my 192 kHz sample rate on my device, but admittedly this is for audio recording and ham radio, so, almost a scientific instrument really.

stcredzero 15y ago
A $25 platform for scientific instruments would have tremendous benefits!

liz_upton 15y ago

The article doesn't mention the HDMI sound, which was always high quality. The upgraded audio is from the 3.5mm jack, which means you can now run two high-quality streams at once - something that some people have been requesting.

jodrellblank 15y ago

Promoting a cheap computer for education/learning by demonstrating it playing Quake 3 and 1080p video - what a strange combination.

sitkack 15y ago
So it is capable of immersive 3d and high resolution video of fluid flow. Not strange at all.

zokier 15y ago

My feelings exactly when reading the title. "CD quality" was great in the 80's and good in 90's. In 2010's it's certainly no high standard.

pbhjpbhj 15y ago
CD quality audio is good enough to play back through someone's old TV though isn't it. If you can afford speakers good enough to make the best of even this level of sound then they're probably not targeting you with the product. They're also going for high efficiency which may be part of the balance here.
- zokier 15y ago
  Yeah, certainly CD quality is good, I'm not arguing that. I'm just saying that it's not anything to write headlines about (literally, in this case).
  - pbhjpbhj 15y ago
    That a $25 USD computer can also have on-board audio that is CD quality is of note though isn't it? Probably not headline worthy like you said.