Stream Hi-Res Audio (Critical Listening Mode)

Play-Fi will normally play back all files it supports in their native formats and encoding. High resolution files are a special case, and though they are not transcoded, they are down-sampled to CD quality to maintain stream and network performance.

For those who wish to hear high resolution audio as originally intended, Critical Listening mode will enable native rendering of high resolution files up to 24/192, with no down-sampling or network synchronization adjustment. In this way, audio files retain their original audio integrity.

Since the high resolution audio files are not down-sampled in this mode, they will remain exceptionally large. We support all modes over standard Wi-Fi, including Critical Listening, but a wired connection may improve the experience for those with network issues.

Enabling Critical Listening Mode

On the Start screen, tap the Hi-Res toggle above the speaker list. This will change the list to display the Play-Fi products that are compatible with this mode. Most Play-Fi products support Critical Listening, but if you’d like to know more about your product, contact info for your brand may be found on the main Knowledge Base page. While stereo apps, and powered stereo speakers are supported (with full stereo output), wireless stereo pairs are not due to the exclusion of network synchronization adjustments that alter the audio waveform over time.

Select your single product of choice, and then play from your desired source for the truest audio reproduction over Wi-Fi or Ethernet.