Understanding Audio Quality: Bitrate vs Sample Rate

When it comes to digital audio, two terms often get thrown around: bitrate and sample rate. But what do they actually mean for your listening experience?

Sample Rate: The Frames Per Second of Audio

Think of sample rate like the frame rate of a video. It's how many snapshots of the audio wave are captured per second. Standard CD quality is 44.1kHz, meaning 44,100 samples per second.

Bitrate: The Detail Per Sample

Bitrate determines how much data is stored in each second of audio. Higher bitrate means less compression and more detail. For audiophiles, lossless formats like FLAC are the gold standard.