innovation paper

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Transforming Music for MillennialsHow new technology can enhance the listening experience of compressed digital sources

An entire generation of people—the Millennials—have grown up with compressed digital music as their reference. Audio formats have morphed from the analog formats of vinyl LPs and cassette tapes, to digital music on CDs, digitized files on iPods, USB sticks and smartphones; and now listeners increasingly stream music straight from online sources. True, the freedom to listen to your favorite music anywhere, anytime, makes digitized music a no-brainer choice. But the compression technology that makes music files smaller and more portable, particularly important for streaming, comes at a price. That price is audio quality.

What compression does to musicIn all formats, compression fundamentally alters the source media,

creating unwanted effects such as echo and distortion that are not part of the original recording, while eliminating much of the audio content that was originally recorded by the artist. In fact, in a typical compressed audio file, up to 90% of the audio content captured during the original recording can be discarded. And that adds up to a difference in sound quality that listeners—of all generations—can definitely detect.

Countering the compression loss

There are various ways of tackling this audio challenge. One

option is to use higher bitrate streaming to counter the loss of sound quality due to compression. Yet this is currently impossible with satellite radio, and extremely difficult with Internet radio, since not all stations support higher bitrates. It can also be expensive—Pandora and Spotify require subscriptions for higher bitrate audio, for example.

Other technologies work on enhancing the sound. However, many rely on unnatural additives, or “blind sweetening”, to soften the impact of heavy compression, simply adding equalization, unnatural reverb or bass boost in an attempt to improve the listening experience.

The HARMAN wayHARMAN, building on its long-standing expertise in audio, is

approaching the challenge from a different angle. The HARMAN Clari-Fi technology improves the listening experience for existing sources on all devices across the digital music landscape, seamlessly integrating into listeners’ existing music lifestyle. As such, it’s relevant to the real issue of substandard sound quality from the digitally compressed music files that all generations listen to, across a wide array of formats and devices.

HARMAN’s Clari-Fi technology does not try to mask the faults of the corrupt signal by blindly adding artificial effects. Instead, Clari-Fi automatically analyses the

Transforming Music for MillennialsHow new technology can enhance the listening experience of compressed digital sources

innovation paper

incoming audio source, and uses scientific probabilities to rebuild what was lost. Clari-Fi only works as hard as it needs to—meaning that the algorithm is intelligent enough to apply the precise amount of correction necessary based on the source file. For example, while Clari-Fi will apply a great deal of correction to a low-res source such as satellite radio, it will apply nothing to a high quality, original source file such as a CD.

The number of streaming music users has doubled in the last two years, so has consumers growing appetite for premium audio quality. HARMAN’s Clari-Fi offer the freedom of both worlds—without tying listeners into specific formats, and without simply masking faults with other sound effects—Clari-Fi is setting the pace for a new generation of mobile

listeners and discerning music fans. Hear the difference for yourself at http://www.clarifisound.com.

innovation paper / Transforming Music for Millennials

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HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems.

© 2014 HARMAN International Industries Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The compression technology that makes music files smaller and more portable, particularly important for streaming, comes at a price. That price is audio quality.