[ALSA] Firefox vs Chromium: Which crap sounds better?

dummy@example.com (igorzwx) — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 14:43:53 +0000

Firefox downsamples Hi-Res Audio to 44.1 kHz, or it prefers to play 44.1 kHz audio format, because of PreferredSampleRate

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Media
-----

Audio Backend: alsa
Max Channels: 10000
Preferred Sample Rate: 44100

Chromium downsamples Hi-Res Audio to 48 kHz (or it prefers 48 kHz).

To find out which crap sounds better, you may try to conduct a blind test, a scientific method where listeners evaluate options without knowing their identity or brand.

Hi-Res Audio 24 Bit/192Khz Bass Test - Audiophile Art
_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMTKSSqDwyU
_https://youtu.be/dMTKSSqDwyU

$ firefox 2>&1 youtu.be/dMTKSSqDwyU
Input:  44100 Hz, 2 ch, 's32_le' (0xa): dummy = 0, period = 1764
Output: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, 's16_le' (0x2): dummy = 0, period = 1920
Rates:  44100 --> 48000 (J: 0.00%, T: FFT, W: Vorbis)
Ok.

Input:  48000 Hz, 2 ch, 's32_le' (0xa): dummy = 0, period = 1920
Output: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, 's16_le' (0x2): dummy = 0, period = 1920
Rates:  48000 --> 48000 (J: 0.00%, T: None, W: Planar)
Ok.

Input:  44100 Hz, 2 ch, 's32_le' (0xa): dummy = 0, period = 1764
Output: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, 's16_le' (0x2): dummy = 0, period = 1920
Rates:  44100 --> 48000 (J: 0.00%, T: FFT, W: Vorbis)
Ok.

$ chromium 2>&1 --audio-buffer-size=8192 youtu.be/dMTKSSqDwyU
Input:  48000 Hz, 2 ch, 's16_le' (0x2): dummy = 0, period = 1920
Output: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, 's16_le' (0x2): dummy = 0, period = 1920
Rates:  48000 --> 48000 (J: 0.00%, T: None, W: Planar)
Ok.

Input:  48000 Hz, 2 ch, 's16_le' (0x2): dummy = 0, period = 1920
Output: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, 's16_le' (0x2): dummy = 0, period = 1920
Rates:  48000 --> 48000 (J: 0.00%, T: None, W: Planar)
Ok.

To disable resampling, or change PreferredSampleRate, one may try to recompile Firefox.
There is a manual for Ubuntu newbies.

Dev1 Galaxy Forum / [ALSA] Firefox vs Chromium: Which crap sounds better?

[ALSA] Firefox vs Chromium: Which crap sounds better?