[arthurs]

Anyone have these?  Which ones have been downloaded and are there sonic improvements between 96 and 192?  Really interested in all of them, but The Yes Album in particular.  Thanks for any feedback

[rbbert]

Anyone have these?  Which ones have been downloaded and are there sonic improvements between 96 and 192?  ...

I doubt you'll find many people who have bought both versions for comparison.  The Yes Album sounds great in 24/96.  Fragile is the DVD-A stereo version, notably compressed.

[audiogoober]

I doubt you'll find many people who have bought both versions for comparison.  The Yes Album sounds great in 24/96.  Fragile is the DVD-A stereo version, notably compressed.

+1 The YES Album in 24/96 is very good.

[djmckaytx]

I downloaded all three in 24/192.  TYA and CTTE both sound good.  Lots of texture I had not heard before in the CTTE track.  Lots of space, especially good on And You And I.

Can't say the same for GFTO...bought it hoping for a definitive sounding Awaken.  It still has terrible compression and the bass sounds evaporated on almost every track.  DON'T bother.

I have also listened to the Steve Hoffman mastered CTTE SACD.  It is the very best this album has sounded to my ears -- finally Yes gets the royal treatment.  Supposedly GFTO is his next Yes project.  Unless he has the original master tape BEFORE it was compressed, it's probably a waste of time. I am still looking for the definitive sounding Awaken.

GFTO has been announced on the Audio Fidelity website.

P. S.  AF is offering its own 24/96 download of Fragile.  Has anyone heard this?

[scorpion]

I am sorry, but was it the topic of this tread ?
I can't see anything linking to anywhere ?

/Erling

[rbbert]

I am sorry, but was it the topic of this tread ?
I can't see anything linking to anywhere ?

/Erling

 

[strat95]

I am sorry, but was it the topic of this tread ?
I can't see anything linking to anywhere ?

/Erling

"Yes HiRez Downloads" as in high resolution downloads of the band named Yes. 

[rhandmj]

I downloaded all three in 24/192.  TYA and CTTE both sound good.  Lots of texture I had not heard before in the CTTE track.  Lots of space, especially good on And You And I.

Can't say the same for GFTO...bought it hoping for a definitive sounding Awaken.  It still has terrible compression and the bass sounds evaporated on almost every track.  DON'T bother.

I have also listened to the Steve Hoffman mastered CTTE SACD.  It is the very best this album has sounded to my ears -- finally Yes gets the royal treatment.  Supposedly GFTO is his next Yes project.  Unless he has the original master tape BEFORE it was compressed, it's probably a waste of time. I am still looking for the definitive sounding Awaken.

GFTO has been announced on the Audio Fidelity website.

P. S.  AF is offering its own 24/96 download of Fragile.  Has anyone heard this?

Quite a bit of misinformation here.

The HD Tracks GFTO does not have any compression added. It is a straight copy of the master tape. It is not accurate to say it has no bass. It does, but is not a bass monster, and unlike Hoffman's upper mid boost tending to make Squire's Rickenbacker sound like a Fender, it is a true sound.

Hoffman's CTTE SACD sounds fairly good, but has his trademark upper mid boost, drop at 5k and hard shave at 20-30k. Sounds seductive and clearly aimed at his demographic.

Audio Fidelity do NOT offer their own downloads. They simply link to the HD Tracks downloads, in the case of Fragile, the 2/96 taking from the earlier DVD-A remastering.

[bplexico]

I too can confirm that The Yes Album sounds wonderful and is worth the purchase.

I downloaded the 24/196 though I am only using a 24/96 DAC at the moment.

Barr

[ted_b]

I too can confirm that The Yes Album sounds wonderful and is worth the purchase.

I downloaded the 24/196 though I am only using a 24/96 DAC at the moment.

Barr

Barr,
Hey man!  Welcome to Audio Circle, and to my HiRez Circle.  When I'm not ripping SACDs or writing reviews I split my time here and at Computer Audiophile.    Oh, or golfing!

[bplexico]

Ted - Thanks so much. Longer time casual reader of AC. Long time music lover, only started upgrading my system in the last three years, first wading back into vinyl, and now into digital. I have much, much more to learn on the digital side...

After a six year hiatus from Windows I even gave Win 8 a try using Bootcamp on my Mac Mini. I must be the 8,687,335th person to wonder, "where the heck is the Start Menu and how the h*ll do you shut this thing down?" upon first time trying it our...G*d bless Google.

Regardless, looking forward to upgrading my Apogee duet sometime over the next month, I have tried out a bunch of DACS, including those by Wavelength, AcousticPlan and MSB.

And now of course back to the thread. I was fortunate enough to see YES in the late 70's at Madison Square Garden, what a band!!!!

I also, though this memory is far fuzzier, saw them at a later date when they had all incarnations of YES touring together with the rotating round stage. That was very strange.

As mentioned I have "The Yes Album" HD Tracks download, "Fragile" DVD-A version and "Close to the Edge" SACD, those are my three favorite Yes albums...

Barr

[djmckaytx]

Quite a bit of misinformation here.

The HD Tracks GFTO does not have any compression added. It is a straight copy of the master tape. It is not accurate to say it has no bass. It does, but is not a bass monster, and unlike Hoffman's upper mid boost tending to make Squire's Rickenbacker sound like a Fender, it is a true sound.

Hoffman's CTTE SACD sounds fairly good, but has his trademark upper mid boost, drop at 5k and hard shave at 20-30k. Sounds seductive and clearly aimed at his demographic.

Audio Fidelity do NOT offer their own downloads. They simply link to the HD Tracks downloads, in the case of Fragile, the 2/96 taking from the earlier DVD-A remastering.

Misinformation?

I did not say that the HD Tracks GFTO added any compression, I just said it was (still) there and that there was no real improvement on the sound.  If it was on the master tape then it's still there -- and Steve Hoffman will probably not fare any better than HDT when AF releases it...but I can still hope against hope for a better sounding Awaken.  On the meantime we'll just disagree on the bass sound.  I'll just rely on more than 40 years of bass playing and listening. 

Your audio analysis for SH's handling of CTTE may indeed be correct but all I said was it sounds the best I've heard of the material.  I stand by that.  And I didn't say that AF was offering a download of GFTO, I just said that they had announced its release.

I still stand by my earlier statements as to the sound of these Yes HD Tracks releases.  In the meantime, more Yes material has appeared there -- Yesshows and Big Generator -- I've passed on both so I can't comment on these.  Anyone?

[rhandmj]

Not to belabor this, but you wrote:

"AF is offering its own 24/96 download of Fragile"

For anyone else reading, this is wrong, Audio Fidelity do not offer any downloads.

[djmckaytx]

Not to belabor this, but you wrote:

"AF is offering its own 24/96 download of Fragile"

For anyone else reading, this is wrong, Audio Fidelity do not offer any downloads.

For anyone who might be looking for this...they DO offer it and here it is:

http://www.audiofidelity.net/content/yes-fragile-digital-download

[ted_b]

For anyone who might be looking for this...they DO offer it and here it is:

http://www.audiofidelity.net/content/yes-fragile-digital-download

Yes, but this is kind of a "do loop" in semantics.  It just takes you back to the HDTracks downloads, which we've already talked about.  Not really AF doing the download.  FYI.