Welcome to the HiRez Circle!

ted_b · « **on:** 8 Jun 2009, 02:52 pm »

Welcome friends. This is a new Circle that discusses all aspects of High Resolution music and recording. What is HiRez? Well, anything digital that is of greater resolution than standard redbook (cd), which is 16 bits and 44.1khz sample rate, aka 16/44. Some of the well known Hirez sources are:
SACD
DVD-Audio
DVD-Video discs that have 24/96 music, playable on all DVD players (ex. Neil Young, Live at Massey Hall).
Blu-Ray audio
24/96 downloads via download sites like HDTracks, Linn, etc.
24/176.4 downloads purchasable via DVD-R from HRX, etc.

These discs and/or files can provide a greater sense of "being there", a greater likeness to their analog counterparts (vinyl) and a better overall musical quality than standard redbook (cd). However, they can and have posed huge problems: they are difficult to store (huge files), difficult to play back (proprietary equipment) and difficult to incorporate into today's AV systems. There is a lot of confusion over how to find them, differentiate them, put a value on their sonic advantages, and even play them (DVD-Audio sometimes needs a monitor to navigate, etc). They even come in stereo and multichannel! But they are becoming more and more prevalent, and more and more confusing.

This forum circle will focus on those problems, those benefits and those unique hardware and software requirements to play and enjoy them.

No talk about vinyl, no talk about cd, no talk about tubes vs solid state, or open baffle vs horns....just talk about HiRez software, DACs and players (SACD/DVD-A/Blu-Ray). That's all........

I've been living this area of music for many years, have a huge hiRez library af SACD's, DVD-Audio discs, and HiRez files. I've invested heavily in 5.1 dedicated HiRez music playback, and am on my ninth universal player, along with HiRez-capable DACs. IOW, I have some experience, so it won't be the blind leading the blind....kind of.

Thanks to John and AC for letting us play here in our new Circle. Have fun, no badmouthing, only good vibes here.

DeadFish · « **Reply #1 on:** 8 Jun 2009, 03:07 pm »

Hey Ted,
Thanks for taking this circle on. I'm looking forward to what will come up here, especially like what I'm supposed to do with 24bit files I find out on the internet. (No, that's not a question yet, I'm just making small talk.)
'My Mother was a Bozo-ette', so I'm sure we'll find much in common.

Appreciating the efforts and what we'll all discover here.

Best Regards,
DeadFish

TomS · « **Reply #2 on:** 8 Jun 2009, 03:37 pm »

Ted,

I agree with Bill and really appreciate you taking this one on. I look forward to learning a bit more and contributing as I finally wander into some hi-rez content.

Tom

Goosepond · « **Reply #3 on:** 8 Jun 2009, 04:01 pm »

I guess one of the keys to this hobby (other than let's see how much money can I spend

) is to stay excited about it. HiRez does that for me right now. It's the direction I want to go in and I know there's lots to learn.

Thanks Ted,

Gene

rydenfan · « **Reply #4 on:** 9 Jun 2009, 01:57 am »

Thanks so much for the circle, Ted

I am certainly excited for it

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #5 on:** 9 Jun 2009, 03:56 am »

Ted....

Good luck with the new Circle .......

Chris

Moon Doggy · « **Reply #6 on:** 9 Jun 2009, 06:05 pm »

You're making it happen. Thanks Ted!

I'll try to make all my posts bit-perfect

MorganE · « **Reply #7 on:** 26 Jun 2010, 04:50 pm »

I use a MacBook Pro and have recently purchased Amarra Min 2.0 to use with iTunes as my source. Many of my files are AIFF at high res. bitrates downloaded from sites mentioned, plus Deutsche Grammophon, B&W Society of Sound and Hyperion. I use USB out to my NOS DAC (RWA Isabellina HPA), and then to different dynamic headphones. I use 'Max' to convert FLAC files to AIFF for iTunes.

ted_b · « **Reply #8 on:** 26 Jun 2010, 05:46 pm »

Quote from: MorganE on 26 Jun 2010, 04:50 pm

I use a MacBook Pro and have recently purchased Amarra Min 2.0 to use with iTunes as my source. Many of my files are AIFF at high res. bitrates downloaded from sites mentioned, plus Deutsche Grammophon, B&W Society of Sound and Hyperion. I use USB out to my NOS DAC (RWA Isabellina HPA), and then to different dynamic headphones. I use 'Max' to convert FLAC files to AIFF for iTunes.

Hi. Look forward to your HiRez impressions and posts!

MorganE · « **Reply #9 on:** 26 Jun 2010, 07:06 pm »

Hi ted_b, thanks for the welcome! I mostly listen to classical music and of course there is a tremendous amount of variance in these recordings, with many of the performances being first recorded in the 50's and 60's.

I recently bought the Chesky album "Open Your Ears" available on HD Tracks website, and it was developed to test headphones based audio. I also have a few of the Linn Records surround sound high res albums, which are pretty reasonably priced. They certainly reveal the differences in changes to your system.

I'm very interested to hear people's thoughts on the future of digital. Of course I would like to believe that my MacBook Pro plus something like Amarra at under $1,000 and a great DAC can be competitive with he best transports, as it is a relatively inexpensive solution. I would also like to see if people can persuade me to invest in a more expensive source because the sound is so much better with a high end transport.

I look forward to learning a lot on this subject. Great idea to start the thread. Cheers.