HDtracks must haves

mca · « **on:** 24 Nov 2011, 05:29 pm »

I decided to take the plunge and try some hi-rez music. My plan is to download five albums from HDtracks and do some listening this weekend to see what I think.

I would like some ideas as to what would be some of the best sounding albums to try in Rock and Jazz.

Thanks!

ted_b · « **Reply #1 on:** 24 Nov 2011, 05:37 pm »

MCA,
I think it would be better to list your faves, or some candidates. Then we can opine about whether they are worth it. In my mind the latest two Fleetwood Macs are not worth it, especially if you want to start with the five best you can find. And any Chesky label is worth it; they use their original masters and we don't have to analyze whether they are upsampled or poorly transferred. I'd put Jimmy Cobb Quartet-Jazz In The Key of Blue right up there. Paul Stubblebine's recent transfer of Bill Evans' Waltz For Debby is very very good too. So are many of the DVD-Audio transfers. I'm not a huge fan of the SACD transfers (Stones, etc) but I am biased in that I can listen to pure DSD now, so conversion to 24 bit is not a step I wanna hear.

rbbert · « **Reply #2 on:** 24 Nov 2011, 06:51 pm »

the vast majority of the Channel Classics label recordings are top notch

Atlplasma · « **Reply #3 on:** 26 Nov 2011, 10:11 pm »

The Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong album is very nice. Also agree with Ted on the Bill Evans recording. It's neat to hear the club audience politely sitting in the background.

On the rock side, I've been very please with Hotel California and Frampton Comes Alive. Fleetwood Macs' rumors is a mixed bag (at least to my ears). The Elton John recordings are also worth checking out.

mca · « **Reply #4 on:** 26 Nov 2011, 10:41 pm »

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Ted, taken from the HDtracks email's, here is little list of what I would be interested in:

Tom petty - Damn the torpedoes
Ray charles - GLC
Rare Genius
Chick Corea | Pat Metheny | Gary Burton | Roy Haynes | Dave Holland
Band on the run
Diana Krall
Jane Monheit
Charlie Haden - Sophisticated ladies
Esperanza Spalding
Eric Clapton
Moving pictures
Paul Simon - So beautiful
Moody Blues - DOFP
Elton John
Eva Cassidy - Songbird
Madeleine Peyroux
Alison Krauss
The Eagles
Jackson Browne
Talking Heads
Steely Dan
Doobie Brothers
Donald Fagan
Mark Knopfler
Natalie Merchant
BB King Eric Clapton - RWTK
Seal - Best of
CCR - Greatest Hits

vhiner · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 12:53 am »

Mca,

Skip Alison Krauss's Raising Sand. Everyone I played it for thought the Redbook was better. I *still* don't know why this release is so lousy on hirez.

Mike Nomad · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 02:41 am »

Quote from: vhiner on 27 Nov 2011, 12:53 am

Mca,

Skip Alison Krauss's Raising Sand. Everyone I played it for thought the Redbook was better. I *still* don't know why this release is so lousy on hirez.

Assuming we are talking about the Krauss/Plant record, this got hashed over a bit on another thread. The reason the HiRez sounds like poop is the same reason the CD sounds like poop. The lack of sonic quality comes down to bad production decisions.

Hopefully, there is a clean/raw master in the can. If one exists, and until they decide to start over on the mastering, there isn't much of a reason to go to the HDTracks version.

Atlplasma · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 02:42 am »

The feedback on Raising Sand is that it's "compressed." I have the CD version and find it very enjoyable (for the price).

golfugh · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 03:04 am »

I'll comment on the ones I have that you are asking about (IMO):

Tom petty - Damn the torpedoes - Not bad
Band on the run - Not bad
Diana Krall - most are excellent
Jane Monheit - outstanding
Charlie Haden - Sophisticated ladies - very good
Moody Blues - DOFP - not so much
Elton John - all are outstanding
Eva Cassidy - Songbird - excellent
Madeleine Peyroux - very good
Alison Krauss - very good
The Eagles - very good
Talking Heads - very good

Haven't measured them, purely from listening! As Ted mentioned a lot of the current stuff is from DVD-A rips, some are excellent and some are not...depends on the original DVD-A quality for the most part.

Some, such as Fleetwood Mac are not bad, but are not excellent. Depends if you want to spend the money to get the DVD-A to rip or not, as the DVD-A's are getting expensive. I'm picking up as many DVD-A's as I can, of music I like, mostly for the 5.1 surround and then ripping the 2-channel off of them if they have it on the disc. YMMV.
Mark

Of note: I've personally found that all of the Linn Records downloads are outstanding, as are Soundkeeper DVD's (WAV on disc), and MA Recordings.

Mike Nomad · « **Reply #9 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 03:11 am »

Quote from: Atlplasma on 27 Nov 2011, 02:42 am

The feedback on Raising Sand is that it's "compressed." I have the CD version and find it very enjoyable (for the price).

Compression is one of its problems. Another is processing/effects. Some of it sounds like it may be contributing to the digital noise and overall graininess.

vhiner · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 03:12 am »

Quote from: Mike Nomad on 27 Nov 2011, 02:41 am

Assuming we are talking about the Krauss/Plant record, this got hashed over a bit on another thread. The reason the HiRez sounds like poop is the same reason the CD sounds like poop. The lack of sonic quality comes down to bad production decisions.

Hopefully, there is a clean/raw master in the can. If one exists, and until they decide to start over on the mastering, there isn't much of a reason to go to the HDTracks version.

Thanks, Mike. Let's keep our fingers crossed that someone will one day salvage it.

vhiner · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 03:20 am »

Golfugh,

Thanks for the list...I've been wanting to know about a number of those titles.

golfugh · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 03:37 am »

vhiner
Ted is the guru on this and has lead me down an appropriate path for experiencing the best of Hi-rez, so don't take mine as the last word! Being the stubborn man that I am I often pick up stuff from various sources that others think are "not so good" sound quality wise (Fleetwood Mac for instance). I preferred it to the RB version, but I'll admit that it doesn't compare to the Jane Monheit! FM: Good - yes, very good - no! I liked it though.
Mark

vhiner · « **Reply #13 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 05:50 am »

Quote from: golfugh on 27 Nov 2011, 03:37 am

vhiner
Ted is the guru on this and has lead me down an appropriate path for experiencing the best of Hi-rez, so don't take mine as the last word! Being the stubborn man that I am I often pick up stuff from various sources that others think are "not so good" sound quality wise (Fleetwood Mac for instance). I preferred it to the RB version, but I'll admit that it doesn't compare to the Jane Monheit! FM: Good - yes, very good - no! I liked it though.
Mark

Hey, I'm jazzed to hear what other music lovers think! Btw, did you happen to compare the Elton John hirez to the remasters released a few years back on the Rocket label? The Redbook versions of those are already pretty stellar.

oskar · « **Reply #14 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 03:38 pm »

Hi all, Has anyone downloaded THE NIGHTFLY from HDtracks? I never see it mentioned here. They only offer it as 44.1kHz/24bit.
Jus wonderin'.

ted_b · « **Reply #15 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 03:58 pm »

BOTR is ok, but not a huge change IMO (and I'm a huge McCartney fan). Even the non-compressed version is only ok.
FM (both Rumours and Tusk) are very uneven, with a few tracks significantly improved, and even some tracks worsened IMO.
Madeleine Peyroux - very good. Wish here earlier 3-4 albums were 24 bit.
Charlie Haden - good, but Soph. Ladies compilation not my cup of tea. If you want a completely sublime Charlie Haden, go to the Naim label site and download Heartplay in 24/96. Amazing!
Jane Monheit - all are very good.
Tom Petty - not worth it IMO, but not a huge Torpedoes fan anyway.

I unfortunately can't give you an HDTracks impression of several of your choices cuz I already have them on DVD-Audio, and ripped them to hard drive.

If the DVD-A versions are any indication of the quality of the HDTracks rips then here goes:
Talking heads - the stereo layers are good 9especially Remain in Light and Speaking In Tongues), but the REAL find on these is the amazing 5.1 surround tracks (of course only available on the DVD-A's).
Diana Krall - All are good, especially Girl in The Other Room
Eagles - worth it
Elton John - mine are SACD's, but very good to excellent. However, I'm no longer a big fan of DSD (SACD) to PCM transfers. Not sure where HDtracks got theirs.
Moodies - mine are all SACD's, and again bought mainly for the 5.1 surround tracks. Not sure I'd spend just for the stereo.

As others have said, if the DVD-A is available, get it (and get surround as a bonus). Plus you have a back-up, etc. But many are OOP or too expensive.

Oskar, the Donald Fagen trilogy are my favorite go-to surround DVD-Audio discs, period. The Nightfly is a classic. That being said, I never listen to the stereo layer. The 5.1 surround layer is to die for, though. Elliott Scheiner at his best. Award winning...Kamakiriad is even better.

oskar · « **Reply #16 on:** 27 Nov 2011, 06:14 pm »

thanks ted. I did trade in the surround system for all stereo a while back. I see that the TRIOLGY is available in box with MVI format which I gather is 24-bit at 48kHz. I don't think this is what you're referring to though since it's not DVD-A.

djmckaytx · « **Reply #17 on:** 29 Nov 2011, 02:53 am »

Quote from: oskar on 27 Nov 2011, 06:14 pm

thanks ted. I did trade in the surround system for all stereo a while back. I see that the TRIOLGY is available in box with MVI format which I gather is 24-bit at 48kHz. I don't think this is what you're referring to though since it's not DVD-A.

I have this box set. If memory serves, The Nightfly is 24/48, but the other two are 24/96. All of them sound great.

Nick77 · « **Reply #18 on:** 29 Dec 2011, 10:10 pm »

Gotta admit i have had mixed results with downloading older hirez material but i just downloaded the 91 release of Fourplay from HD Tracks and its outstanding.

Fourplay-Fourplay

firedog · « **Reply #19 on:** 30 Dec 2011, 06:53 am »

Girl in the Other Room - great
BOTR - disagree with Ted, think the uncompressed is very good.
The Paul Simon is highly volume compressed - disqualifies it as sounding good IMO.