[Nick77]

Okay so i am just getting back into Hirez stuff after building a CAPS machine and losing most of the previous stuff i had (not much).
I was looking to download an album and noticed 2 of my candidates had a song on the 2013 HD sampler, Cassandra Wilson Another Country and Patricia Barber Smash.
So i download and listened to the sampler and Wilson's song had a lot of increased treble energy but Barber's did not. This has been my experience with Hirez music, mixed results. I dont care for the increased treble energy some hirez exhibits.

So i go ahead and download Smash at 24/96 instead of 24/192 because i want to avoid any extra treble and i had read over at CA some didnt think the higher sample rate was worth it.
Well i love the download and now wish i had gone with 192 cause i dont have any material at higher rate and the album doesn't seem to be plagued with that extra treble energy.

Soooo is it just hit and miss on Hirez?? Some have the extra treble energy and some dont??

Is this an issue with anyone else?? 

[BrystonNut]

Hi Rez DOES NOT equal better sound...it's all about how the musicians and instruments were recorded and then mixed.


I have many original CD's that sound better than the new improved HDtracks release...it's not HDtracks fault they're just supplying what the studio gives them...which is the latest mix (usually LOUD). These mixes are great for the car on the highway. Or on the subway with shitty earbuds.


A perfect example is I have YES - Big Generator on the original CD and HDtracks...CD sounds WAY better.


It sucks but that's how it is...the only fix for this poor practice would be to implement a DR rating (dynamic range). This tells a lot about the recording in question very quickly.


I wish all the loud remasters could be remixed to leave some emotion in the music.    Especially percussion.

[ted_b]

Nick,
I think there are a few things going on here with your experience.

One is that hirez gives you, theoretically, more of everything, not just treble energy.  The ability for more ultrasonic energy is there, but so is deeper nitrate for midrange and bass color too.  Think of HDTV...more colors in all aspects of ther winnow, not just at the high end.

Second, when poor conversions or transfers are made at 24bit, trouble can happen that exacerbate issues with your signal path....some DACs have sweet spots that are below hirez, and any pushing of their tolerances causes problems.

Third, as stated above, the corruption in the hirez business, mostly from ignorant or greedy labels, gives us premium prices on product that is often no better, and sometimes worse than the redbook version. 

The hirez audio lover needs to do his/her homework, and it can get tiring.  You'll almost always be happy with labels that either clearly announce the source information, or are labels that deal with nothing but native recordings.......labels like Soundkeeper, MA recordings! Channel Classics, Pentatone.  Other places like Naim and Linn seem to always have great sounding hirez, assuming you like the selections.

[Nick77]

Thanks for the insight, i ordered Cassandra on CD since i didn't care for what i heard on hirez. I will compare the two when it arrives.
When hirez is done right it sounds wonderful, have to keep reading the reviews first. 

[bdiament]

Okay so i am just getting back into Hirez stuff after building a CAPS machine and losing most of the previous stuff i had (not much).
I was looking to download an album and noticed 2 of my candidates had a song on the 2013 HD sampler, Cassandra Wilson Another Country and Patricia Barber Smash.
So i download and listened to the sampler and Wilson's song had a lot of increased treble energy but Barber's did not. This has been my experience with Hirez music, mixed results. I dont care for the increased treble energy some hirez exhibits.

So i go ahead and download Smash at 24/96 instead of 24/192 because i want to avoid any extra treble and i had read over at CA some didnt think the higher sample rate was worth it.
Well i love the download and now wish i had gone with 192 cause i dont have any material at higher rate and the album doesn't seem to be plagued with that extra treble energy.

Soooo is it just hit and miss on Hirez?? Some have the extra treble energy and some dont??

Is this an issue with anyone else?? 

Hi Nick77,

In my experience, what you are describing is definitely *not* a characteristic of high res.
It is either a characteristic of the recording itself, the particular mastering, the DAC (D-A converter) or some combination of these.

Some DACs I've heard (including some that have received rave reviews) have a treble "edge" - a spurious increase in harmonic distortion that some hear as added "detail" and others (myself included) hear as added distortion. 

In other cases, even though the spec sheet for a DAC says 176.4k or 192k, the clocking is not up to the significantly increased demands of the highest rates and the analog stages are not up to performing at the wider bandwidths.  These will *technically* decode 176.4k or 192k audio but they will often, to my ears at least, sound *worse* than they do at the easier, lower rates like 88.2k or 96k.

All that said, if it is the DAC, I would expect the sonics to be consistent across recordings.  If some recordings sound too bright and others don't, this would seem to point to either the original recording or (if you've heard another version that is not as bright) the mastering.  More often than not, the high res version(s) of a release are not mastered by the same engineer that mastered the CD.  This alone will guarantee a *different* sound.

The resolution of the format just defines the *potential* for how clearly we get to hear the original recording *and* the mastering of that recording.  If the recording isn't very good or the mastering engineer decided to say, hype the treble, a high res version of this will only provide a high resolution view of the hyped treble.

I've often said 90-95% of a recording's ultimate sonic quality has already been determined by the time the signals are leaving the microphones (*before* they have been recorded, to *any* format).  A good piece of the remaining percentage is determined in the mastering room.  This means that an mp3 of a high quality recording, properly mastered, will generally sound better than the original or a not-so-good recording.

So high res is not guarantee of sound quality.  It can only point to the *potential* for how clearly we get to hear the mastered recording.  (And that is only when it in fact *is* high res and not as occurs all too often, is simply low res sold in a high res "wrapper".)

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.wordpress.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

[Nick77]

Very informative, thanks! Didn't realize it goes through another set of engineering hands to determine hirez rendering.
I usually buy used CD's and if recording is less than perfect no big deal, but making a hirez download mistake is very costly. 

[bdiament]

Very informative, thanks! Didn't realize it goes through another set of engineering hands to determine hirez rendering.
I usually buy used CD's and if recording is less than perfect no big deal, but making a hirez download mistake is very costly. 

Hi Nick77,


Every release in every format goes through mastering.
It can be an opportunity to *not* make mistakes that were made for earlier formats.
Or it can be an opportunity to make new mistakes.  Depends on the engineer.  ;-}


Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.wordpress.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

[Nick77]

Well I received the new Cassandra Wilson CD and the song "Another Country" is the same on the CD. Recorded almost bright and lots of intentional sparkle but the rest of the CD is fine. I thought maybe the whole hirez album might be bright so i avoided the purchase. Now i want to try the hirez cause the album is great. Live and learn.