HiRez News

Russtafarian · « **Reply #80 on:** 11 May 2011, 05:40 pm »

And...

Quote

WISH YOU WERE HERE - SACD
For those who have been, for a few years now, eagerly awaiting the SACD of Wish You Were Here, we have the excellent news for you that it is indeed on its way! The 5.1 SACD will be released by Acoustic Sounds, with the mix done by James Guthrie, and produced by Gus Skinas at the Super Audio Center. We will hopefully have the release date along with ordering information for you shortly.

ted_b · « **Reply #81 on:** 18 May 2011, 04:08 pm »

As promised when Band On The Run was released for 24/96 HiRez, the Paul McCartney Archive Collection has just announced Paul's eponymous first solo album, McCartney, as well as his later McCartney II for remastering and hirez release. McCartney, released 1970, will have to go a long way to better the amazing job Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray did on the DCC Gold version, but hey.....what the heck!!

http://www.paulmccartney.com/mccartney/usd.php

As was with BOTR, the offerings are many, and included vinyl, additional songs, MP3's, etc. And once again, hirez 24/96 can be downloaded in limited" and "unlimited" versions......we found with BOTR that those versions' sonic differences were subtle, mostly noticeable was the average spl output.

firedog · « **Reply #82 on:** 19 May 2011, 05:22 am »

I have the DCC version of McCartney I, and would definitely wait before buying the hi-res. If one of you gets the hi-res and has the DCC version, let us know how they compare.

ted_b · « **Reply #83 on:** 19 May 2011, 01:38 pm »

Quote from: firedog on 19 May 2011, 05:22 am

I have the DCC version of McCartney I, and would definitely wait before buying the hi-res. If one of you gets the hi-res and has the DCC version, let us know how they compare.

As I stated above, I do and I will.

firedog · « **Reply #84 on:** 10 Jun 2011, 04:10 am »

Boy I'm really interested in this, but I have 4 versions of this and I don't really like any of them. The MFSL version is best, but none of them are done right in my opinion - maybe the original recording just isn't very good.

This is the 40th anniversary edition. Sure would like someone else to let me know how it sounds before I spend money on it.

ted_b · « **Reply #85 on:** 13 Jun 2011, 12:10 am »

My McCartney (first album) hirez download showed up tonight (unlimited 24/96 wav files and mp's)!

it's about a 2 GB zip file. I've had less than 10 minutes to check it out but the cymbals and high freq info on Maybe I'm Amazed has me....well, somewhat amazed. it's very nice so far.

However, the wav file names and song numbers are completely messed up...fired up song 4, Every Night...and That Would be Something started playing!! Topspin is not my favorite download site by a long stretch, and now I need to figure out what else might be wrong before i send them a list of to-do's. Damn

Please report back on what you folks get.....

Edit: Mp3's are messed too, and frankly have no real ID3 tags. Songs 2 and 4 are switched, as are 6 and 7...and 8 switched with 9. HOW TOUGH IS THIS, PEOPLE???? Jeez!!

Edit: And when I tried to convert to FLAC (to also install my own tags before converting back to wav) songs 2 and 4 have chunk errors! I have an email into Topspin. Wow.

ted_b · « **Reply #86 on:** 14 Jun 2011, 01:21 am »

Topspin responded to my request. For the short answer...please don't invest in topsin, they are morons!!!!!!

* First off, my request was that the wav and mp3 files for McCartney (self titled solo first album) were corrupted, poorly and inaccurately tagged, and overall a mess. Please send fixed download.\

* Their answer? "Sorry that the download was so huge" (??) here are the individual download links for each song. (!!!!!) And they send me forty download links, including for McCartney II which I didn't even purchase. Oh, and these download links are also corrupted (That Would Be Something is now 53 seconds long; Every Night is slightly over a minute long!!!) and have NO track numbers. MP3's (like I care) are non-existent.

They solved a non-problem (huge downloads.....not), failed to realize the files are corrupted and wrongly tagged, and then send me an album I didn't even pay for (which is also corrupted). WOW!!!!!!

Phil A · « **Reply #87 on:** 14 Jun 2011, 01:55 am »

Ted - looked at the website quickly - does the hi-rez version for $29.99 include discs with hi-rez audio. Not clear from the descriptuon

firedog · « **Reply #88 on:** 15 Jun 2011, 11:44 am »

McCartney is now at HDTracks and at CA Forum reports are the downloads are fine.

Separate page for each "limited" and "unlimited" version.

$19.98 each

Sorry, I tried to include the links, but the forum software isn't letting me post them

Phil A · « **Reply #89 on:** 15 Jun 2011, 12:21 pm »

https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=catalogdetail&valbum_code=HD00888072328105

https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=catalogdetail&valbum_code=HD00888072325685

ted_b · « **Reply #90 on:** 15 Jun 2011, 01:42 pm »

Yes, HDtracks seem to have tags, too (the adavantge of dl'ing in FLAC).

Topspin sent out their third update, this time a set of 8 or so dl links, each containing a few songs. They sent unlimited and limited, and the songs seem tobe uncorrupted and have track numbers. They are 24/96 wav. What a process.

I'm not sure I like them any better than DCC Gold Hoffman/Gray. I'll report back.

vhiner · « **Reply #91 on:** 18 Jun 2011, 03:42 am »

I have been listening to the HDtracks uncompressed and unlimited download on my Perfect Wave transport and DAC and like what I hear. However, I'd love to know how they compare to the legendary DCC. So please post your review, Ted!

firedog · « **Reply #92 on:** 18 Jun 2011, 06:39 am »

I just listened to the DCC version of McCartney I again, and it is spectacular (especially the bass sound).

Unless Ted reports back that the hi-res is noticeably better, I think I may skip it.

firedog · « **Reply #93 on:** 24 Jun 2011, 05:16 am »

Allman Bros "Live at Fillmore East" out - 24/96 at HDTracks. They are continuing weekly releases of jazz and rock classics in hi-res. That is truly great and something we've been waiting for over the past few years. One poster on CA downloaded the Fillmore East and said he's very happy with the quality. Good sign. However, this is what I wrote to HDT after receiving their blurb announcing the new releases:

This is what I wrote to HDTracks:

Glad you are putting out more hi-res classic rock and jazz. But a complaint/suggestion: why not put the "provenance" of each release on its page?
We all know that some "hi-rez" releases don't sound much improved or even sound worse that existing material. Some are even not from the original master.

Several of your recent hi-res rock releases have been problematic and have needed "correction" by you.

Example: the new Allman Brothers "Live at Fillmore East": no mention on the page what the source of the hi-res master is, or who made it.

I've stopped buying your hi-res on "spec". Now I wait till someone in the online community confirms for me that the release is a "good one" before I'll order.

I think you'll find that among your most interested and knowledgeable customers this will become common, unless you find some way to assure us that hi-res releases are truly high quality upon release.

Marius · « **Reply #94 on:** 1 Sep 2011, 08:31 am »

Hi,

Exactly what's keeping me from buying from HDtracks up to now. Did you receive an answer yet?

Greetings,
Marius

Quote from: firedog on 24 Jun 2011, 05:16 am

This is what I wrote to HDTracks:

Glad you are putting out more hi-res classic rock and jazz. But a complaint/suggestion: why not put the "provenance" of each release on its page?
We all know that some "hi-rez" releases don't sound much improved or even sound worse that existing material. Some are even not from the original master.

Several of your recent hi-res rock releases have been problematic and have needed "correction" by you.

Example: the new Allman Brothers "Live at Fillmore East": no mention on the page what the source of the hi-res master is, or who made it.

I've stopped buying your hi-res on "spec". Now I wait till someone in the online community confirms for me that the release is a "good one" before I'll order.

I think you'll find that among your most interested and knowledgeable customers this will become common, unless you find some way to assure us that hi-res releases are truly high quality upon release.

firedog · « **Reply #95 on:** 1 Sep 2011, 11:22 am »

No, they never responded to that email. Their customer service is odd. I've made some specific complaints after which they've answered me immediately and even offered me discount codes, etc to "make it up" to me.

At other times, like this one, they don't reply at all.

I just bought another album from them (Diana Krall- "The Girl in the Other Room") after it got very positive evaluations at the computeraudiophile forum. And it is a spectacular sounding download - well worth the money.

But as I said, I'm now only buying albums that someone else has downloaded and vetted. That's a real shame: for me, as I may miss out on something I'd enjoy, and for HDT, as they are losing lots of business from people like us who should be their core audience.

I can't figure out why they don't get this. Maybe they are making lots of money anyway and don't care? But I'm sure they'd make much more if the knowledgeable public had confidence in their catalogue. Just sounds like they aren't very good businessmen.

Marius · « **Reply #96 on:** 1 Sep 2011, 11:46 am »

`yep, agree with you.

Still, I'm not totally convinced of the legitimateness of this all, let alone the claims of native hi-resolution master tapes. No way to check, and reading the many posts on different forums, including this and yours, makes my doubt get bigger.

Until proven otherwise, I think for now it's saver to focus on downloading native modern digital hires recordings, ripp cd's to wav/flac/aiff to 44/16 and dvd's to 24/48 and simply enjoy...

Marius

Quote from: firedog on 1 Sep 2011, 11:22 am

No, they never responded to that email. Their customer service is odd. I've made some specific complaints after which they've answered me immediately and even offered me discount codes, etc to "make it up" to me.

At other times, like this one, they don't reply at all.

I just bought another album from them (Diana Krall- "The Girl in the Other Room") after it got very positive evaluations at the computeraudiophile forum. And it is a spectacular sounding download - well worth the money.

But as I said, I'm now only buying albums that someone else has downloaded and vetted. That's a real shame: for me, as I may miss out on something I'd enjoy, and for HDT, as they are losing lots of business from people like us who should be their core audience.

I can't figure out why they don't get this. Maybe they are making lots of money anyway and don't care? But I'm sure they'd make much more if the knowledgeable public had confidence in their catalogue. Just sounds like they aren't very good businessmen.

ted_b · « **Reply #97 on:** 16 Mar 2012, 03:19 pm »

As many of you know I have become very involved with the DSD format in general (I now own 2 DSD-capable DACs, with reviews to follow...the $1600Mytek Stereo192DSD DAC and the much pricier Meitner MA-1) and the SACD ripping capability in particular. Well, as I have been gaining experience in all things DSD, including ripping my own 400 SACD library, I have come across quite a few SACD's that are nothing more than PCM conversions (albeit maybe the only source of hirez we have, but nothing close to native PCM or native DSD recordings). Of the 7000+ SACD's out here, only 2300+ are native DSD, and another 500+ are analog-to-DSD mastered (meaning as close to master as possible, no PCM..like Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray's APjazz reissues of great jazz labels like Blue Note, Verve, Prestige, etc). The rest are PCM-based. Which leads to the question: why can't we hear these in PCM, then, and not have to deal with the DSD conversion (especially for those of you who have PCM-only DACs and then have to do the unthinkable...PCM-DSD-PCM)?

There is a very well-reviewed classical music label called BIS. They got into a little firestorm of controversy on a few forums a few years ago when it was found out that their SACD's were mostly recorded at 24/44.1k (they have 9 pure DSD SACD's all before 2005), with now several recorded at 24/88 or 24/96. Well, I won't drag you through BIS's reasoning (most of which is budget-motivated) but suffice it to say that regardless of reasoning, they won several awards despite this seemingly tough PCM-to-DSD transfer. But boy, wouldn't it be great to hear the actual 24/44 masters! Well...now you can! And they are cheap!!

BIS's Robert von Bahr has started a download service called eclassical.com where BIS and several small boutique labels have their offerings. The largest label on this site (searchable by label, genre, composer, etc) is BIS. And Robert has made available his 24 bit masters, in FLAC, for download!! Better than the SACD, frankly (although stereo-only currently) all other things being equal. And whats more, you can buy these by the glass (i.e per track) and the pricing is based on length of tracks. A 40 minute performance is half the cost of an 80 minute performance, and a movement within may be only $1.00 (great for eval/demo/sampling). Great for those classical albums where the reviews state that Sibelius No. 5 was amazing, but Sibelius No. 2 was not worth it...fine... buy Sibelius 5 for like $7.52!! And of course all tracks are listenable online. You can hear the full tracks, although they pause every 30 seconds for some reason (BIS's own site has non-stop samples).

An example below:

http://www.eclassical.com/conductors/vanska-osmo/sibelius-symphonies-nos-2-5.html

talk2me · « **Reply #98 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 08:53 am »

Anothed failed musician jumps to greener pastures. Just kidding people. I love Barry's passion for music recording. I don't agree with some of his views, but mad respect.

ted_b · « **Reply #99 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 11:11 am »

Quote from: talk2me on 22 Apr 2012, 08:53 am

Anothed failed musician jumps to greener pastures. Just kidding people. I love Barry's passion for music recording. I don't agree with some of his views, but mad respect.

?? What does this post refer to?