audioaudio90 Messages: 623 Registered: October 2010
Illuminati (1st Degree)
Have you heard of HDtracks? You can download high-resolution music there, and they claim it sounds better than standard mp3s and even CDs. I just heard of the site, though, so I don't know too much about it.
RustyC Messages: 44 Registered: July 2013 Location: AL
Baron
Well, I'm quite intrigued! I hope someone on here has tried the site and can give us the run-down. There are a few albums on there that I wouldn't mind getting, if the quality is what they say it is. $20 doesn't really sound like a lot to me for an album. Of course, I'm a dinosaur, from back when we paid that much for a vinyl album.
gofar99 Messages: 1902 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, I don't know the specifics on that site but HD downloads can be really excellent. There was a series of write ups on it in Stereophile earlier this year. They concluded (these guys are really analog oriented) that it was now good enough for them. They see it as do I as the way things are likely to go. With 24/192 and higher formats fed into a good DAC the sound is really hard to tell from an analog source. Another thing that bears on the subject is that nearly all music recorded for several years now has been done on digital equipment. Yes there is a resurgence of all analog recording and mastering, but it is quite limited in scope. Worse many of the LPs made in the past were from digital tapes.
Thus, my suggestion is on services like the one mentioned is to try one selection and see if it meets your demands for quality. If so great, if not, don't use that service again.
As an additional thought, I would not bother to get any HD digital material unless I had a very high quality system to play it on. The quality of the end result will be strongly influenced by the equipment playing it. A cheap DAC feeding a typical AV system such as seem to be the norm now will not be able to fully do justice to the HD recording. If your gear came from Walmart stick to iTunes. You will save a bit of cash.
Hi, I don't know the specifics on that site but HD downloads can be really excellent. There was a series of write ups on it in Stereophile earlier this year. They concluded (these guys are really analog oriented) that it was now good enough for them. They see it as do I as the way things are likely to go. With 24/192 and higher formats fed into a good DAC the sound is really hard to tell from an analog source. Another thing that bears on the subject is that nearly all music recorded for several years now has been done on digital equipment. Yes there is a resurgence of all analog recording and mastering, but it is quite limited in scope. Worse many of the LPs made in the past were from digital tapes.
Thus, my suggestion is on services like the one mentioned is to try one selection and see if it meets your demands for quality. If so great, if not, don't use that service again.
As an additional thought, I would not bother to get any HD digital material unless I had a very high quality system to play it on. The quality of the end result will be strongly influenced by the equipment playing it. A cheap DAC feeding a typical AV system such as seem to be the norm now will not be able to fully do justice to the HD recording. If your gear came from Walmart stick to iTunes. You will save a bit of cash.
Bruce, thanks for all the information. I particularly agree with the last part! I know a couple people who look for quality recordings but don't pay attention to quality in their sound system. It's puzzling.
audioaudio90 Messages: 623 Registered: October 2010
Illuminati (1st Degree)
gofar99 wrote on Tue, 06 August 2013 18:04
Hi, I don't know the specifics on that site but HD downloads can be really excellent. There was a series of write ups on it in Stereophile earlier this year. They concluded (these guys are really analog oriented) that it was now good enough for them. They see it as do I as the way things are likely to go. With 24/192 and higher formats fed into a good DAC the sound is really hard to tell from an analog source. Another thing that bears on the subject is that nearly all music recorded for several years now has been done on digital equipment. Yes there is a resurgence of all analog recording and mastering, but it is quite limited in scope. Worse many of the LPs made in the past were from digital tapes.
Thus, my suggestion is on services like the one mentioned is to try one selection and see if it meets your demands for quality. If so great, if not, don't use that service again.
As an additional thought, I would not bother to get any HD digital material unless I had a very high quality system to play it on. The quality of the end result will be strongly influenced by the equipment playing it. A cheap DAC feeding a typical AV system such as seem to be the norm now will not be able to fully do justice to the HD recording. If your gear came from Walmart stick to iTunes. You will save a bit of cash.
This is all good to know! I guess I missed the Stereophile articles on the topic. I had no idea that HD downloads were truly comparable to analog.
If I had a better system I would go for those downloads. They have a very good selection of music to choose from. I think I could pay $20 to hear "Just My Imagination" in hi definition.
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