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In Reply to: RE: I am not sure that you are right about gouging... . posted by John Marks on November 23, 2014 at 08:18:33
You opened my eyes to some issues I had not considered. I do have a question, though. Why is it necessary to have someone like Ludwig re-master for downloads? There is plenty of software out there that can take the original SACD or DVD-A and create download-ready files. And the cost to do so is vanishingly small.
I await your response....
Best Wishes,
-RW-
Follow Ups:
Hi.
I can only speak for myself. But my situation is the same as the case with many shall we say second-tier analog master tapes.
When I picked up various pieces dropped by North Star and the Herb Belkin-era MFSL to start JMR, I issued Songs My Mother Taught Me in a Bob Ludwig LP remastering. That LP has sold on eBay for as much as $324, sealed... . Once I got conventional record-store distribution, I asked Bob to remaster that tape for CD release. IIRC, that digital transfer was done with Apogee Digital UV-22 22-bit/44.1kHz conversion, which was SOTA at that time. IIRC, the last analog master Bob transferred for me was done at 44.1/24 and then changed down to 16-bit to cut the CD Glass Master.
All my digital recording (except The Bulgarian Job) were high-bit but standard sampling frequency, and the last of those, Bob used the HDCD converter on, more for its downsampling abilities rather then encoding abilities.
So, to make a "no stories, no excuses, SOTA" SACD or DSD download at this point (the business model I have followed is to allow my trading partners only to sell MP3s, in order to protect the US and foreign market for pressed CDs) would in my case and in the case of any project in the same posture require a fresh start on a clean slate. Which would be expensive.
And then, EVERYBODY could hear the garbage truck now buried in the tape noise... .
(It's Monday, and somebody has to amuse me, and, faute de mieux, c'est moi.)
As things drag on (as you will read about with bated breath in Stereophile's February issue) I am growing more and more intolerant of SACDs etc. that are not "all they can be." So, when an international conglomerate sends out an SACD where the transfer was to 24/96 PCM, given that the incremental cost of doing it right compared to not-right is less than feeding shrimp cocktails and wine to 24 hungry music journalists in a nice hotel ballroom, I get annoyed.
BTW, most people never knew or have forgotten that Dietrich Fischer Dieskau tried his hand at conducting, obviously, in the analog tape age, and I thought his Schubert Symphonies were charming. That would be a great project to Kickstart, if someone has the time and patience.
So, long story short, I think that the industry owes the consumer complete transparency and accountability on the provenance of the downloads and SACDs they want us to buy, and I will make as much of a fuss as I can if I catch anyone selling a DSD download that did not start out at least as a DXD recording (given the possibility that a consumer might be able to decode DSD but not DXD natively). From here on out I will declare "DSD Downloads from 24/94 PCM" to be Non Kosher in my little world.
Ciao,
jm
So, long story short, I think that the industry owes the consumer complete transparency and accountability on the provenance of the downloads and SACDs they want us to buy, and I will make as much of a fuss as I can if I catch anyone selling a DSD download that did not start out at least as a DXD recording (given the possibility that a consumer might be able to decode DSD but not DXD natively). From here on out I will declare "DSD Downloads from 24/94 PCM" to be Non Kosher in my little world.
Back in the day, I was happy to purchase SACDs made from hi-res PCM masters. But at the time there was only SACD and DVD-A and I hated the variability of DVD authoring and the annoying menus. But now, there is no good reason to offer downloads in anything other than the same resolution as the digital master, unless that master is above 24/192. No format conversions please, aside from the DXD-> DSD you mentioned.
I'm an HDTracks customer and I have gotten some excellent quality hi-res albums from them. But I have to do a lot of homework to research what I'm buying from their site. For the amount they charge I feel like they should identify the provenance of their downloads and be responsible for better quality control. If you're going to charge a premium price to audiophiles, at least make sure what you're offering is an audiophile product.
jm
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