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That say, 'this download is not any better than the cd, and in some ways worse'.
This whole download thing is a load of bollocks.
'This way to the egress!'
"The problem with quotes from the internet is that many of them just are just made up."
-Abraham Lincoln
Follow Ups:
The major audio reviews have created the down load market to get us all buying new gear and paying again for the same recording we like. They are also are trying to get young buyers involved but they don't understand this group will not spend big bucks as a whole. They get their music for free and they don't care about quality no different then in the golden days of audio in the 60's and 70's. I know of know one in my personal family nor friends who ever spent more than $200.00 for a turntable if that. $500.00 for a total system.
Today they got vinyl running again, and then downloading to your PC/laptop.
4.6 million vinyl sold,to give you some prospective that would be about 2 or less #1 rated titles LP's sales in the 60's and 70's. Where 2 million for a hit LP was average some 5 million or so. So a blip on the map in sales compared to then. But that's still a meager 1.44% of all U.S. Of course they did not give the number for CD's sales, but only said they were down but here it is the 193.73 million.
The new trend is to down load a single songs.
Check this Track equivalent albums (where 10 track downloads equal one album)2012: Only 449.6 million*
BUT Digital-track sales enjoyed 5.1% growth to 1.34 billion units.
All this occurred in a year when subscription and ad-sponsored services like Spotify, Muve, YouTube and Pandora continued to grow and create excitement for music fans as well as industry executives.
So why buy when you can listen to them on your IPad, Cell, or Digital Radio? This is the trend, they are not collectors of the physical care about music from another era like most of us do. I go from the 30's to the 2014 because I was exposed to older music through my brother, and parents.
I have nothing against any format if that helps you enjoy music, but don't follow the hype, I've burned my CD's on many program's and always they sound better when I play back the cd version. They of course tell you that not so and we follow instead of listening and trusting our ears.
Same goes for SACD releases, many sound worse or no better than the Redbook version, most of been remixed or played with, now SACD recorded pure on new recordings that a different story, but using the old master tapes from 50 years ago I don't hear the improvements to warrant the cost of $30.00 per CD. Case in Point the new SACD release of Elvis 24K Hits, it sounds god awful, and the first track is so bad I could not even sit through it (Heartbreak Hotel)and I've heard this from the time my brother had this on a 78! Yet they raved about this release.
TAS and Stereophile job is help market audio gear, they are no longer like they were in the 70's and early 80's. They were for the hobbyist, today they are owned by major publications and all that goes with that. They now serve the manufactures, and friends with that community, and with the hobby losing boomers slowly, with younger folks happy with portable audio, IPad, phones etc. thus sales down,the gear now is more and more geared for those with deep pockets.
If you go back and read CD reviews from 10 years ago you would read about the same for CD sound what your reading for downloads, superb, the new remaster is a revelation, the strings are so sweet and so forth, today in every review I read they add a line that the CD suck. No they don't if they are mastered well. I have no plan to burn my cd collection nor digitalize the LP's, why the hell would I do that if they say digital sucks.
If the download sounds better it could only be because it was redone with a higher bit rate, the same as the CD would same for the new reissues of the LP's where today they can "fix" them with all the digital tools they have. But you lose something in that process, the original sound that they worked on in the studio. If you only heard the American Beatles sound, then the British sound of the same LP's would seem less exciting reason being capital goosed them up for our market, that sound is what is in our heads because we heard that way 1st, which one is correct? well the one you like. Same as when reissues are done, you may or may not think it is better.
I've put together my final system and I'm about done maybe another speaker at some point, but I continue to add to my CD collection weekly and as newer reissues from Europe and the USA come out I buy them.
I've stop chasing my tail or trusting anything I read. So much as been in BS. Enjoy your music collection and use you money to buy the music you enjoy in any format while you can. WE are now becoming a rare group of buyers of whole albums. IMO
PJB
Another two are Mary Chapin Carpenter, Songs from the Movie and Billie Holliday, Songs for Distingue Lovers.
The former is more dynamic and greater soundstage on Cd, the 24/96 is sounding compressed and at very low level by comparison.
The latter is harsh, some would say more detailed on 24/192 but my Classic Gold CD trashes the HiRes in musicality, presence and lifelike vocals. The 45rpm is even better.
My god what is going on with HD tracks, and don't get me started on DSD.
CD, perfect sound forever. They may have been right all along.
Cheers
is the lack of provenance. The inability to know the quality of the master leaves me cold. SuperHirez at least gives the particulars of the master from which the recording is made. The same for 2L, which has some of the best hires downloads of classical music IMO.
I've stopped buying from HD tracks for this reason and limit my purchases to sites where I can verify the quality of the master with some confidence.
VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET!
It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.
Alfred North Whitehead
It happens.
Would you like a list of all the Great Sounding PCM and DSD Downloads I have?
I got one so far that I didn't like .
But then didn't go out and buy the alternative format to see if it was better.
I too have some stunning CDs and Some DSD downloads too. It's just that I expected the hires to sound better than it does.
No format will improve a bad recording or mastering. Hi-Rez downloads assure you of nothing it is just another way to listen to music. Garbage in garage out at DSD or 24 bit. How many times can you keep buying the same recording over and over. I love the physical format and CD's sound great nothing like when they 1st came out and the new format like any new format grew and sounded better and better as they learned better on how to use it.
The error in our thinking is a new format will improve a recording and this is not true there is only so much you can do with it, unless you take the time to remix it then it not the same sound.
I've gotten SACD lately of old recordings and they sound worse than the red-book counter part and the reason is they been played with before release. That will always be the danger be it CD, LP or download.
Keep in mind there as been a huge market push for downloads and the magazines have played into creating this market as being the next best thing for best sound quality and as your finding that is not true, if the download file has been done with care and new mastering from a cd made 20 years ago it should sound better, but keep in mind that same recording would also sound better on the new CD release.
The nice thing about vinyl is if you buy an "old" used LP from that era at least your getting the sound of that recording back then for better or worse and many LP's sound awful in audiophile terms. Your not changing what on the master tape regardless of the format.
Hi-Rez is marketing to get you to switch over and rebuy your music. Think of the profit for them, no physical format cost to manufacture, package, labor, and so forth, and they are not cheaper and they should be.
PJB
It stinks. Great music. Pitiful sound, that isn't even worth comparing to the CD version. I bought the Carnagie Hall disc, hoping that it would have improved sonics of the same material. Was not to be.
I suspect that the reviewer has noted that as bad as the master is, going with the higher rez playback had only further illuminated inherent flaws in the master tape. What part of that do you disagree with?
What I disagree with is the new McCarney album, that was recorded in 24/96 sounds better (or as good, or better according to the reviewers) on cd.
It's not just this one recording.
It's not just 'showing up the flaws of the source material'.
Hi-Rez downloads, on the whole, are a colossal fraud.
I'm so tired of b.s. like this from the music/hi-fi industry.
"The problem with quotes from the internet is that many of them just are just made up."
-Abraham Lincoln
Chris gave you a classical example. I think that I am safe to say that most jazz downloads probably sound good too. A good rule of thumb might be, if it is rock, it probably isn't worth the extra money as the masters are crappy in the first place.
It comes down to one thing. If they don't sound good to you mbnx01, by all means don't waste your money on them.
"Hi-Rez downloads, on the whole, are a colossal fraud."
That's a pretty sweeping statement, and in my experience with classical downloads, I've found that hi-rez downloads are well worth it (for me), as long as you know what you're buying. What I also like is the verification you can use with standard software to show whether you have clean musical signals in the ultrasonic range - and with the music files I've downloaded, I've found that that's invariably the case. And even without reference to "listening with my eyes", these downloads just sound wonderful too. I've heard that the world of non-classical downloads can be more problematical.
/
No, it's not wholly a load of bollocks. As with any music media purchase, you just have to be careful about what you're buying. I suspect that most of us have been bitten on occasion, whether the purchase was vinyl, CD, or SACD. But I haven't sworn off any of those media because some bad apples showed up in the barrel.
If you read Alan Taffel's two-weeks-earlier review of a Joni Mitchell download, you'd have noted that he preferred that 24/96 rendering to its CD incarnation.
And if you haven't already and want to hear well-engineered downloads, you might try some of the free offerings at http://www.2l.no/hires/. (When prompted for "username" and "password", enter "2L" for each.)
Jim
http://jimtranr.com
i have lived with new sony hap-z1es for the last 2 weeks and downloaded music sounds just as good and sometimes a lot better with this device
so it is hard to make a blanket statement - that its all bs - thats what i thought too - now im on the other side
Great music, great recoding engineering and a great recording system including hardware and software. Any reasonable media can sound great when you get all three happening at the same time.
Alan Taffel is a charlatan.
It is a case by case basis. Hi Rez is NOT load of bollocks if you choose correctly.
There are Lps that sound better than Cds and Cds that sound better than LPs and downloads that better the CD and LP and LPs that are better than the downloads.
Agreed,
Alan is not the only charlatan...
Nonsense
Care to elaborate?
ET
Laughing...
IMO, download(s) have quite a way to go to match the levels of both dc/sacd and vinyl. It will be there someday, not today, nor tomorrow...
be as good as the SACD?
Some think the new File Players/DACS are better than Laser read Playback.
Remember you are probably playing back the SACD on different player than the download. It is a mistake to assume because someone says Hi-Rez it will be good. If the master is crap it will sound equally bad on all media. I for one have stopped buying downloads and went back to my 4000 redbook cd's played back on my Audio Note transport and dac. Also listen to vinyl. Sorry I spent a bunch of money to play downloads.
Alan
At some point I want to compare a DSD SACD , on my 5400, and the DSD Download of the same recording, SF Sym Mahler 7, comes to mind, and some of my own DSD Live Recordings, on the Sony Z1.
I have a Sony 5400/VSE, and stock 5400 for comparison.
I'm Very intersted in the Z1, I wonder how it will stack up. I'll order from one of the places with the 30 day trial.
I do know that all Downloads for sale aren't the greatest, but I have some that are quite good, ( I have one Particular Dud), I use the DSD Disc feature on the 5400's, not computer for playback.
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