What DIGITAL HI-RES music are you listening to right now ?

If those who are in this format can share what they are listening to, it will be a great service to those who are looking closely at the format with an intention for adoption in the future. For the purpose of 'High Resolution', I suggest we just stick to pure digital only. To make things simpler.

Well, I did ask some before but didn't get a firm answer. What constitutes high-res digital ? What about all those fancy XRCD, 20bit mastered CDs ? Never mind, music comes first.

Just bought and is listening to 'Tsai Chin Test Machine', a compilation of her songs issued in various 'HQ' CD format, like XRCD, 24K Gold CD, etc. All of her most famous songs are there on blue coloured CD (one of those fancy special CD pressings from what I can see).

Bonus : bought from the CD-Rama music fair in 1-U (new wing). Price is RM38 only. Good price, good music, and so far from casual listening, quite good sound as well. thumbs up !

Another CD (bought 2 of these type of CDs actually) I bought at the CD-Rama music fair just now is the HD-Mastered K2-CD of Paula Tsui collection. Again, from casual listening, good price (RM38 for TWO CDs !), good sound and most importantly good music. This is the best : good music with good sound.

Omg....Wong... u r really hard promoting CD-Rama Fair. >.<"
Darn.... >.<"
i really need to take a look & find some good deal there.

Did u hv a heard a CD named :
a-ming-someday somewhere someone
亚明-某天.某地.某人 ?

All in 24/96



"Listening to it from the beginning to the end is like being trapped in a dream with a twisty plot that draws you deeper and deeper into a period Hollywood fantasy of the bad and the beautiful." -Stephen Holden, New York Times

Tracklisting:
1. If I'm Lucky (feat. Melody Gardot)
2. Sophisticated Lady
3. Ill Wind (feat. Norah Jones)
4. Today I Am A Man
5. My Love And I (feat. Cassandra Wilson)
6. Theme from "Markham"
7. Let's Call It A Day (feat. Ruth Cameron)
8. Angel Face
9. A Love Like This (feat. Renée Fleming)
10. My Old Flame
11. Goodbye (feat. Diana Krall)
12. Wahoo




"This is one of the few albums that I recorded that I still listen to on a regular basis. It's a record that I'm very proud of." -Elliot Scheiner, GRAMMY® winning engineer of the original 1980 release, and engineer for this hi-resolution re-release.




Stunning clarity, this one!

https://i.servimg.com/u/f67/13/47/61/64/gaucho10.jpg


Fantastic in HiRez 24/96

Diana Krall in 24/96





Reviews

Hey, where you get this?
It is not out yet...

HDTracks just released it this morning.

I will get it soon.

I only have quiet nights on 24/96.

VS126.

You 'new' avatar.. Is it a kind of soundtrap or another Maggie Model ? Btw hope I get a file copy of your recent rip . Need to have another session to hear hi rez vs say, SACD one day.

Cheers,

ZB,

You mean the girl or the plannar?

You like it? I mean the speaker...


HiRez shd be equal or better than SACD but then HIREZ's potential is so great, with every software upgrade, it goes up few levels.
With SACD, it is fixed.

Btw, anybody know how to rip SACD?

Vinyl ripped in 24/96.

tycham...

wonder how big is the margin for vinyl rip vs. compact disc rip?
(i know playing this in physical same system does have noticeable differences / good or bad)

i got a carole king tapestry rip care to share and compare?

mrquery wrote:tycham...

wonder how big is the margin for vinyl rip vs. compact disc rip?
(i know playing this in physical same system does have noticeable differences / good or bad)

i got a carole king tapestry rip care to share and compare?

I downloaded from this SITE.

You can download and compare.

VS126 wrote:ZB,
Btw, anybody know how to rip SACD?

I don't think there's any PC possilibility to rip the SACD layer. Haven't heard of a ROM drive able to do that. It'll only read the red book layer if the disc is a hybrid with red book layer. Don't think there's any PC based sound card with DSD SACD capability either. Back to a SACD CD player if playing SACD to its potential.

mr_wicked might have the solution for SACD ripping.

Too profound for me to understand.

"Might"? I reckon many or even I would luv to have something as easy as what most people can do now, a cdrom and can rip music cd. Just that there's no common solution to ripping sacd's.

Vinyl ripped in 24/96

Dire Straits - Walk of Life
Paul Simon - You can call me Al
Police - Every breath you take.

Both in 24/192. Stunning

tycham,

You are very fast.

Studio master or vinyl rip?

VS126 wrote:tycham,

You are very fast.

Studio master or vinyl rip?

No mention of these on HDTracks. The year of release was dated 2001

As much as I have been sucked into the dark side, but with the limited LPs I have at the moment, cant resist going back to hi res hehehehe.

Spent the night and morning listening to the following via the MF CLiC:

1. The Eagles - HOtel California in 192/24
2. Ella and Loius - in 96/24
3. Metallica - Black Album in 96/24

I must say there is a huge different between 192 and 96 in fact.

Hotel californai and The New Kid in Town sounded very deep and amplified somehow. Details of the drums and guitar are very intriguing.

Louis and Ella....hhhmmmm the vocals are like really upfront and the clarity seems to make it as if its a live performance.

Metallica...no comment. Enter Sandman and Sad But True are the 2 tracks that made me turn on my drums and started banging on them at 630 am.

Ohhhh I am late for work.

What do you guys think about the files from HDTracks?

There are so many debates worldwide on whether the files sold by HDTracks are really hi-res files?

To me it is, based on sampling freq and bit rates. But how good was the files were remastered should be the question to ask.

Why not you try, buy some albums from them and then write a review. Do an 'sflam' as what bassraptor would suggest

The selection of hi-res music from HDTracks have improved a bit recently. Warner brothers is now re-issuing -some- music on high-res and I hope it is real high-res. The last time I got Pink Floyd 'The Wall' (but it was not from HDTracks though), I discovered it was digitized from an LP playing on a Technics TT which was then passed through a declicker and a noiser remover software.

I still couldn't find most of my favourite music on HDTracks high-res format yet but at least a few like Eagles Hotel California is now available. I still cannot find Furtwangler conducting Beethoven Symphony No.9 in hi-res for e.g. (whatever furtwangler is available on HDTracks are in 16/44.1 which is another thing, you need to double check that album you found there is really in high res format). A lot depends on your taste in music.

Actually I think the quality of the re-master matters a lot more than whether it is high-res or not. Think of what we used to argue about in HCOC. Can we really just add a HKS EVC-4 onto -any- turbocharged car and get a lot of power by simply turning up the boost to 1.0bar or higher ?

Eh bought already all the albums. Most of my hi-res files are from HDtracks.

To me its quite straight forward, there is an audible difference between CD, 24/96 and 24/192. Simple enough.

But, does it always sound better than CD (or LP)? Not necessarily.

The debates going around in other websites are claiming that the files from HDTracks are not hi-res. This is based on whatever graphical analysis they did to show that HDTracks files showing added 'noise' compared to CD.

But if you run the files on flac players like foobar, it still show 96/24 output from the files.

So, my conclusion on HDTracks:

1. Based on bitrate and sampling, the files are hi-res

2. Does it all the time sound better than CD? No, not all the hi res are.

On Honda cars, I stick to simple i-DSI for fuel efficiency hehehehe.

Ah, now you are doing a good impersonation of sflam, bassraptor would be proud of you I think..... (just joining in SJ's fun la, sflam ).

Having talked to some of those people who complained about HDTracks some time ago, what I can understand from them is that they are saying some of the 'hi-res' music in HDTracks are 'not original'. By 'not original', they mean that the version that came out of the recording label was -not- originally in hi-res, 24/96, 24/192, etc but rather in 'hi-quality' 16/44.1 format, i.e. CD standard. So they say HDTracks upsampled those tracks to create the hi-res versions which they sell.

What is desired are original hi-res format music from the recording studio, i.e. either ADC'ed directly from the analog master tapes into 24/96 or 24/192, etc, or the recording itself was done in the format, usually 24/96. Actually if a recording is done in 24/96 and the music is then released in 24/96, that means we are effectively getting the master tape copy of the music.

Supposedly when we apply an algorithm to upsample a piece of music especially to a higher bit resolution (e.g. 16bits to 24bits), that process produces a unique noise floor signature which is not present in an original recording at 24bits. This seems to be the basis for the complaint.

What music did you buy from HDTracks. Why not do a review on all of them here for the rest of the digital kaki's to read ?

No no no...the idea is not to de-throne sflam, the idea is to learn from him hehehehe.

Yes, I agree and believe that HDTracks does not provide hi-res files in their native format. Maybe some but not all. Thats why I mentioned in my conclusion, that IF one is to define hi-res by bit rate and sampling frequency, then the files are hi-res.

But if we start getting into upsampling, yes, they are not. Similar to connecting a CD player that plays 44.1/24 or 16, to an upsampling DAC that upsamples to 192 khz, I would not call that hi-res.

The best hi-res music I have heard so far is in fact in their native recording at 24/96 and 24/192. But similar to your predicament WongKN, the one available are not really my kind of music. So I only listen to them for:

1. Comparison with non-native files
2. Experiencing true hi-res.

These native files indeed has a different signature to them.If one is to talk about depth, soundstaging etc....these native files provides a different spectrum to your ears...and maybe I should say to MY ears.

The best music on native files I have is this percussion sample which was recorded in hi-res....and you know me lah...as a not so handsome drummer, this sample really gets me going.

What do I have from HDTracks:

1. Buena Vista Social Club
2. Ella Fitzgerald - Easy Living Jazz Collection
3. The Eagles - Hotel California
4.Metallica - Black Album
5. Staind - Shades of Grey
6. Ella and Loius -
7. Jaoa Gilbert/Stan Getz
8. Nirvana -Nevermind

All in 24/96 except The Eagles in 24/192

In summary, all these albums above sound DIFFERENT.

The best sounding is Ella and Louis.

The vocals presentation on these files are indeed mesmerizing. Definitely they were not recorded in hi-rez in the artist's time, so definitely remastered.

But this is when remasteriing is done properly, the results can be good.

The high notes however, can get harsh sometimes especially during Louis's long trumpet solo.

I can definitely hear layers of music and different tonal colours between Ella and Louis's vocals and also from the other instruments backing them up.

For the one that I least like (which is I am sad to say) is The Eagles. Its mainly sound amplified in most corners. Some tracks are good like HOtel California and The New Kid in Town. It sounds a lot similar to a Bread LP I heard in a friend's place.

This amplified sound to me is the result of pushing the master file from their recording time and trying to make it sound hi-res. Upsampling or remastering should not be about making the music sounds louder.

An example is Buena Vista, Gilberto/Getz and Ella, they didnt sound sound amplified, in fact they sound 'quieter ' than the rest. I have to increase the volume in fact but the presentation they offer, is really good.

For rock music like Metallica and newly released 20th anniversary of Nirvana - Nevermind, it does again sound different from CD. One would have to listen to them to see whether you like it or not.

And that my fellow forummers.....is my take on 1's and 0's.......

For rock music like Metallica and newly released 20th anniversary of
Nirvana - Nevermind, it does again sound different from CD. One would
have to listen to them to see whether you like it or not.

Hey elhefe! Since you got your black poison..... the Nirvana Nevermind? Get It!!!!!

cyh wrote:

For rock music like Metallica and newly released 20th anniversary of
Nirvana - Nevermind, it does again sound different from CD. One would
have to listen to them to see whether you like it or not.

Hey elhefe! Since you got your black poison..... the Nirvana Nevermind? Get It!!!!!

Trying to source on Nevermind LP at the moment.

Enjoying newly downloaded Andrea Bocelli - Concerto One NIght in Central Park...

Killer vocals and stage ambience...

Its been awhile since the last time I did some serious listening to hi res digital music on my CLiC. Eversince TT came to my life, I have abandoned the digital era. So, coupled with the flu I am having now, I have downloaded Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicles 20 Greatest Hits from HDTracks. Its at 96kHz/24 bit in FLAC. And just kick back listening with the comfort of a remote control.

Stick the thumbdrive to the CLiC, and fired away. First track was of course Have You Ever Seen The Rain. My my my..it sounded so good. At times it sounded like it was recorded in mono. CCR is a band that mixes subtlety in the guitar riffs and lyrics with a growling vocals. Other tracks like Proud Mary and Bad Moon Rising were mesmerizing as well. The hi res files was definitely a step up from the MP3 version I have of this album.

The ambience of that old era is still there in the music but at the same time a new life was injected into these files. Its not amplified but it sounded very airy but still had that musical impact on me.

Need to balance between TT and hi res from now on.

Just testing my newly arrived 24/192 DAC using Alison Krauss and Union Station's Paper Airplane from HDTracks.

I wonder what did I miss before.

.