Hi-Res Download News (HDTracks, ProStudioMasters, Pono, etc.) & Software/Mastering Part 12**

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Gary, May 9, 2015.

  1. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    Doubt it. it is always slow this time year for new releases...and even slower for the tiny HD download market.
     
    art likes this.
  2. jonboy71

    jonboy71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxnard, CA
    Anyone pick up Springsteen Magic or The Rising at 24/88.2 ?
     
  3. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    Nothing will save Magic. Total turd of a mix and master.
     
  4. randian

    randian Forum Resident

    192/24 PCM doesn't have DRM, MQA does. QED. Are there any software-only MQA players? I especially don't like being required to buy a new and expensive piece of hardware to play MQA titles.

    I like being able to play my HD titles through iTunes, nothing special needed (other than a conversion from FLAC to ALAC, which is quick and lossless).
     
    Mr. Explorer likes this.
  5. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Anyone notice that a handful of DCC titles went up for sale on HDtracks? Supposedly 24/44.1… but was @Steve Hoffman even mastering at 24 bit in the 80’s? :confused: I thought DCC didn’t even exist anymore!
     
    Mr. Explorer and sunspot42 like this.
  6. xj32

    xj32 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Racine, WI
    Links? I can't seam to see/find them
     
    Mr. Explorer likes this.
  7. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Mr. Explorer likes this.
  8. robertawillisjr

    robertawillisjr Music Lover

    Location:
    Hampton, VA
    Re: DCC titles

    Perhaps this is a sign that we will see more of them in the future. I wonder if @Steve Hoffman is affiliated?
     
    Mr. Explorer likes this.
  9. Steve Martin

    Steve Martin Wild & Crazy Guy

    Location:
    Plano, TX
    Interesting. Note that Reggae Classics was re-released by Morada Music (under license from DCC) as O Reggae, Where Art Thou?

    Also a naming error on tracks 1 and 13 on this new digital release "Man Bitter" and "Ally I" should be "I Man Bitter" and "Aily I"
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2018
    Mr. Explorer and MrRom92 like this.
  10. Plan9

    Plan9 Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Toulouse, France
    24bit didn't exist in the 80s.
     
    telepicker97, Simon A and UncleHalsey like this.
  11. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    I wouldn’t my hopes up too much. Licensing agreements for the vast majority of DCC stuff probably preclude any release under the DCC name - physical copy or downloads.

    I suspect there might even be more to the story of these.
     
    Mr. Explorer, sunspot42 and Simon A like this.
  12. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    On that note, now I’m curious - when were the first 24 bit converters in use? Even in an experimental manner? Couldn’t find anything on this when googling. I’m looking at the back of a Sony Classical CD from 1992 right now and it mentions having been recorded in 20-bit and “super-bitmapped” - I presume this refers to it being downrezzed (dithered?) to 16 bit.

    I’m sure 24 bit existed in the 80’s in some form. But definitely not in any kind of widespread professional use.
     
    Mr. Explorer likes this.
  13. Plan9

    Plan9 Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Toulouse, France
    The earliest mentions of 24bit on commercially available products that I remember come from around '94 or '95. 20bit started in the late 80s, '88 or '89 maybe?

    There were fully digital mixing consoles (Neve DSP-1) working internally at 32bits (!) in 1981, but they only could print mixes in 16bit.

    Super Bit Mapping was a form of dither developped by Sony.
     
    Last edited: Jan 11, 2018
  14. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Very interesting stuff... there’s a surprising amount of info out there about the dawn of digital and 12 bit recorders, 14 bit recorders, 16 bit, 50khz soundstream, etc… but nothing ever about the eventual push for better sampling rates and bit depths.
     
    Mr. Explorer likes this.
  15. Plan9

    Plan9 Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Toulouse, France
    Maybe it's too early still. Higher bit depth came first, for a long time there was nothing above 48kHz, then higher sampling rates appeared. I think mainly "audiophile" productions made the push for higher sampling rates.
     
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  16. Fritz G23

    Fritz G23 Forum Resident

    Any sitewide HDtracks codes out there?
     
    Mr. Explorer likes this.
  17. Fritz G23

    Fritz G23 Forum Resident

    This is interesting. Can you point me to the source about this info re DSD? I am a big Springsteen fan and doubt I would purchase every show in DSD, but I might buy one or two favorite concerts that way if they are indeed superior in sound. So far I haven't found that to be the case with other DSD files.

    On a related note, do you know anything of the MQA Springsteen concerts?
     
    Mr. Explorer likes this.
  18. followmehome

    followmehome Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    Easiest trick in the book - no one can hear the difference between 16 bit and 24bit, so just re-save the 16bit file as 24 and it looks better (and takes up more hardrive space!) and "justifies" a higher retail price.

    I would be dubious of any commercially released 24 bit file that was "only" 44.1 too - if it's been downsampled to 44.1, there is little reason why it wouldn't have been downsampled to 16 bit. Bandcamp is littered with 96khz files, which are redbook audio quality and the only higher frequencies are distortion from the audio being hard limited.
     
    The_Windmill and Mr. Explorer like this.
  19. The Punisher

    The Punisher Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I have bought every Springsteen DSD off nugs. I've compared them to the FLac-HD counterparts and the DSD is miles better. the July 1, 2000 DSD is stunning. Don't know about MQA, I'm not changing over to yet another format.
     
    Mr. Explorer likes this.
  20. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY

    Aside from the audibility or inaudibility of the difference, there would be a difference in the data between a 16 bit upconversion and native 24 bit data, which would be easily detected. I don’t doubt that there are plenty of upconversions, but there are lots of legitimate 24/44.1 albums out there, which I do opt to obtain over their 16/44.1 counterparts every time.
     
  21. Fritz G23

    Fritz G23 Forum Resident

    What DAC do you use?
     
  22. The Punisher

    The Punisher Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
  23. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    Side question, I just use JRivers software with no DAC. Am I losing sound quality?
     
  24. Kal Rubinson

    Kal Rubinson Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    But you must be using a DAC somewhere in your system. What is the output of JRiver connected to?
     
  25. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    very sweet sounding DAC....superb choice.
     

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