HDTracks article in latest Stereophile: weak journalism and missed opportunities

I just finished the featured interview of Norman Chesky in the November Stereophile. David Lander did the interview. If I were the editor, I'd have spiked it, or sent it back to David for some real reporting. The interview reads like a PR brochure. HDTracks offers some great-sounding downloads, and I respect them for their pioneering efforts, but their practices are not consistently advancing the market for great-sounding hi-res music. The interviewer could at least have asked one or two tough questions. Instead, it's an extended "tell us the story of your company and its success." Sorry, that's just not journalism.

Lander should have asked these questions, not in an adversarial way, but in a way that held some tough issues up to the light:

• A few years ago there was a scandal involving standard-quality files that were upsampled and sold as hi-res, even though they weren't natively hi-res. Tell us about HDTracks' response to that concern and how you worked with labels going forward to halt that deceptive practice.
• HDTracks positions itself as simply a "retail store" for whatever the labels provide. At the same time, you pride yourself on "weaning an entire generation off lo-rez MP3 downloads" (Lander) "by letting them hear the difference" (Chesky). There's a strong implicit claim there that HDTracks does do some kind of quality check--otherwise, what consistent "difference" are you talking about? How do you reconcile what appear to be contradictions between the marketing and business practices at your company?
• Why haven't you yet implemented customer reviews and/or ratings for your titles?
• Are you in conversations with labels about issues such as reduced dynamic range in their hi-res titles? Do you have any plans to ask them for more detailed (or any) mastering information?

And so forth.

When people say they stand for higher quality and offer products at premium prices justified by that higher quality, I think they have a responsibility to something other than "hey, we're at the mercy of the labels" when downloads actually sound worse than the original CDs. I don't want HDTracks to shut down. The good-sounding stuff they sell is wonderful indeed. I don't want Stereophile to shut down either, as I enjoy much of their work. But when a major audiophile publication such as Stereophile lets them continue to evade or ignore tough questions about their business, the consumer suffers and the state of the art languishes.

 

Very well put. HDtracks occupies a market niche alongside of audiophile labels and a few other hi-res download outlets that passionately care about sound quality, and yet the few times when I've contacted them about a badly-mastered download, their response basically amounts to a shoulder shrug and that 'we're at the mercy of the labels' line. I'm sorry, but they could do a lot better than that. Caveat emptor - it pays to do research before buying from them, just as with pretty much everywhere else.

 

Excellent. I saw their article a few days ago and thought it was weak; you've accurately articulated its faults. Thanks.

 

Did you send your thoughts to Stereophile or the interviewer? If they respond, please do update this thread.

 

I am guessing that the point of the article was to introduce a broader audience to HDTracks and not to get overly technical or point out faults of the service. I also wonder if HDTracks requested / made some questions off limits for the interview? I do agree the interviewer should have asked about the items listed above if allowed to.

 

Fluff piece. Why surprised? They are an advertiser and they supply Stereophile writers with free product.

No one bites the hand that feeds.

 

These ae all very well articulated and relevant points - you might want to post a comment on Stereophile's site - they usually respond in one way or another http://www.stereophile.com/content/norman-chesky-hdtracks-and-chesky-records

 

Thanks for the nudge. I've posted a modified version here: http://www.stereophile.com/comment/543314#comment-543314. I'll be interested to see what response it gets, if any.

 

in Stereophile magazine?

 

There’s a reason they didn’t ask these embarrassingly naive and uninformed questions and it’s because they aren’t saddled with the expectation bias that you have. HDTracks is not a mastering house, it’s a retail outlet (a store). It would be just as ridiculous to ask your questions to the CEO of Tower Records or any other major retailer.

Your comments about “not wanting to shut them down” further reveals just how biased you are. Some of these questions could be asked of Chesky, but even a straight forward question about customer reviews is positioned as an attack.

 

Yes, this kind of response (though not usually so aggressive) is one I have heard a lot. There are a few new wrinkles--I don't know why a question about customer reviews constitutes an attack--but it's the same line of thought. My response is always to ask whether a retail outlet has any responsibility for the claims it makes for the goods it sells. I think it does. In this case, given that it's the Chesky family we're discussing and Norman's brother David Chesky actually does get involved in mastering, recording, and performance, we're also talking about a retail outlet that gains at least some of its credibility from an in-house brand that they do make. According to Norman, David Chesky accompanies him and the HDTracks lawyer to every meeting to set up a deal with a label. David's there to "talk about artistic things, about the quality, and how we make a difference. Nobody's better in spreading the word on hi-rez audio." The interview makes it clear that the Chesky name is a big part of the HDTracks brand and bid for credibility.

If Tower Records had a section called "Audiophile Delights" and did extensive marketing on the basis of the extraordinary difference in improved sound we should expect from the recordings in this section, and then we found out that these recordings were actually made from third generation cassette dubs and that Tower Records said "not our problem, we're just a store," I think complaints would be warranted. A good store would at the very least remove the product and refuse to sell it anymore. If a store sells its customers something on the basis of its premium quality, and then its customers discover it's not premium quality, and the store just shrugs and smiles, that store is not trading in good faith.

I get caveat emptor. I'm not that naive. But I also get the value of "buy with confidence," and I think the best retail outlets (stores) aim for that higher standard, even if they don't themselves make the product--as most of them don't (I get that too).

 

When HDTracks advertises this, Then they claim some responsibility, no other retailer made such promises, If they removed that "fact" all would be good

 

Apparently one journalist was willing to come forward with "embarrassingly naive and uninformed questions." David Chesky gives some answers. The article is head and shoulders above the Stereophile piece. http://www.audiostream.com/content/qa-david-chesky-hdtrackscom

 

Read that some time ago, I'm still waiting for the
"And people can preview music and listen for themselves, download a single track before buying the entire album." bit

 

They are perfectly reasonable questions. Amazon has customer reviews on CDs that Amazon obviously doesn't master or manufacture. When presenting yourself as an outlet for, essentially, studio quality source material, why should upsampled and dynamically squashed offerings not be an issue worth discussing?

I've purchased a few items from HDTracks, and honestly my reaction is "meh." I'm sure they have a lot of good material, but apart from the opinions of a few people on this forum that I'd trust, I have no guide to what will likely be pleasing and what will be mediocre.

And why -- when you're advertising a high-fidelity product -- shouldn't sources be open and transparent? When I go to some of the audiophile vinyl and SACD stores, they usually point out mastering personnel and info in their product descriptions, just as M. Fremer does in his audiophile vinyl reviews. It is not a small issue. It is one of the main issues.

Why do you want to let HDTracks off the hook? Blaming the labels when something is sub-standard super-lame. And if audiophile vinyl dealers sold someone a warped record or plaqued with non-fill, they would refund or replace it.

 

fwiw, Audio Stream is part of the Stereophile family of sites. But I agree that this writer is one of their best, currently (althought this interview is from 2 years ago.)

I don't really have an opinion on the matter, but Chesky does himself no favors by frequently saying "Look..." in his answers. A defensive strategy meant to sound like "I'm cutting to the chase" but often meaning "I'm not exactly answering your question but here's what I want you to hear."

 

"it is a delivery system"

 

Unlike your OP here and your post to Sterophile, this is a reasonable and respectable way to ask questions and Chesky provided a reasonable, professional response. Additionally, these issues have been clearly asked and defined previously in this forum. Until you and others here focus your attacks on the responsible parties (read Chesky’s response) for mastering, they remain “weak ... and missed opportunities.”

 

I've re-read the interview with David Chesky and edited the language of my comment on the Norman Chesky interview to soften parts of it. I'll be interested to see if anyone responds.

I obviously believe HDTracks bears some responsibility for the way it advertises the products it sells and the way it empowers its customers to make good choices--or the way it doesn't. I also don't believe the matter is settled, even after many discussions on this forum. Even something as small as allowing customer reviews and/or ratings would be a tremendous good faith effort on their part. Wouldn't that be a way of providing valuable feedback to the parties who are ultimately responsible, the artists and the labels?

 

I have purchased a few titles from HDTracks. The titles in question did sound better, but when I pointed out a mastering error to them, it was met with "We don't hear it".

So far HDTracks have survived because there has been no real competition. If Pono comes to be, the market may change.

 

Never bought a Hi-Rez Download. Hi-Rez Downloads is only a niche market for 0,0000001 % of customers. A dying business.......

 

I'm a huge fan of HDtracks and do get tired of all the sniping. That said, the argument that they're retail and therefore not responsible for what they sell has never worked for me. If I own an office supply store (as my father once did) and I'm selling pens that the manufacturer claims never smudge and and allow you to write more smoothly but, in fact, that's not the case, it would be on me. I'm the one selling shoddy product that I never bothered to test.

 

I probably should just let this go but, um, no it's clearly growing. Just look at Acoustic Sounds offerings or the fact that HDtracks is expanding globally.

 

I read the article Friday night and agree with the OP - softball stuff for sure.

 

Actually Acoustic Sounds and ProStudioMasters are in direct competition, even selling most of the same albums. And unfortunately these two retailers are no better (and no worse) than HDTracks.