HDTracks News (part 7)

And there you have it

 

I was like you. I actually thought 192kHz sounded a bit worse, like 96kHz with a bad dither added.
But then I upgraded my DAC... Now I hear that you gain a little more analog smoothness with 192. It is not a night and day difference, but a slight, positive one. YMMV. I have no horse in the game and haven't actually mastered any release at 192kHz yet.

 

As a business strategy to maximize profits, they could have just one lower price, e.g. $18, for whatever the best resolution available is. More sales, less effort, and better deal for customers.

 

Although I don't disagree with your lower prices strategy there aren't enough people interested in high res to make up the money that would be lost from the lower price unfortunately.

 

I suppose not...unfortunately.

 

Do you have any idea what the justification is for the considerable markup? In the case of some of those 24/192 Kiss albums, I belive the price is closer to $30. That seems awfully high given the minimal physical overhead. Is it a chunk of it the data infrastructure needed to host and distribute large files?

 

All the KISS albums are selling for the standard $24,98. That is what most 24/192 album downloads sell for. The prices are set by the labels. The Zeppelin albums are 19.98 for 24/96. Most 24/96 downloads are 17.98.

 

Regardless, $25 for in some cases 35 minutes of digital files seems a bit excessive

 

I don't disagree but that is a standard price the labels have determined to sell them for. Keep in mind Mofi and Audio Fidelity SACDs sell for $25 to $30 so it isn't out of line with other high resolution products. Hell, the KISS vinyl was selling for $35 for single albums and $50 for double albums. If you look at it that way the double albums on HDtracks are a bargain at $25.

 

That's $25 to $30 with manufacturing, printing, delivery, storage, etc., etc. Apart from hard disk space and an Internet connection, the overhead for something like HDtracks.com is minimal. Price shouldn't be comparable, it should be markedly lower.

 

SACDs costs less than a couple of bucks to manufacture so those costs are negligible at best. Most of the costs are all the same costs associated with the downloads. The bottom line is the labels want you to pay a premium for high resolution. It's kind of like Blu-Ray vs DVD. Manufacturing costs are almost identical but you pay a premium for the Blu-ray.

 

Individually maybe, but not in aggregate. Added to which there is no supply train, no distribution, and so forth needed with these files. Moreover they're moving through one or two retailers.

 

Your not taking into account storage space, servers that need to keep up with the fast download speeds people expect to get etc. Look, high resolution, whether it is a Mofi or Audio Fidelity SACD or its a digital download are overpriced IMO but as long as they have people pay it they will charge it. These downloads and vinyl are the only formats that are gaining ground in the music industry right now and they are the 2 most overpriced formats available. Go figure.

 

I mentioned that in post 783. But ultimately I agree with you that it comes down to getting the consumer to overpay while the producer cuts his cost even more.

 

The only costs being cut by the producers lately are the costs of doing everything in digital as apposed to analog. I would think the loudness wars are actually making it more expensive to hire mastering engineers since they have to work harder to get the music louder and not make it sound like crap. Almost an impossible task.

 

I don't believe that the different pricing for 24/96 vs. 24/192 downloads is set in advance by the labels though.

At least the german based highresaudio.com does not sell different resolutions at different prices. If they offer 24/96 and 24/192 resolution files you pay the same.

Since the french based qobuz.com handles it that way too the price model used by the american/canadian based hdtracks and ProStudioMasters must have a different reason than label strategy...

 

The 24/96 downloads are priced rather competitively (same as the CD list price). The 24/192 downloads are an overpriced option for those who don't want any compromises.

For Blue Note albums, I always get the 24/96 version, since the biggest sonic advantage of the downloads over existing RVG CDs is the quality of the mastering, not so much the higher resolution.

 

It is set by the labels. The European market is just set differently by the labels. Instead of paying $18 for 24/96 and $25 for 24/192 you pay the equivelant of $22 for both and they don't give you a choice of resolutions (on Qobuz anyway). It becomes a wash.

 

If the mastering is good, the higher resolution will make a noticeable difference as well on a good, well setup system.

 

Listened to KISS Asylum this morning...incredible!
Goes to prove what I've always said; one of the best sounding, produced, engineered and mixed discs in the Katalog.

 

I wonder if it has been remixed at some point because it was originally digitally mixed in 16/44.1.

 

No, it doesn't seem to be that easy if you take a look at the price variations in the following example:
http://www.findhdmusic.com/album/puccini-turandot-1957-serafin-callas-maria-callas/17124
I became used to check this comparison page before buying new stuff meanwhile. Taking into account the discount codes too one can save a lot of money...

In the example above it is 44$ (40 with rebate} vs. <20$ for the same files...

 

OK first you are comparing a US price ($44) to an EU price (<$20) which isn't valid since they are different markets.
Second, if you compare all the EU stores 2 of the three are selling for about the same price. The one that isn't has filed for what is the equivalent of bankruptcy which tells me they are trying to gain business by undercutting everybody else and not making money in the process. They probably pay the same for those files from the labels. It's just like when you see all the different prices for physical media at different places. Some people try to complete by being the cheapest and some by giving good customer service etc. etc..

 

Muse the 2nd Law

 

Sorry but no once more:

1. You were the one who stated that the 'unified' prices in Europe would be just in between those 'varied' prizes in the american market and that therefore everything would equalise in the end which does not hold true considering the given example. Even the second best price is far away from the 40$...

2. Qobuz has two product lines. Selling hires files was not their main business. Their main business was selling a streaming service like Spotify and alike but in CD-quality instead of MP3 as their main competitors. The financial trouble they got into was because of this streaming service which was not as successful as they had hoped for. To cut it short: their financial issues did not occur due to undercutting prices in the hires field...

But back to topic:
which 3 Kiss would you recommend to start with? Thinking about Kiss, Alive and Double Platinum. Good choice?