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

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

  1. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Twenty dollars a month is nothing when you consider what some people here spend on music and gear. Spotify is crap IMHO. Bandcamp is great for obscure artists and purchasing lossless downloads but the free streaming is low quality.
     
  2. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    I don't disagree..but I honestly do not think you need lossless streaming to sample new artists..as a matter of fact, I know you don't.

    You might be surprised at all the amazing artists on Bandcamp. More and more record companies are selling there..just recently, Drag City, and tons
    of primo reissue labels remastering some excellent titles. And if you purchase vinyl or CD, you get FLAC downloads included, and sometimes all three.
     
    gd0 and c-eling like this.
  3. bferr1

    bferr1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    Thanks for the tip!
     
    oneway23 likes this.
  4. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    I know all about Bandcamp. I've bought over 300 FLAC albums there.

    Of course lossless streaming isn't necessary to sample new artists. Back in the pre-internet days I often bought albums 100% blind or based on a review. I still do occasionally. Lossless streaming is just nice to have. I've tried free and lossy streaming and didn't like it for reasons that go beyond sound quality. Streaming only makes up maybe 10-15% of my listening diet. It's just not what I prefer. I own thousands of CDs and LPs that attest to that. If I'm going to do streaming, I'm going all out with a platform I like in the best quality I can get. Tidal offers that for me.
     
  5. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    And this is why there should be some MFiT-esque standard that the labels should be held to before it can be submitted. It would be difficult to enforce for all vendors, but at the least the largest vendor, HDTracks should. I mean this isn't performing a double carotid endarterectomy here, it's simple stuff :); don't compress the music, use tasteful EQ and for the love of god don't watermark paying customer's files. Sounds sort of like the current Mofi... where not surprisingly they are far more hit than miss. And I too think if you're hearing things for the first time it's because of compression.
     
    mattright likes this.
  6. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    I operate the same way and also have a massive physical and digital library..we are on the same page..

    But you did say you paid $20 for Tidal a month to sample new artists..and i still say that is something that a tiny minority will be willing to do. I have bought over 500 Bandcamp albums based on streaming samples, which on my Audioengine speakers sound excellent enough for me to make purchasing decisions. Heck, Youtube videos are good enough for me to decide to buy or not.
     
  7. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    If you're a member of this board, you're already in a tiny minority of the general music listening population. RE: Tidal, I technically don't pay $20 a month since I received a 3 month free trial and have a discounted membership at present. Even at $20, it's worth it to me...if you don't think it's worth it, fine, don't use it.
     
  8. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    HDTracks may be the largest vendor, but even they're teeny tiny. They don't have the resources to perform that kind of an audit on every title, or the luxury of rejecting content.
     
  9. clarknovember

    clarknovember Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Coventry, UK
    I had to laugh when I saw this letter in Hi-fi Choice magazine:


    [​IMG]
     
    DirkGentlyUK likes this.
  10. rbbert

    rbbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    Reno, NV, USA
    So true, hearing things for the first time is NOT an advantage of high-res digital. Besides compression, it can also occur with a new remix from multi-track masters.

    The advantages of high-res digital done right is simply a smoother, more natural sound, especially in quieter passages of music
     
    marcb, Soundslave and TonyCzar like this.
  11. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    Simply stunning. Meridian really is shameless. "MQA Vinyl"? **** me.
     
    sunspot42 likes this.
  12. TonyCzar

    TonyCzar Forum Resident

    Location:
    PhIladelphia, PA
    BTDT. You move on. I was a paid subscriber to MOG and the pre-consolidation "Napster". Torrent trackers disappear. Albums get yanked from still-running streaming services. If one can't live with that, one is probably buying music already to ensure high availability.

    As a practical answer to your question, the streaming services are all pretty much "walled gardens". Only one company (and I forget which) briefly offered a tool to import (again, IIRC) your Spotify library and match titles with stuff on their service. And accuracy was hit-or-miss. Google the question "How can I import my [servicename] library?" Lotsa pain out there still.

    These things will influence your consumption patterns. You can just say "pass" on streaming.

    I don't treat Tidal as the fulfillment of my childhood dream of an infinite record library. It does most of what it does very well. People say their interface is clunky, but on the mobile side, I say the booby prize goes to Spotify, which people swear by. Different strokes. It solves several problems for me at a price that is worth it.
     
  13. oneway23

    oneway23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, US
    No problem. I've already gone well off-topic several times in this thread, so, what the hell. Season 5 is amazing so far! Anything after season 1 has been fantastic, really, and even season 1 wasn't necessarily bad, it's just that everything afterwards has been so good.
     
  14. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    Just a disclaimer, I have nothing against Tidal. I have heard it several times (on ridiculously high end systems to boot) and it is a great service.

    My only beef is the tie to MQA. It is a farce. Other than that, it is perfect for people who have NOT invested in digital libraries and media. Therefore it if goes belly up, nothing is lost.

    Case in point, I know a guy with 10,000 Lps, and less than 500 CDs, and most are junk. He talks a good game about HD Downloads and SACDs but has not lifted a finger. And showing him the ripping/download/FLAC/server/DAC set up would be a nightmare.

    So Tidal would be a turnkey solution.
     
    sunspot42 likes this.
  15. UncleHalsey

    UncleHalsey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle, WA, USA
    Hopefully the letter writer will find his way to this site (to find his way). That mag was no help at all!
     
  16. aaron25

    aaron25 New Member

    i like hd audio
     
    Plan9 likes this.
  17. TokenGesture

    TokenGesture Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    What's wrong with a turnkey solution anyway?
     
  18. oneway23

    oneway23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, US
    There was a time when I'd completely agree with you. These days, I'm not so sure.

    My wife and I had an Acer Windows Home Server with our stuff ripped in our place a decade ago. I've got over 6,000 CDs digitized and a couple-hundred hi-res releases, and I feel as though I've toyed and tinkered with anything you could imagine when it comes to digital audio. I may or may not be a typical use case, I don't know, but, I'm also closer than ever before to giving that all up. It's all beginning to feel unnecessarily redundant. The local library and the pile of hard drives don't need to go anywhere. They don't evaporate into thin air when I launch Tidal, but, I find I'm needing my local library less and less as time moves on. Tidal even has a good amount of obscure Italian prog bands! I'm still not seeing every hi-res release I own up there, so let's see where we are in six months, but, it's sure not sounding as crazy as it used to, anyway.

    In terms of the hypothetical situation with your friend, I would absolutely agree with you were this a few years ago, but, the ripping/download/FLAC/server/DAC nightmare you describe is not nearly what it used to be. A 2TB Bluesound Vault for $1200 gives the guy you describe an automatic ripper that will also auto-tag, NAS storage, a networked audio player with access to any streaming service imaginable, and a capable DAC that he can control with his phone or tablet. Assuming he doesn't have a massive local library, he could drop that down to $500, get a Node, and he's got everything except the ripper and NAS components.
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2017
  19. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    who said there was anything wrong?
     
  20. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    I totally get what you are saying. And I know Tidal's catalog is surprisingly deep. Even tons of indie neo psych bands if you can believe that.

    Trust, it appears easy to you and me, but breaking this down to someone who does not even know what a FLAC or AIFF file is not that simple.

    In the end I would never trust a corporation, Verizon no less, with my music library needs.
     
    formu_la and oneway23 like this.
  21. TokenGesture

    TokenGesture Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Hmm... maybe nobody. oops. :oops:
     
    TonyCzar likes this.
  22. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    :righton::winkgrin:
     
    TonyCzar likes this.
  23. rbbert

    rbbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    Reno, NV, USA
    Sprint?
     
  24. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    SoCal
    Was it Spring who bought Tidal? I don't know why I thought Verizon.
     
  25. Stereosound

    Stereosound Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Sprint bought a 33% stake in Tidal.
     

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