Hi-Rez Download Reviews - Comments About Music You've Purchased (or want to purchase) *Only*, Please

Has anyone downloaded the Allman Brothers "Idlewild South" and have an opinion? Saw a post on S/T and that got me wondering about this one

 

Quicksilver Messenger Service S/T @ 96/24 from HDTracks did not impress me on first listen.

 

I'm really enjoying The Allman Brothers Fillmore East Recordings. I think they sound really good.

 

Scratch this one. Can't find a hi res download anywhere. Must have confused it with a MoFi or vinyl version on Acoustic Sounds.

 

Maybe you're thinking of the new SHM-SACD?

 

No better than red book? Good to know.

 

A few other HDtracks albums that I think sound really good:

• Cat Stevens "Tea For The Tillerman" 24/192 - this is definitely a record that shows off 24/192, listen to the piano on Sad Lisa... Amazing detail.
• Cream "Disraeli Gears" 24/96 - I like this better than the MFSL gold version.
• Eagles Studio Box 24/96 - Really good detail and separation. The best versions of these albums I've heard.
• Grateful Dead Studio Albums - Same as with the Eagles, plus Plangent processing firms things up even more.
• Rod Stewart "Every Picture Tells A Story" - noticeable upgrade from other versions I've heard.

 

Agree with all of the above. Highly recommend

 

HDtracks site is down. But they did announce the New York Dolls debut, which is incredible.

 

• Cat Stevens "Tea For The Tillerman" - Prefer the MFSL Gold CD, sounds more natural.
• Cream "Disraeli Gears" - I think I read here that it is the same mastering as the SHM-SACD so I agree with you.
• Eagles Studio Box - only the first album and Desperado are not peak limited. I prefer the original CDs mastered by Barry Diament.
• Grateful Dead Studio Albums - mostly agree with you.
• Rod Stewart "Every Picture Tells A Story" - I haven't heard it.

 

I am curious about the recent Joshua Redman
I've heard one track: his cover of The Ocean (yes, the Led Zep one!), and it was really good
But it is a Nonesuch hires, and Nonesuch, lately, has not met my expectations, sound-wise (last Metheny, the Mehliana thing). Not for the hires premium anyway.

 

It's up on ProStudioMasters too.

 

I have listened to it twice but had to endure distractions (both times). So given those casual listening sessions, it sounds pretty good. I plan to listen again sometime this week and will relate that experience.

 

Which version do you have?

 

Your post got me thinking. I haven't been aware of these recordings sounding compressed. I have good ears and I am pretty sensitive to that.

Also, I am not a completist. I've only retained a handful of tracks off of each of the first four albums. I jump off the bus entirely at Hotel California. So I don't have any data at all on the last two records.

In all the cases I looked at, the HDtracks versions were within 2db of the most dynamic version available of this music. In the case of the first two records, they were the most dynamic versions listed. On The Border was 1db less; One Of These Nights was 2db less.

My own empirical DR measurements are in line with the DR db, even though I don't have complete albums to analyze.

I'm not sure what you mean by "peak limited." Normally, limiting is a form of compression. I'm just not seeing readings that support your assertion about the material. Surely limiting peaks would result in a lower DR reading. One or two db is generally not audible.

In any case, I found the HDtracks versions to have a superior stereo field and enhanced detail. I heard things in many of those songs that I had not heard on previous vinyl and CD versions.

 

The 24/192 version but both are the same the 24/96 is just downsampled.

 

The joke is that I decided to not wait for a reply and just downloaded it anyway, figuring if the S/ T was good the Idlewile

I don't know what I was thinking about ;-). That was embarrassing. Oh well, I will listen to the Beginnings version until it becomes available for download.

 

Downloaded Journey through the secret life of plants by Stevie wonder today. Much better than the red book CD. Very happy.

 

Load the tracks - On The Border for example - in Audacity with View > Show Clipping.

 

How bad is the clipping? Got any images?

The Eagles set doesn't sound terribly compressed or limited to me. Certainly not an ear-bleeder.

Of course, I grew up with The Eagles on the radio, where even with FM the signal would have been heavily compressed. So maybe I'm immune when it comes to these tracks. But I did have the BD CD of One Of These Nights and the two hits packages, and I think the HDTracks complete Eagles set sounds substantially better than either.

The Linda Ronstadt set at HDTracks also sounded really good to me, but I only have her two hits CDs to compare.

Secret Life Of Plants has a hot high end, but not as hot as "Send One Your Love" on his Original Musiquarium CD. So my assumption is that's the way the original CD - and original vinyl - sounded as well. It's not awful, but probably limits the record's crankability.

My favorite HDTracks download is probably still Tapestry. Some of it doesn't sound all that great - the same was true of the original album, which I had a zillion years ago, and the original CD - but "Home Again" and a couple of other tracks are just breathtaking. I wish they'd put out her Songs of Long Ago hits package...

The s/t Fleetwood Mac is also quite tasty, and Tusk is easily the most-balanced release of that album we've gotten since the original LP (the original CD was always had an excessive high-end, although it was nicely crisp, and that Rhino remaster from a decade ago was an abomination).

 

I found the S/T from HDTracks a bit dull sounding... the WG Target is the best way to experience this album IMO. Same goes for Rumours.

 

That view in Audacity doesn't really show clipping it just shows what peaks hit 0db. That doesn't mean they were clipped, the album could just have been normalized to 0db which is very common.

 

Hmmm. Mileage. I think s/t is definitely improved on HDTracks, although the original Warners CD (which I also have) sounds great as well.

Can't speak to Rumours, since I didn't download it from HDTracks, as I already have the multichannel DVD-A (which sounds incredible).

 

Fleetwood Mac s/t in Hi-Res is like listening to the master tape, it is that good. It is not jacked up, it is not compressed, it is not filtered. It is everything but dull IMO. I don't see how you could prefer a CD to it.

 

The Rumours HDTracks is the same mastering as the stereo DVD-A, just slightly lowered by -0.10dB so that the peaks don't hit 0dB. It has limiting and EQ but it sounds excellent.