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

The new hi res ***** Cats by Nilsson sounds good. I had forgotten how trashed his voice was by then. He should have stopped the sessions before blood was covering the microphone for the sake of his future.

 

Help and advice please. Beach Boys Surfin, Holland, Deuce Coupe, All Summer. Should I buy a AP SACD, download the AP DSD or FLAC 24/192? I'm leaning toward SACD and rip to file since I'd own a physical copy. Thank you.

 

Thx!

 

THIS WEEK on HDtracks...

Dead & Company - 2 albums
Goo Goo Dolls - The Audience Is That Way (The Rest of the Show) [Vol. 2] [Live]
Papa Roach - Who Do You Trust?
Wayne Shorter - EMANON
Various Artists - Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert

plus much much more...

 

Do any of you have a coupon code for HDtracks? I'd like to get that Shorter album, and maybe a few others. Thanks!

 

15% off with code
HDJAN18

….but I do not see Wayne Shorter - EMANON listed.

 

It's not at ProStudioMasters either.

Thanks for the code, though. I have signed up for their emails, but I have never received anything from them.

 

I should have added that code is good for NEW titles only,.

 

I also have signed up for their emails. Several times. And i've been buying from them for at least 5 or 6 years, but i've never gotten a single email, nor a code. I get Prostudiomasters emails a few times a week, and i now use them as my preferred place to get hi-res downloads. I only go to HDTracks if i can't find something anywhere else, but usually i can get most stuff from Prostudiomasters of 7digital. It's their loss.

 

I also would like to know about the Wayne Shorter title.

And HDTracks didn't mention 30th anniversary Skid Row, Skid Row (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) | HDtracks - The World's Greatest-Sounding Music Downloads .

 

I posted details (DR and specs) over here for those who are interested: Poll - What is your opinion of Skid Row?

 

Wow! Wasn't expecting that.

 

Yeah I was pleasantly surprised, I just finished listening to the entire set and it was a lot of fun. I've had the original CD for forever but haven't listened to it in a while. The live show is fun too, rough around the edges, but fun! With the 15% coupon you can't beat the price/content/quality ratio.

 

Is it my imagination, or have recent releases over on HDTracks been fairly obscure? It seems like not a lot of either current or formerly mainstream material is seeing high res releases these days. Which is ridiculous, given how cheap it is for labels to package and distribute it.

 

What's even more ridiculous are the prices of what actually is released. Especially for catalog releases. All recording costs have long since been recouped, and there's absolutely zero replication, shipping, or retail space costs on digital media. $17.99 and up for a 24/44.1 digital file is insane. It's all pure profit, and even at 1/3 that price, they'd be making a killing. Then there's the fact that many (most) of these releases are so clipped and brickwalled they're, for all intents and purposes, no better than an MP3. I, like many, have reduced my HDTracks purchases to almost nil. Is this a surprise? OK - I'll get off my soapbox now.

 

I am right there with you. When I first started getting excited about high resolution audio there was a time when I was probably buying anywhere from 1 to 3 Hi-Rez titles from HD tracks every week. Now I’m lucky if I buy one title every three months.

For most releases the fact that I can typically buy a physical compact disc for 9-10 dollars on average compared to the $17-$24 of HD tracks Is pretty sobering. Also when you consider that the last three or four high resolution titles that I was interested in all came in cd sets that included a Blu-ray often with video for less than the price or equal to the download only HD tracks.

 

If I could buy legal FLAC files AT A REASONABLE PRICE of everything that was released on CD in CD resolution, I would have ditched CDs years ago. I don't understand what the issue is. Why is it frequently cheaper for me to buy CDs from Amazon or other online retailers than to even buy MP3s? I really don't get it.

 

Maybe it’s the same economic wackiness that leads booksellers to price ebooks higher than physical ones.

 

"CD resolution" is a silly arbitrary lossy format for a file delivery. IMO.

I can make an argument for 16/48...I can make greater argument for 48khz mp4(AAC) from the 32 or 24bit studio master being the "best quality to size ratio" for phones and streams....with the HDT, basically being the lossless studio master.

 

I think it's crazy too. I end up buying the CD 9 out of 10 times because it's cheaper than downloading. Makes absolutely no sense.

 

THIS WEEK on HDtracks...


Weezer - Weezer (Teal Album)
Heart - Live in Atlantic City
Quiet Riot - One Night in Milan
Wayne Shorter - EMANON
Miles Davis - Miles in the Sky

plus much much more...

 

Yep. I happily jumped in head-first many years ago but have become pretty much a spectator at this point. Solely because of the inflated, full-on, department-store retail price (which is not unique to Hi-Res).

As for mastering, thankfully, a few of my "must have" artists have been lucky to receive competent mastering from known engineers. But I've been burned a lot too. I love HD downloads, but it's got stupid problems.

 

Does anyone know if the HDTracks mastering of Allman Brothers "The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings" is more dynamic than the Blu-Ray stereo? Thanks.

 

Just quickly checked the first three tracks and the BD looks better. (BD: DR 9, 11, 12, Download: DR9, 10, 11) Numbers aren't everything though, so I listened to a short excerpt. I much prefer the Blu-ray.

 

I own the BD and it is really worth finding. The DR is good and the sound quality excellent