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

It isn't just HDT, it's all of them (PSM, APO, 7 Digital, Qobuz, etc)

 

If they want to maintain their relationship with the labels, they aren't going to contradict what the labels tell them. Finito. End of discussion. If you don't like it, bitch to the labels.

 

So you’re saying the labels are deliberately lying about the provenance of their high-res product?

 

Either lying, or they don't care a whole lot. It's hard to tell how 24 bit dl's are doing sales wise. On the one hand, Onkyo just shut down. On the other hand, PSM is drastically increasing their inventory. HDT could have been the Amazon of 24 bit DL's with the brand recognition & head start they got, but their qc is mediocre. I've gotten more problematic flac encodes from them than all of the others combined.

 

Prostudio Masters seems to quite often have notes saying things like "tracks 1, 5, 7-9 24/48 khz mastered at 24/96" or someting to that effect. But look at the same release at HD Tracks and there is no disclosure. So is PSM getting this info from the label, or determining it themselves? If the latter, I do very much appreciate it. If the former, why the hell doesn't HD Tracks give the info?

 

I have found that at times HDT appears to use a non standard compliant flac convertor & I have to reencode with Trader's Little Helper before I can play it. HDT's response was that's how they receive them; why do I only have this issue with HDT?

 

True but HDtracks has made claims of not selling upsampled audio without disclosing it and have disclosed it at times so I thought they actually cared to be transparent about it. I did also let Pono know because they were the other seller I thought might actually care but that was right before they shut down so I'm not surprised I didn't hear back.

I haven't dealt with PSM and I think I've only purchased 16/44 from the other two.

 

Yeah, sorry, that doesn't make sense since The Stooges 50th on Prostudio Masters gives technical details disclosing the upsampled tracks. HDtracks does not. So somehow Prostudio Masters is managing to advertise it accurately without the labels giving them a good spanking.

 

Is anyone familiar with "HDTT" (NOT HDT)? They state that they release downloads (24 bit & dsd) from 15 ips r2r tape. They are obviously legit & licensed. My question (which they have refused to answer) is are they using commercially released physical product or actual master tape? I find their signature sound to be better the cd, but not as good as the best from the regular dl retailers.

 

I looked a bit into them years ago. If you read between the lines in their About Us page, it seems that they use some commercially-released stereo and Quad reel-to-reel tapes, amongst other more recent recordings:
"High Definition Tape Transfers is the brainchild of an avid 2 & 4 track open-reel collector and a serious audiophile. Collected over the years, many of our tapes contain forgotten performances of historical importance."

 

Thx! I didn't see that exact verbiage, but that's what I had guessed. WhyTF aren't they getting the masters since they have to be paying licensing????

 

Maybe the original masters are lost or maybe they just decided to bypass the long and costly process of sourcing the tapes in the labels' archives...

 

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

 

I've had this same problem - causes real issues trying to stream to my receiver. I've re-encoded everything I've downloaded from them.

 

What they say could depend on their contract with the labels. Or their contract requires the labels to disclose that info.

My guess is a lot of that info provided by the labels would be wrong. Which could be another reason why HDTracks doesn't consistently bother to disclose it - because it's not accurate enough to be worth disclosing.

 

That clearly isn't the case, though - most of the stuff they're selling appears to be identical to what other vendors are selling, or comes from known remasterings done by the labels, frequently in the 2000-2010 timeframe (but often never released due to the collapse of DVD-A and SACD sales).

I suspect that blurb you found refers to the more obscure stuff they offer, not the 10th remastering of Dark Side Of The Moon since 1990...

 

LOL! Except when it comes down to USA corporations.......... I think both apply.

 

HDT lied about that also, said the labels did the flac encoding. I don't buy it. Never had an issue with a non HDT encode.Thank goodness for trader's little helper!

 

I've found as a "general rule" the best sounding 24 bit dl's are from aprox 2010-2015.

 

Mileage. I think the best sounding masters are generally the ones done for SACD and DVD-A back around 2000 - 2008. They typically weren't badly compressed. Many of those only turned up on HDTracks and elsewhere after 2010, though. And a bunch aren't available for download anymore, having been replaced by horribly overcompressed and distorted masters made after 2010.

A few acts resisted that idiocy. Paul McCartney released "unlimited" editions of quite a few albums I believe. I downloaded Band On The Run in the unlimited edition and it sounds fantastic.

 

Yes, both McCartney & Petty did that. Petty continued until his passing.

I really wasn't all that impressed with a number of the Warner DVD-A's. In particular, Neil Young Harvest, & Fleetwood Mac Rumors both sounded better on later remasters (the NY on the Pono & the Mac on the first Warner 96/24; the super Deluxe is quite compressed); & of all the Joni Mitchell's, the only one that I don't like the sound on is the one taken from the 2002 dvd-a master, Both Sides Now.

 

We were not talking about HDTracks, but about another company called HDTT or "High Definition Tape Transfers". They don't sell Dark Side of the Moon or typical big label remasters. They do their own tape transfers for mainly Classical and Jazz albums.

 

The "new" Bowie Space Oddity 96/24 2019 remix is a DR/9 (don't know whether to cry or scream.

 

Maybe it was mixed to sound like you're floating 'round a tin can.