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

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

  1. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    DR 12? It isn't bad but I wonder if these are flat transfers.
     
  2. john morris

    john morris Everybody's Favorite Quadron

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario

    Question. I have heard of the Tape Project. I understand the 15 ips quarter inch half track (or is it quarter inch quarter track?) tapes are made from 24/192 master files. Some people feel if it isn't all analog then why bother. I disagree.

    Record companies just don't want to give out their masters anymore. They go missing, get damaged. With Universal they have no master tape to lend. The reason being the 2008 vault fire.

    I did manage to hear a friend's tape he got from the Tape project. Sounded better than the SACD. It was the bass that blew me away. And the top end was smoot like silk.

    But that is just my opinion. But then Roger has one of those 6 figure audiophile systems. He rubbed it in my face last month: "I just got a brand reel to reel tape." And then he waves it in my face. Nice guy. We go back to grade school.

    $500 a tape!
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2019
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  3. moomoomoomoo

    moomoomoomoo WhoNeedsRealityWhenThere'sMoreSleepToLookForwardTo

    Hi Robert, I listened to a bit of the HDT 192 tonight, & also compared it with a 2.0 folddown of the AF SACD (Unfortunately the AF doesn't have a stereo option; it's quad and mono. Also out of print.

    My opinion on the HDT: From a hi res perspective, it's good but not oh my god to die for. It does sound better than the cd. I also found it a bit bright & when the entire band was playing loud passages, significantly more congested sounding than I would expect with a DR12.

    I also compared 1 track (Dance To The Music which is usually my Sly go to recording for sound quality) to a 2.0 fold down on the oop AF SACD, which interestingly is also a DR12 & sounds nothing like the HDT. Tonally I prefer the AF, but folding down a multi channel mix to 2.0 often sounds a bit off, & that's the case here (+ the SACD probably costs a fortune these days).

    I'd give the HDT about a 7 of 10. Hope that helps; basically it doesn't suck & it's also not awesome (at least on my system).
     
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  4. Pants Party

    Pants Party MOSTLY PEACEFUL

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Yeah, I'm curious about this release as well. The HDtracks version is out now, and it's 46 tracks. Is that the whole release?? For some reason, I was thinking this was going to be bigger -- like The Early Years set was -- which was broken up into six individual sets and released in Hi-Res in that format. I guess that was a more substantial release? Price-wise, both physical boxes are quite substantial.

    I was looking at the official site and it looks like they may have left a few items to be exclusive to the mega box -- but not much.
     
  5. moomoomoomoo

    moomoomoomoo WhoNeedsRealityWhenThere'sMoreSleepToLookForwardTo

    That's not the entire blu-ray release. Hopefully more will come in the weeks ahead. HDT has the 12 track version also.
     
  6. robertawillisjr

    robertawillisjr Music Lover

    Location:
    Hampton, VA
    Thank you. I am thinking that I’ll get the SACD (which is still available at Acoustic Sounds) and listen to the mono tracks. I usually prefer stereo if that is how it was initially issued but the recent Hendrix SACD mono tracks are like liquid gold. Have you listened to the mono tracks?
     
  7. Tom M

    Tom M Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
  8. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    No reason to think this is any different than the compressed CD release from last year, right?
     
  9. Olias of Sunhill

    Olias of Sunhill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jim Creek, CO, USA
    Not sure about the CD, but the files appear to be identical to the 24/44.1 tracks that were available for download as part of the original PledgeMusic campaign.
     
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  10. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    That's what I figured. Meh.
     
  11. Pants Party

    Pants Party MOSTLY PEACEFUL

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Aren't the 46 tracks on The Later Years download pretty much all the content from the 5-cds? I know half of this set is blu-ray/dvd, but I just assumed some (or most) of that blu-ray content was either video or duplicated from the CDs. I know there was some exclusive content on The Early Years blu-rays, but not much.
     
  12. Mickactual

    Mickactual Humble indie rock musician

    For reasons unknown, the HDT is missing disc 5 of the CD box set: the 7 tracks from the 1990 Knebworth concert.
     
  13. Mickactual

    Mickactual Humble indie rock musician

    More disturbing than a compressed hi-res release (to me anyway) is that they're making such an effort to erase the existence of the album's original mix.
     
  14. Pants Party

    Pants Party MOSTLY PEACEFUL

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Aaah... ok, that's it. Strange.
     
  15. Olias of Sunhill

    Olias of Sunhill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jim Creek, CO, USA
    Not sure what you mean by this. The original version with Benoit David is still prominently mentioned on the official website. One would think that erasing its existence would include removing it from the site.
     
  16. jhm

    jhm Forum Resident

    A word of friendly advice, before you pull the trigger on the SACD, you should find out from them either what the matrix number is or if it's one of the replacement discs subsequently issued. I ordered the disc back on day 1 of release and followed Mr. Hoffman's thread on it here. The first TWO editions of the SACD had an error on the mono SACD layer (only) where the image wasn't centered on playback. This was finally fixed on the third go round. My biggest concern would be if the disc has been sitting in anyone's stock for a long time, it may be the original defective disc. Of course AF isn't around anymore to get a replacement, so buyer beware. The corrected matrix number to look for is AFZ5 215-3. The three is the indicator that it's the third, corrected version. Again, this affects the DSD layer only, the redbook mono files are fine. I recall Mr. Hoffman originally solicited feedback on whether or not he should include the stereo or mono version of Greatest Hits from this forum. In the end, he went with the mono tapes because a) the original hit singles were all released in mono, b) at the time of the SACD's release, many of the mono versions were not available digitally (the subsequent "Higher" box set remedied that, however) and c) he stated the stereo tapes were in poor shape from a lot of use over the years compared to the mono tapes.

    This may be blasphemy here, but although the mastering job on the mono tracks is great (IMO), I personally prefer Vic Anesini's stereo re-mixes for these songs. Those mixes just have a lot of "life" in them to me. I think he did a fantastic job with those. There's nothing wrong with the mono, however, it's just a personal preference. I have many mono things in my collection and are my preferred listening format for things like Aretha Franklin's Atlantic singles collection and Albert King's "Born Under A Bad Sign". The 4.0 on the Greatest Hits disc is fun if you like that stuff. There are lots of different parts to be heard that cannot really be heard otherwise. I made a fold down for fun and it's a radically different listening experience. You can hear studio chatter in some channels, etc.
     
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  17. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    To be fair, that original sounded like compressed garbage, even more than the new one, and I think Horn's vocals are a significant upgrade. But there's still used copies of the old one floating around for people who want it. (The original vinyl FFH was also almost unplayable...the new LP is a pretty nice pressing, IMO) I dunno, I can't get that upset about it...it's an obscure record in their catalog, and anyone who really needs both versions probably already has them? I'm just happy the Return Trip is finally streaming...I've had conversations with friends about it, but had no way to get them to listen until now.
     
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  18. moomoomoomoo

    moomoomoomoo WhoNeedsRealityWhenThere'sMoreSleepToLookForwardTo

    Hendrix Axis: Yes; Sly: no. I tend to prefer Stereo.

    I wasn't aware of the issue with the mono Sly. Before reading that post, I was going to suggest if you like or prefer mono & can get the AF at a good price, that's probably the way to go.
     
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  19. moomoomoomoo

    moomoomoomoo WhoNeedsRealityWhenThere'sMoreSleepToLookForwardTo

    HR Dl is DR8
     
  20. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
  21. Detroit Rock Citizen

    Detroit Rock Citizen RetroDawg Digital

    Not a real release but has anyone made a high res files out of any of their high res physical material?
     
  22. AlanDistro

    AlanDistro Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sandy, OR
    I do this with every SACD/DVD-A/BluRay Audio release I buy. Ripping and re-indexing (most of these products suffer from terrible indexing) takes some time, but I prefer having ALL of my music on my JRiver server.
     
  23. Detroit Rock Citizen

    Detroit Rock Citizen RetroDawg Digital

    For example all the Beatles BD/DVDs comes up as one file. The only one that doesn't is Beatles 1+ but that's a video based release. With some of the early live TV performances and a lot of the stuff on Disc 2, it makes for a nice alternate to the original.
     
  24. moomoomoomoo

    moomoomoomoo WhoNeedsRealityWhenThere'sMoreSleepToLookForwardTo

    The only way I know how to rip SACD is with a particular old gaming player which I have never owned. Do you have it, or have you discovered another method?
     
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  25. moomoomoomoo

    moomoomoomoo WhoNeedsRealityWhenThere'sMoreSleepToLookForwardTo

    Occasionally on 24 bit dvd & dvd-a. My software isn't that great & there is some loss of SQ.
     

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