Another controversial digital thread

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timm

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So my thread got closed. Who would have thought. Ok. More interesting digital type talk here then.

I have found my wifi to be the culprit I believe as some suggested. Other night things started dropping so I brought the laptop upstairs. Problem solved. No more drop outs on the sbt. So looking around I realized I can bring the router downstairs to the main floor and hook the cable modem up there etc.

Now in regards to hd tracks. I created an account and some may know you get an 11 song sampler of 96/24 songs. Some pretty cool audiophile stuff. I recommend it - it's free! :). Plus you get 15% off first purchase.

I am going to purchase springsteen wild/innocent and the e street shuffle. Will let you know how it goes.

In regards to mastering ... Is there a way to find out if things are just getting up sampled from the cd vs master tapes or is that hit/miss and search google? Thanks. Tim
 
Sorry timm.

I'll take my share of the blame.

Your last question is most appropriate and may account for quality differences often reported in the reviews.

GG
 
Haha. No problemo trouble maker!! :)
 
Your last question is most appropriate and may account for quality differences often reported in the reviews.

You and I actually had a direct one-one conversation about exactly this topic Gordon:

http://www.martinloganowners.com/fo...rs-vs-spinners&p=170617&viewfull=1#post170617

(If you hadn't got offended and shut the conversation down.)

The answer is, you never know for sure and this is exactly where there is so much discussion about this.

The only thing you can do is – if you find a high-res version that doesn’t sound any good – place both the high-res version and the CD version into Audacity (or similar) and compare the waveforms. That will quickly show you whether you are getting more dynamic range or any differences. Worryingly, in some cases, they are identical. One of the most widely published fakes was Norah Jones “Come Away with me”.

That said – even if there are differences observable – doesn’t mean it will sound better. I have at least two genuinely high-res versions where the mastering/mixing is sub-standard to that of the CD version. In these cases, the CD version sounds superior – genuine high-res aside.
 
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Ah yes. Amey. I remember you mentioning this. I have read the analogue productions version of her album is better. Have you heard it?
 
The only thing you can do is – if you find a high-res version that doesn’t sound any good – place both the high-res version and the CD version into Audacity (or similar) and compare the waveforms. That will quickly show you whether you are getting more dynamic range or any differences. Worryingly, in some cases, they are identical. One of the most widely published fakes was Norah Jones “Come Away with me”.

Hi Adam,

Excuse my ignorance but how can you measure 2 versions on Audacity, that is supposed to show "differences" and then you say, in some cases, they are identical?

I'm trying to understand but your above post is really confusing.

For the record, I didn't "shut the conversation down" but decided to no longer pursue due to my apparent lack of knowledge. There is a difference.

Best,

Gordon
 
Let me help. He is saying in some cases the hi res and the cd version show to be identical based on the compare. Hence you are getting ripped off by paying more for the high res. hence the 'worryingly' comment.
 
Haha. No problem Gordon. I can't wait till I hear you doing some fancy things with that k-01. So how much better is it than the Cary??? You had the 306 right?
 
Thank you. I didn't know that's what Adam meant.

Yes Gordon - as Timm said.

You can import files into Audacity like the attached and see what you are paying for. In this example, it is pretty easy to see the high-resolution version (top).

But if it's not so obvious, then Audacity (et al) have many other tools to statistically compare files and show you where the differences are.

You could use the same tools to see if there is a difference between files you have transferred over audiophile USB cables :O
 

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Someone posted this article on a facebook group that I follow. It's an interesting article and I offer it without bias of one medium over another and without bias for one bit rate/sampling rate over another. In the end, for those of us who purchase and enjoy recordings, it all comes down to personal preference. I trust my ears and what I feel sounds better is all that's important to me.

http://www.laweekly.com/music/why-cds-may-actually-sound-better-than-vinyl-5352162
 
Yeah, my apologies too. I'll stay out of this one.

Honestly I thought you guys were fine. Debate is fine as far as I'm concerned. The worst type of forum.... Is a dead forum. I mean why do they exist? I didn't think anyone got nasty at all! :) RC was making his points ...you were making yours ... If someone thinks its all been said before - don't view and don't contribute. Saying that... I enjoy all of your input... :)
 
Someone posted this article on a facebook group that I follow. It's an interesting article and I offer it without bias of one medium over another and without bias for one bit rate/sampling rate over another. In the end, for those of us who purchase and enjoy recordings, it all comes down to personal preference. I trust my ears and what I feel sounds better is all that's important to me.

http://www.laweekly.com/music/why-cds-may-actually-sound-better-than-vinyl-5352162

Interesting. Bob Ludwig was one of our customers when I was with Audio Animation. At the time he was at Sterling Sound. Denny Purcell at Georgetown Masters in Nashville was as well. He had quite a guitar and gun collection.
 
Honestly I thought you guys were fine. Debate is fine as far as I'm concerned. The worst type of forum.... Is a dead forum. I mean why do they exist? I didn't think anyone got nasty at all! :) RC was making his points ...you were making yours ... If someone thinks its all been said before - don't view and don't contribute. Saying that... I enjoy all of your input... :)

I agree. 110%
 
Honestly I thought you guys were fine. Debate is fine as far as I'm concerned. The worst type of forum.... Is a dead forum. I mean why do they exist? I didn't think anyone got nasty at all! :) RC was making his points ...you were making yours ... If someone thinks its all been said before - don't view and don't contribute. Saying that... I enjoy all of your input... :)

+1 ..........
 
There are very detailed studies posted by Amir on WBF why hires sounds different and in many cases better, and why people given the right equipment can pick hires out over low res.

Btw I blind tested two people here on native PCM vs upsampled DSD using HQPlayer feeding into the Lampi, and both preferred the upsampled DSD (Lampi also does native DSD, but that is another story).

Also, while both my laptop and network audio adapter (NAA, which cost 60 quid) play native DSD and native PCM, when I try to play upsampled DSD using my laptop ( a normal Mac Air), it struggles and makes a stuttering sound. However, when I play upsampled DSD using the NAA, being controlled by the laptop, it plays smoothly. Shows that separating it from the laptop has advantages. Next to try some better NAAs with better battery power
 
So far I've been lucky with the HDTracks that I've downloaded. They at least appear to be good masters.

Recently I decided to get the "The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings of John Coltrane" off amazon used for $33 vs. spending about $100 to download it from HDTracks. My hope was that this wouldn't be heavily dynamically compressed on CD.

It's about 8 hours long and for some reason the total size of the downloaded files from HDTracks put me off.

I thought about my reaction to the file sizes and decided I should probably just get a pair of 4 Tb harddrives for redundancy and just not worry about it.
 

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