Classic Rock in high resolution. What am I missing?

[Kimo]

Seems to be a fair amount available. Lots of artists with much of their catalog for purchase.

 

The Beatles: 24/44.1 FLAC of all proper stereo albums

The Doors: DVD Audio remixes and upcoming SACDs of 4 albums

The Kinks: Arista SACDs and HD Tracks for select Arista albums

The Rolling Stones: ABKCO SACDs, (Virgin) SHM SACDs, and ABKCO HD Tracks

Fleetwood Mac: HD Tracks

Queen: The Orb 24 bit wav files of all proper albums

Roxy Music: Upcoming boxset featuring 24/96 editions of all 8 albums

Neil Young: 24/96 DVD and 24/192 blu ray

King Crimson: 24/48 DVD and 24/96 DVD Audio of various albums

Genesis: 24/96 DTS almost all albums

The Band: SACD of most albums, but not the first

The Moody Blues: SACD for a number of albums

Bob Dylan: SACD of many albums

CCR: SACD all proper albums

 

 

And for "newer" artists:

 

Jesus and Mary Chain: 24/96 Dual discs all albums

Nick Cave: 24/48 DVD of many albums

Depeche Mode: 24/48 DVD of many albums

Porcupine Tree: 24/48 DVD and DVD Audio select albums

SRV: SACD all proper albums

Pixies: SACD 3 albums

Talking Heads: DVD Audio the Brick and HD Tracks

 

Any others with full or large parts of the catalog available?

 

 

 

 

[goldsdad]

Some of the stuff you've listed can be found as loudness war masters/remasters and/or looks suspiciously like it may have been upsampled from CD resolution. Don't rely on the date of issue of an album stated on HDTracks website as being correct for the version that they sell.

 

There are many threads in the music section of the forum with analyses of hi-res downloads and discs.

 

 

[Garf]

Pink Floyd: WYWH, Dark Side of the Moon, and soon, The Wall

 

Smashing Pumpkins: Gish, Siamese Dream, soon Melon Collie.

 

Certainly not all of their offerings, but a good start an I like where they are going.

 

[Kimo]

I know the Queen stuff is going to be a little to a lot squished, and the the Talking Heads Brick has some issues regarding compression. The Kinks SACDs aren't always the best, but it the best that one can find for these titles. The Jesus and Mary Chain stuff is a bit of a mixed bag and also compressed, but again, what better options exist?

 

I thought most the rest should be pretty good?

 

I am certainly careful with the HD Tracks stuff, and have not had a clunker yet. Probably wouldn't purchase any 24 bit options transferred from SACD, though.

 

 

 

[Kimo]

I do see that the Pumpkins are available in 24/96. I wonder about upsampling here?

 

[goldsdad]

Yes, I meant excessive limiting and dynamic compression when mentioning loudness war. I hate it!

 

Of your list, I recall some Neil Young, Talking Heads, Moody Blues and King Crimson are either loudened or suspected of being upsampled from CD quality, or both. Off the top of my head, there's loudened Eagles, Elton John, Eric Clapton, R.E.M and The Who. There must be plenty that I've forgotten.

 

 

 

[mitchco]

http://dr.loudness-war.info/

 

High DR values does not mean it is the artist's best performance or best mix or best master. But at least you will have a fighting chance.

 

For example, The Police's (Synchronicity) Murder By Numbers on an old 1983 CD has a whopping DR of 18. Great performance, great mix (from one of my favorite engineers, Hugh Padgham) and a room shaking master! Stewart Copeland's drums sounds like they're in your room.

 

 

You may also be interested in http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=2 as there is always discussion on what the "best" mixes and (re)masters are for a particular artist and album.

 

Also: http://www.digido.com/honor-roll.html For example, note that their are several versions of AC/DC Back in Black and one of them is the preferred master...

 

Point is, even old school CD's can sound amazing and better than a crushed, slammed, digital overed, hi rez remaster...

 

Hope that helps from a fellow rock n roller

 

[Garf]

Yes Kimo, my mistake. I still hold out hope they will sneak in a BluRay audio of The Wall sometime soon.

 

Regarding the Pumpkins, there is a post in the subjective/objective audiophile downloads on Siamese Dream. My experience with Gish is the same, just haven't taken the time to post a thread about it. They both are a bit 'loudened', not excessively, and excellent.

 

[Kimo]

The Who: Singles, My Generation, and Who's Next SHM SACD, Tommy HD Tracks (seems to be well regarded)

 

Since the latest Crimson's relied on the 30th Anniversary masters for the original mixes, some do show more evidence of compression than others (Red, Discipline). The remixes are quite nice, but often somewhat brighter sounding, which according to Steve Wilson is a more accurate representation of the multi tracks. He mentioned this at the Hoffman forum.

 

Actually, I own most of the Talking Heads catalog on original Target CD, so I am hip to the whole DR question and older masters. Actually, I would say my CD collection runs about 50/50 with respect to originals and remasters.

 

[Kimo]

I am betting that the new masters were done this way for all titles, not just Dark Side and WYWH. By the way, the DSOTM 24 bit master is my favorite by a good bit over the SACD.

 

[fjmcsu]

Who & how will the music be released ? I have been longing to get the DVD-A / SACD version of Avalon for a very long time but the issue is out of production and the remaining discs used are in in the $100's.

 

[Kimo]

http://www.vivaroxymusic.com/

 

Looks pretty good. Flat transfers in 24/96 from the analog masters.

 

[mitchco]

that sound good and great performances:

 

http://tompetty.fanfire.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/product?sourceCode=PETWEBWWUSD&sku=PET50549

 

http://www.amazon.com/Led-Zeppelin-Robert-Plant/dp/B00008PX8P/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327977533&sr=8-1

 

http://www.amazon.com/U2-Go-Home-Slane-Castle/dp/B0000TB05A/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1327977555&sr=1-2

 

http://www.amazon.com/Smashing-Pumpkins-Greatest-Video-Collection/dp/B00005RFBA/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1327977599&sr=1-1

 

 

[Kimo]

The Beatles: 24/44.1 FLAC of all proper stereo albums (B: Would have preferred no limiting and 24/96, but I felt these easily bested any of the Capitol vinyl that I have heard)

 

The Doors: DVD Audio remixes and upcoming SACDs of 4 albums (B for the remixes. Some may take issue with the approach, but the sound is pretty good, and certainly feels a generation closer to the performances)

 

The Kinks: Arista SACDs and HD Tracks for select Arista albums (C- for the SACDs. Some are better than others; for example Muswell and Schoolboys. Overall, not impressive)

 

The Rolling Stones: ABKCO SACDs, (Virgin) SHM SACDs, and ABKCO HD Tracks (B+ for the ABKCO SACDs. Pretty good, but some evidence of compression which really wasn't necessary)

 

Fleetwood Mac: HD Tracks (B+ for Rumours and Tusk 24/96. These sound largely like flat transfers, warts and all. I like them, but others may prefer a more polished sound)

 

Queen: The Orb 24 bit wav files of all proper albums (It is my understand that these use the same compression as the latest CDs of which I have a few. I would give the CDs a B-, but would expect more from the high resolution version.)

 

Roxy Music: Upcoming boxset featuring 24/96 editions of all 8 albums

 

Neil Young: 24/96 DVD and 24/192 blu ray (A for the 24/96. These sound pretty good to my ears)

 

King Crimson: 24/48 DVD and 24/96 DVD Audio of various albums (B: Some of these feature a bit of compression, and all may sound a bit brighter than some would like. According to S.Wilson at the Hoffman site, the brightness largely is found on the original tapes, so I guess that these are much closer to the source. The remixes are tastefully done and more true to the originals than the Doors.)

 

Genesis: 24/96 DTS almost all albums (B for the first box and the live box. Other boxes are supposed to feature more compression. I like the remixes and while the DTS 24/96 is lossy it sounds quite nice. The 2 channel mixes sound to me like fold downs of the multi channel mixes though)

 

The Band: SACD of most albums, but not the first

 

The Moody Blues: SACD for a number of albums

 

Bob Dylan: SACD of many albums (C: Didn't care for most of these. Prefer the CD mastering on the mono box)

 

CCR: SACD all proper albums (B+)

 

And for "newer" artists:

 

Jesus and Mary Chain: 24/96 Dual discs all albums (C-: Louder and not necessarily better than the CDs)

 

Nick Cave: 24/48 DVD of many albums (B: Can be a bit harsh and a touch loud, but overall recommended)

 

Depeche Mode: 24/48 DVD of many albums (A- for the Black Album. I thought it sounded excellent compared with the 16/44)

 

Porcupine Tree: 24/48 DVD and DVD Audio select albums (B+: Recorded in 24/48 and best heard that way whenever possible, though the differences are not always great)

 

SRV: SACD all proper albums (A: Pretty much without complaint with these. Very consistent.)

 

Pixies: SACD 3 albums (A-)

 

Talking Heads: DVD Audio the Brick and HD Tracks (C for the Brick. I found it a bit of a mixed bag with some significant compression on a few discs)