Graceland 24/96

[Boris75]

 

Since Chesky doesn't seem to think VC is an issue, we audiophiles need to make him aware that we don't want to buy albums that are heavily volume compressed.

 

I fully agree.

[Jud]

Even if the folks at HDTracks sincerely believe that strong volume compression can be "artistic", it would be very easy for them to include the DR value in the description of what they are selling. Another, more complicated step would be to ask the labels to provide files without VC (or with less of it) and to sell it in addition to the standard version. Who knows, maybe we audiophiles would be ready to pay much more for that and this would be a win-win situation: more money for the labels and HDTracks, better sound for us?

 

I'm afraid for the music labels that request (providing material without VC) might be the tail wagging the dog. The fact that the HDT sales channel exists at all is likely an afterthought, a way to make a little extra money that is as yet hardly visible on the labels' balance sheets. If HDT or anyone else would ask them to interrupt their usual way of working (get someone in to produce a "hot" - i.e., compressed for car radio and iPod - version of an album and sell it as many different ways as possible, including the hi res version they have sitting around anyway that will be reduced to 16/44.1 resolution for CDs, and subjected to lossy compression for iTunes), it might at most produce irritation on the labels' part at being bothered by a downstream marketer that accounts for a vanishingly small slice of their revenues.

[BitPerfect Support]

I'm afraid for the music labels that request ... might be the tail wagging the dog.

 

Absolutely spot on.