What Type Of Downloads Do Yo Purchase

[Alex66]

I don't download that much music; I rip almost all my music from CDs that I purchase. But I will from time to time download music from Amazon or iTunes.

 

I too prefer to have the physical disk, if I purchase any download I want it to be higher res than the CD, I will try to get them on DVD-A if I can or SACD but Im not sure of out putting SACD to a DAC though. I will only download MP3 if its a legal free version to see if I like something.

[kurb1980]

Buy? I mostly get my music from private forums and magnet links. But to answer the question I don't buy music online often in fact its rare if I do, I typically pick up the vinyl, and rip that. I do a lot of research to make sure that the vinyl was not sourced from the redbook. If the hi-res matches the peaks and rms levels of the redbook I won't waste my money either. I was very surprised with the new Daft Punk vinyl it actually had a different master. I ripped it and got a DR13 overall lowest was a DR10 and the highest was DR15. The vinyl sounds very nice, pressed good, low noise floor, and dynamic!

[christian u]

24/192. I see no reason not to get the highest resolution offered.

When buying new music,I try to get the the downloads in the format they have been recorded in.

I just recommend the Sound Liaison recordings with Carmen Gomes inc,on a different topic.They are true Studio Masters,i.e.one to one copys of the originals.

see the Rad Bennett review of the Thousand Shades of Blue album....

I've been among the prophets saying that high-resolution downloads are the future of audiophile music sales. Surely it will benefit the majors to make high-quality downloads a first choice rather than an MP3 extra, but I believe that individual artists can benefit as well. Most new-to-the-scene performers have little money for middlemen and disc manufacture, yet can get things together for the Internet.Frans de Rond and Peter Bjørnild have taken this approach with Sound Liaison, producing recordings available only in 24-bit/96kHz downloads that mirror the master recording. And man, are they ever sweet. I've seldom heard recordings that were so successful in both performance and sound aspects.

De Rond hails from the Netherlands, where he studied double bass at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague while concurrently studying recording techniques. Bjørnild also studied double bass, moving to the Netherlands to continue studies at The Hague. Since graduating, he has played almost every type of music, from classical to jazz. Together de Rond and Bjørnild bring two pairs of golden ears to their label. Bjørnild claims that, "a recording should be as realistic and beautiful sounding as possible. As if, when closing your eyes, you find yourself in the best seat in the hall."

The partners discovered a fine recording hall (Studio-Eleven, Hilversum) and set out to record amazing musicians in this great acoustic place in front of live audiences. It's a daring feat; one take and no place to hide, but the abilities of the musicians involved make it seem easy. I chose to talk about the first album by Carmen Gomes Inc. It was a tough choice because all of the three current albums were worthy of review.

Carmen Gomes has won many awards in the Netherlands and surrounding areas. Like so many new European singers, she sings in English -- excellent English, I might add. She's formed a group called Carmen Gomes Inc., with Folker Tettero on guitar, Peter Bjørnild on double bass, and Marcel van Engelen on drums. Her style is bluesy and intimate with a sexy voice that's sweet as dark tupelo honey, and her interpretations are unerring. The musicians play to her and to each other, and the ensemble is so tight that the four musicians breathe and move as one.

There are some standards on the set that knocked me over with their fresh approach. Any singer can misplace a few accents and rhythms and come up with something that's original, but perhaps also uneasy and a little strange. Not Gomes, who has taken the songs to their bones and then restructured them to suit her style. Thus "Fever" doesn't sound like a cover of Peggy Lee; it sounds like a brand new take on a familiar song. You emerge from hearing it not thinking it's better or lesser than Lee's version, but that it's a valid new interpretation that could have come first.

The same approach works on "Angel Eyes," "You Don't Know What Love Is," and "I'm on Fire." Most of the rest, including the title song, "Oblivion," "Time Will Tell," "Gasoa Blue," and "The Sea," are Gomes originals that fit right in with the standards. The recording achieves exactly what Bjørnild set out as his goal. It can provide the best seat in your listening room. Go to the Sound Liaison site, listen to a few samples, download an album, and see if you don't agree that this intimate effort is one of the best and best-sounding jazz vocal albums to come along in many a day. By the way, the small audience applauds enthusiastically enough after the last chords of a song die away, but the attendees never interrupt or make themselves known while a song is going on. No doubt they were completely mesmerized into silence, as was I.

Be sure to listen to: On "Dock of the Bay," Gomes creates a languid, bluesy version that is a little bit reminiscent of Bobbie Gentry while still coming across as quite original. It'll cast a spell over you.

. . . Rad BennettI've been among the prophets saying that high-resolution downloads are the future of audiophile music sales. Surely it will benefit the majors to make high-quality downloads a first choice rather than an MP3 extra, but I believe that individual artists can benefit as well. Most new-to-the-scene performers have little money for middlemen and disc manufacture, yet can get things together for the Internet.

Frans de Rond and Peter Bjørnild have taken this approach with Sound Liaison, producing recordings available only in 24-bit/96kHz downloads that mirror the master recording. And man, are they ever sweet. I've seldom heard recordings that were so successful in both performance and sound aspects.

De Rond hails from the Netherlands, where he studied double bass at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague while concurrently studying recording techniques. Bjørnild also studied double bass, moving to the Netherlands to continue studies at The Hague. Since graduating, he has played almost every type of music, from classical to jazz. Together de Rond and Bjørnild bring two pairs of golden ears to their label. Bjørnild claims that, "a recording should be as realistic and beautiful sounding as possible. As if, when closing your eyes, you find yourself in the best seat in the hall."

The partners discovered a fine recording hall (Studio-Eleven, Hilversum) and set out to record amazing musicians in this great acoustic place in front of live audiences. It's a daring feat; one take and no place to hide, but the abilities of the musicians involved make it seem easy. I chose to talk about the first album by Carmen Gomes Inc. It was a tough choice because all of the three current albums were worthy of review.

Carmen Gomes has won many awards in the Netherlands and surrounding areas. Like so many new European singers, she sings in English -- excellent English, I might add. She's formed a group called Carmen Gomes Inc., with Folker Tettero on guitar, Peter Bjørnild on double bass, and Marcel van Engelen on drums. Her style is bluesy and intimate with a sexy voice that's sweet as dark tupelo honey, and her interpretations are unerring. The musicians play to her and to each other, and the ensemble is so tight that the four musicians breathe and move as one.

There are some standards on the set that knocked me over with their fresh approach. Any singer can misplace a few accents and rhythms and come up with something that's original, but perhaps also uneasy and a little strange. Not Gomes, who has taken the songs to their bones and then restructured them to suit her style. Thus "Fever" doesn't sound like a cover of Peggy Lee; it sounds like a brand new take on a familiar song. You emerge from hearing it not thinking it's better or lesser than Lee's version, but that it's a valid new interpretation that could have come first.

The same approach works on "Angel Eyes," "You Don't Know What Love Is," and "I'm on Fire." Most of the rest, including the title song, "Oblivion," "Time Will Tell," "Gasoa Blue," and "The Sea," are Gomes originals that fit right in with the standards. The recording achieves exactly what Bjørnild set out as his goal. It can provide the best seat in your listening room. Go to the Sound Liaison site, listen to a few samples, download an album, and see if you don't agree that this intimate effort is one of the best and best-sounding jazz vocal albums to come along in many a day. By the way, the small audience applauds enthusiastically enough after the last chords of a song die away, but the attendees never interrupt or make themselves known while a song is going on. No doubt they were completely mesmerized into silence, as was I.

Be sure to listen to: On "Dock of the Bay," Gomes creates a languid, bluesy version that is a little bit reminiscent of Bobbie Gentry while still coming across as quite original. It'll cast a spell over you.

. . . Rad Bennett

[AudiophileWanabe]

Regarding DSD, although it has the second lowest score (at this moment), I think that if the titles available in 24/88.2 or 24/176.4, typically DSD to PCM conversions, were also commercially available in DSD, the score would be much higher. And even more so, if some of the analog to PCM 24/96 or 24/192 transfers were also available in DSD!...

[Boris75]

Regarding DSD, although it has the second lowest score (at this moment), I think that if the titles available in 24/88.2 or 24/176.4, typically DSD to PCM conversions, were also commercially available in DSD, the score would be much higher.

 

Yes, I wish we could download DSD files instead of PCM files when the latter are conversions from the former.

 

And even more so, if some of the analog to PCM 24/96 or 24/192 transfers were also available in DSD!...

 

I don't share this view: my preference is to download everything in native format. Why should I listen to a file incorporating an unnecessary conversion to DSD when I can listen to the original file in PCM?

[Jud]

Yes, I wish we could download DSD files instead of PCM files when the latter are conversions from the former.

 

 

 

I don't share this view: my preference is to download everything in native format. Why should I listen to a file incorporating an unnecessary conversion to DSD when I can listen to the original file in PCM?

 

Hi Boris. Here's one possible answer to your question.

 

My DAC chip (and, I think, probably most other DAC chips except for a few Philips NOS chips) takes PCM and runs it through an internal sigma-delta modulator. It doesn't do that with DSD. So in terms of avoiding conversions, DSD avoids an in-DAC conversion. So even if this were the only conversion of PCM recordings in your system, the question would be whether the sound quality of the conversion at the vendor is better, worse, or the same as the one in your system.

 

But that probably isn't the only conversion taking place in your system. Unless the PCM recording took place at the rate your DAC uses internally (most commonly, DACs use "8x" rates, 352.8/384kHz), and your DAC will accept input at those rates (most DACs these days have a max input of "4x" rates, 176.4/192kHz), then either in computer software, inside your DAC, or both, the PCM data will be oversampled using interpolation filters to reach those 8x rates internally.

 

So with PCM recordings there are very likely two conversions taking place in your system. If this is the case, the question is not why you would want unnecessary conversions, but since conversions are taking place either at the vendor's or in your system, whose conversion sounds best?