HD scams?

[skipperdude]

I'm just wondering...looking at sites like this ...Classical | Acoustic Sounds

 

How do we know that folks haven't just a ripped a CD and called it a FLAC/lossless/DSD/PDQ/What-have-you?

 

These are expensive, after all. For purely digital media. No marginal costs/sale. Are they charging $25 for what used to be a $16 CD?

[firedog]

Acoustic Sounds is very upfront about the source for their products. If you see something on their own label, it generally means that they remastered it themselves, so it is definitely not an upsampled CD. Generally that info is in the product description somewhere. If you don't find it, send them an email inquiry, and they will answer you.

 

As for them or other hi-res download sites, when they don't remaster the material themselves, they are dependent on what the label supplies them with. Generally what you are describing doesn't happen, but there are known cases where labels have marketed material to the hi-res DL vendors that was essentially an upsampled CD.

 

If the hi-res vendor doesn't give you background info on the remaster such as: "made from the original master tapes" or "based on SACD (or DSD transcription) of original tapes" or "recorded in 24-96, made from original 24-96 digital master", then you have some cause for concern.

 

One way to get around this is to frequent sites like this one where the community generally manages to make that information available, if there is any way to get it.