B&W Music Club

[catastrofe]

Download Max from sbooth.org. Works like a charm.

 

[Audio_ELF]

Download either Max from sbooth.org or XLD (google for either).

 

Chris did some instructions a while ago - http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/FLAC-Mac-OS-X

 

ELoise

 

[Audio_ELF]

Two new recordings available for download...

 

First LSO: Smetana - Má vlast

'Má Vlast' is the ultimate Nationalist musical composition. The title means 'My Country' and it's opening bars are probably as well known to the average Czech, as 'Land of Hope and Glory' is to the average Brit. The Czechs were ecstatic about LSO’s reading of Smetana’s masterpiece. We hope you are too.

 

And from Real World Studios: Afro Celt Sound System

Twice Grammy-nominated and multi-million album selling, Society of Sound present an entirely remixed, remastered compilation of Afro Celt Sound System's finest instrumental tracks – ‘Capture: Chorus.’

 

The Real World Studios recording wasn;t to my taste. Also this month the recording is only available in 16bit 44.1k download (FLAC and ALAC). LSO recording was enjoyable.

 

Eloise

 

[wgscott]

I thought the Afro Celt Sound System download (24-bit) was the best one, so far, at least until yesterday's Beethoven's 6th (also 2nd). I'm listening to my van Karajan CD-ripped version now and the download 24-bit definitely is better.

 

[nyc_paramedic]

Are the files available from B&W SoS still 24/44 or 24/48? Any updates on 24/96 availability?

 

I

 

[Audio_ELF]

"Are the files available from B&W SoS still 24/44 or 24/48? Any updates on 24/96 availability?"

 

The FLAC files are available in 16/44.1 and usually 24/48 (not all recordings have been made in 24/48 format).

 

There is no indication that Society of Sound will ever be going to 24/96 (or higher).

 

Eloise

 

[chrille]

I checked the latest LSO Live titles which are basically the only ones of any real interest to me, and they are still 24/48.

I also asked B&W why they chose to downsample orginal DSD files,and the answer I got was that it would take too long for most people to download higher sampling rates.

Maybe it will dawn upon them that I will not be the only potential customer who won't join and pay for this reason .

On the other hand Chaz at LSO Live yesterday said that their titles will soon be available elsewhere too.

Hopefully other sites will do things right.

 

To me its seems absolutely stupid of a company that also produces some of the best speakers in the world ,to choose to compromise like this.

 

[wgscott]

Another possibility is that they simply believe 48 kHz sampling is more that sufficient to obtain a complete description of sound within the range of human hearing. Sampling above twice the upper threshold of hearing, according to that point of view, will make their downloads bigger without gaining them any further audible improvement, and therefore over-sampling isn't worth the bother. I would much rather they focus on 24-bit, as that gives a distinct improvement over 16-bit. If they offer 96 kHz, people will complain it isn't 192 kHz, and if they offer 192 kHz, people will complain the lossless compression might be lossy in an alternate universe.

 

[Audio_ELF]

Another possibility is that they simply believe 48 kHz sampling is more that sufficient to obtain a complete description of sound within the range of human hearing. [..] I would much rather they focus on 24-bit, as that gives a distinct improvement over 16-bit. If they offer 96 kHz, people will complain it isn't 192 kHz, and if they offer 192 kHz, people will complain the lossless compression might be lossy in an alternate universe.

 

Just going to agree with wgscott and add a little more.

 

Even more than concentrating on 24bit vs 16bit, what is most important is that they think about everything from the recording stage and through mastering. This is (IMO) MUCH more important than the eventual bit rate. People are often clammering for 24/96 and 24/192 bit rate "popular" music, but unless they are remastered then this is pointless - they are often so compressed any additional dynamic range is pointless.

 

Eloise

 

[chrille]

But that is not what they told me.

I am also of the opinion that most "popular" music won't benefit much from hi res treatment,for the reason that you now mention,and several others I have repeatedly mentioned here.

MP3 is more than good enough for a lot of music in that genre.

24/96 or higher would only be eye candy.

 

But with orginal DSD or 24/96 or higher master recordings of acoustic music, as the LSO Live productions I was referring to, there can be a clearly perceivable improvement in staying as close to the orginal rate as possible, provided you have equipment capable of resolving the added information and of course you are able to hear the difference.

At LSO Live they are well aware of this and it is in fact the reason they record either in DSD or hi res PCM in the first place!