HighResAudio announced HiRes streaming service in Europe

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"... the subscription price is a real winner!"

 

Will be interesting to see how this compares to the Qobuz Sublime+ subscription and whether Qobuz will respond.

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4 minutes ago, Marcin_gps said:

I wonder if ECM catalogue will be included... 

 

ECM would be a coup de gras ! On Qobuz they have a few available for streaming but even then, some tracks are 'disabled'.

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21 minutes ago, james45974 said:

This seems to infer that certain competition is "dirty" or "adulterated" from the original.

 

Perhaps it is  . I wonder how their production differs from Qobuz ... that might be a key differentiator.

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That's quite an eye-opening statement ! So, presumably, if the Qobuz downloads are not 'true HiRes', little chance that the stream albums will be ... presumably derived from the same thing. I do hear a quality difference between some albums and have just put it down to the recording/production. I guess that's why HRA have focused on this issue on their FB page, quote: "Don't be fooled or sorry, if your supplier cheats on you. You don't want to buy music that sounds horrible or is manipulated. The screenshot shows you a very bad example - that you shouldn't pay for."

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I suppose a disadvantage for HRA is that their catalogue is not as large (speculating) ... maybe nowhere near. Fortunately, in the Jazz genre that I'm interested in, they have some great offerings. I do pretty much what you do ... evaluate on streaming but I haven't bought a download from Qobuz yet ... always from HRA.

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Yes, 8/200 fakes does put it into perspective... Interesting evidence nonetheless ... You are clearly an assiduous audiophile !! ... Have you done similar checks on HRA material ?

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Musicscope looks like a useful tool to check against rip-offs (for downloads) ... and I was surprised to see that it's relatively inexpensive, if one knows how to use and interpret it ... however, given HRA's commitment and track record (with your tests) I may not need it.

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Indeed it is ... and used by HRA themselves. 

 

Fake HiRes ? ... I'm sure there are many that could/would weigh in on both sides of that argument, so careful how you go  !! HRA have 'pulled back' from MQA while they wait for an answer from the organisation concerning how they can verify provenance as part of their quality testing ... their FB page has a short statement to that effect. I believe it's safe to say that their intended HiRes streaming service will be limited to FLAC 24 bit... to start with anyway .... which they can test, qualify and guarantee.

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I guess the MQA releases they keep on catalogue are ones they have been able to qualify thru' their process ... I hope !

 

Altho' 258 isn't an awful lot IMO 

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@#Yoda# ... Thanks for the heads-up .... that has set the cat amongst the pigeons, n'est pas ! I guess Audirvana may be involved as they are now already. Looks like a good price but I'm thinking can one have offline playing as with Qobuz ?