Love Supreme at 24/96 ?? really ??

[wgscott]

"Trust HDtracks. Do you have any reason to believe that it would not be 24/96? In the description HDTracks states that this (A Love Supreme) is remastered from recently discovered first genereration analog mastertapes, by original engineer Rudy Van Gelder.

 

There have been a couple of problems with previous HDTracks 24/96 releases, due to non-transparency of the source of the high res files from the record company to HDTracks. When HDTracks discovered these problems they promptly fixed them (got true high res versions). At this point I believe that HDTracks is quite vigilant in being sure that the source of their high res download files is true high res, and not upsampled.

 

David Chesky is a great guy, and a true music lover, and we owe him a debt of gratitude for developing what is quickly becoming the best source for high res music downloads."

 

I may indeed "owe him a debt of gratitude," but given than he is a "great guy" and I "Trust[ed] HDtracks" and didn't have a "reason to believe that it would not be 24/96" until I looked at the spectrum of the files that I purchased only two weeks ago, do you think he owes me anything? Or is this just one of those caveat emptor situations?

 

As Reagan used to say, "Trust, but verify."

 

[manisandher]

Is your Lush Life SACD on the Prestige label? If so, although it's still no excuse, I can understand how HDTracks might have missed this.

 

In any event, the 24/96 Love Supreme doesn't look as if it's been derived from a 16/44.1 master - it has plenty of signal above 22.05KHz.

 

Mani.

 

[audiozorro]

The Love Sumpreme example may have been an honest mistake or an oversight which was very easy to analyze and verify for high res content. However as one who has purchased and developed high res recordings that are high res transfers from analogue tapes and vinyl, I know that there is no obvious brick wall cutoff in doing such analogue transfers.

 

Even if one records a SACD from a decent Oppo universal player versus from a very expensive and excellent SACD player there will be differences in audio content. Add in upsampling, downsampling and other mastering tricks of the trade and what the consumer gets is highly dependent on the skill, expertise and honesty of the mastering engineer. That's why the reputation and trust based on expertise and honesty are so important. And one should remember that although there is a lot of exquisite music out there, there is also a lot of low res, medium res and high res crap produced.

 

[wgscott]

It said "Lush Life (SACD)" in the title. They said they were looking into it.

 

[Flac2Dac]

I just got the DVD-A of R.E.M.s Out Of Time. The 2-channel mix is supposedly 24/192. However, when I shared this excitement with a friend, he challenged with "is it really 24/192"...and referenced this thread.

 

So I downloaded Audacity (for Windows), and this is the FFT Spectrum analysis for one of the tracks. What I can't figure out, is how to "extend" the frequency range up above the 8kHz...to see if there is a "bricking" of information...like in wgscott's example above.

 

 

EDIT- I found this thread after http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/How-check-recording-quality, so I think I've got it.

 

CD

 

[JR_Audio]

These are mostly due to some DC / DC converters for the 48 Voltage phantom power for capacitor microphones in the microphone preamp. I have had also some microphones and some mic preamps, that have shown that signs, but I sold them. Even some well know and expensive mic and preamp combinations are showing this and if you look at this at some “High End” recordings, you will notice, that this is not an exception. But this has nothing to do, how the recording is sounding.

 

Juergen

 

PS: Last month I was doing a live recording in a church and they have been running an ultra sound speaker, to reject birds and other animals against coming into the church. So I have had a 27 kHz tone with – 70 dBFS on my recordings. Not audible, but visible. But during mastering the HiRez Masters, I have included a very sharp notch filter at 27 kHz with – 50 dBr to suppress this tone to – 120 dBFS.

 

[Flac2Dac]

OK, I figured out how to set the maximum frequency here...but how do I set the frequency "scale" in between the highest and lowest?

 

BTW, this is a track from the DVD-A of Talking Heads '77; and it appears this "24/96" title may hit a 44.1 "brick wall" like above! OMG, how rampant is this??

 

 

CD

 

[wgscott]

General Motors used to put Chevy engines in their Oldsmobiles, figuring no one would bother to look. The lawsuits cost them far more than they tried to save.

 

[One and a half]

HD Tracks on 24/96 and used Sound Forge 10 FFt. Paints frequency right up to 48kHz and brick walls. This would be right for 24/96?, see pdf. There are a lot filters to choose from not really sure what they all are, however not much difference in the results.

 

 

 

[firedog]

My experience is that Audacity doesn't provide reliable results in frequency analysis.

 

I use a free program called Sonic Visualizer instead:

http://www.sonicvisualiser.org/

 

[wgscott]

Lush Life (since removed -- they acknowledged it is problematic) is the one I found cuts out at 22 kHz). Love Supreme looks fine (48kHz).

 

I should add that Lush LIfe sounds perfectly fine to me, as my hearing doesn't go up to 22 kHz. But I paid for that signal I can't hear, and my dog feels cheated.

 

[bottlerocket]

Too funny. I do this all for my dog too. Without him, I'd be saving $6 a download.

 

[Cemil]

I've bought the 96/24 A Love Supreme. It sounds much better than any of the other versions that I have ... EXCEPT .. the 45rpm vinyl recently issued by Analog Productions. That is a real cracker - and significantly better sounding than the 96/24.

 

I have no idea why this is so.

 

[wgscott]

For a real trip, crank it up to 78 rpm.

 

FWIW, I bought the 24/96 Love Supreme download. It doesn't have the same problem that the Lush Life download had. However, it doesn't sound any better to me. I like Lush Life more. I just find myself wondering if the title is about alcoholism.

 

[wgscott]

HD Tracks says that they have Coltrane's Love Supreme at 24/96.

 

Has anyone been able to check if this has real high frequency content and if it has avoided the dynamic limits that come with 16 bits? Or is this just a conversion of a standard CD from 16/44 to 24/96 ??

 

Thanks,

Mike

 

 

Turns out it is in fact 16 bits, padded to 24.

 

When is 24 bits not 24 bits?

[Leroy Bad]

Apparently HDtracks has removed this album.

[alainbil]

Apparently HDtracks has removed this album.

 

Apparenty HDtracks has removed all John Coltrane albums, but "Sun Ship: The Complete Session"

 

A couple of John Coltrane albums can be found on Qobuz sold as "Studio masters", I guess

they must be identical to what was on HDtracks

[firedog]

Apparenty HDtracks has removed all John Coltrane albums, but "Sun Ship: The Complete Session"

 

A couple of John Coltrane albums can be found on Qobuz sold as "Studio masters", I guess

they must be identical to what was on HDtracks

 

Don't know where you got that idea, but I just checked and there are seven different John Coltrane albums presently listed at HDT. All in at least one version of hi-res.

 

https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=artistdetail&id=8954

[alainbil]

Don't know where you got that idea, but I just checked and there are seven different John Coltrane albums presently listed at HDT. All in at least one version of hi-res.

 

https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=artistdetail&id=8954

 

I am connecting from France The link you quote gives me accesse to a web page with only "Sun Ship The Complete Session";and nothing else. The other Coltrane albums you mention are hidden.

[Perlik]

I am also in France

You cannot order on HDTRACKS from France thus you do not see the links of available downloads...

You should try to find it on QOBUZ (sometime they've got the same records) or use a VPN/Proxy etc...

Cheers

[alainbil]

You cannot download Coltrane HDtracks albums from France but for

"Sun Ship The Complete Session" that you can download

[firedog]

You cannot download Coltrane HDtracks albums from France but for

"Sun Ship The Complete Session" that you can download

 

Well I'm sorry that for whatever reason, HDT can't sell those albums in France apparently. I've bought several of them, and they sound good. If you really are interested maybe I could help you buy them (I'm not in the States, but haven't had any problem buying them).

 

You might try using a proxy server address from the States in your browser. That might fool HDT into showing you the page, and then you can buy them. Lots of us non-US people successfully buy from the site using PayPal.

[CatManDo]

HDtracks doesn't sell anything outside the US (clearly stated in the FAQ and their legal conditions), although it's possible to buy nevertheless by preventing them from noticing your non-US address (use Paypal checkout instead of credit card, don't fill out your address details).

 

For some albums, there is an additional IP-address check that makes it more complicated (proxy server required).

[alainbil]

HDtracks doesn't sell anything outside the US (clearly stated in the FAQ and their legal conditions), although it's possible to buy nevertheless by preventing them from noticing your non-US address (use Paypal checkout instead of credit card, don't fill out your address details).

 

For some albums, there is an additional IP-address check that makes it more complicated (proxy server required).

 

HDTracks FAQ states

Q: I live in a country outside of the United States. Are there territory restrictions?

A: Due to agreements with our member labels, there are certain restrictions on which territories we are allowed to sell certain content to. However, every day we are adding more territories to our agreements, so if you are able to see and order our content, then you may download it!

[CatManDo]

Oops. Thanks for correcting this. They must have changed the FAQ recently, last year it said

 

Q: I live in a country outside of the United States. Are there territory restrictions?

A: Yes, at this time, HDtracks only serves people residing in the United States.

 

 

Their terms and conditions have not been adapted though:

 

11. Territory. The Digital Store is currently available only in the continental United States, and is not available in any other location. You agree not to use or attempt to use the Digital Store from outside of the available territory, and that HD may use technologies to verify your compliance.

https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=staticpage&pagename=terms_conditions