iTunes Audiophile Downloads

[khollister]

I also joined the SoS and feel there is a lot of great music available for the price. The recording quality of the LSO Live stuff is pretty good, especially considering much of it is recorded at the Barbican (not the finest recording venue in London from what I understand and vaguely recall from the last time I was in London many, many years ago and attended a concert there). Also be aware that the recordings at targeted at SACD and are therefore done using DSD as the recording medium.

 

Given that they appear to prune the list of albums from time to time, I would suggest grabbing the old stuff first, and not waste any time grabbing everything currently available, whether you want to listen to it now or not.

 

 

 

[khollister]

"A word to the wise, although it is nice to have the option of hi-res, it adds complexity that is not always worth it. I have many CD quality (16/44.1) albums that sound better than my hi-res tracks."

 

No kidding - while hi-res recordings will sound better everything else being equal, that is almost never the case. The recording technique, equipment, venue and the skill of the engineer are far more important than having 24/192 in my opinion.

 

I too have many 16/44 albums that are outstanding, far better than some of the hi-res stuff I have paid good money for.

 

[jhwalker]

"Your Ipod will not play more than 16/44 although its host computer will if it is a Mac."

 

No, I have a four-year-old iPod Touch (2nd gen) that will play my music up to 48 / 24. Any higher than that, I have to downsample. Don't know if any of the newer players have higher / deeper capabilities. I also don't know if the music is playing at native resolution or is being automatically downsampled at playtime to 16-bit.

 

As you mention, Macs will play at least up to 192 / 32 - haven't tried anything higher-res than that. Note that Core Audio will downsample to 96 / 32 (maximum output of my 2010-model MacBook Pro) if necessary.

 

[wgscott]

My first-gen iPod touch, as well as iPad, play 24/96, but I don't think the output is 24/96, ie., it downsamples the music. So a digital dock might bypass it.

 

[ted_b]

capable of. It only downsamples when the driver asks it to (i.e a 24/192 song and a 24/96 DAC driver). My 2009 white Macbook is connected to an M2tech Young DAC and it outputs 32/384k via USB. JHwalker, your Macbook Pro does NOT have a maximum of 24/96, it is a function of the driver. If you are sending firewire or USB out to a 32/384 DAC then so be it, but if you sending the data out the Macbook Pro's digital out (toslink mini) then you have the same restrictions as all Macs via toslink min out.

 

Ipod's can handle 48k sample rates. Always have.

 

 

 

[jhwalker]

Thanks for clarifying what I didn't say very well

 

[ted_b]

Sometimes this hobby talk gets too specific, sometimes too generalized. We have to watch out for both, I guess.

 

I'm still cautiously optimistic that Apple will commit to 24 bit as a delivery method within the iTunes store, and this will help the hobby. As many have stated, it's not about the hirez per se, it's about the quality of the end product. What we've seen with the boutique labels is that the quality of both redbook and hirez mastering is impeccable, and let's hope that attention to detail can also be seen if/when the larger labels go back and redo the classics due to a little market boost from Apple (by classics I'm referring to Little Feat, Joni Mitchell and Radiohead, for example )

 

[bleedink]

Has some absolutely gorgeous material no matter what your musical tastes. I got a membership when I bought my speakers and was amazed at the talent of the artists and engineers. They're not the highest rez but they are recorded so well that it isn't a problem. It seems I recall a lot of 16 bit 48k stuff on there too that was awesome sounding. I am sure we are all well aware that Red book stuff can sound fantastic-so this isn't exactly breaking any technological walls down for high res-but they are certainly produced extremely well and take advantage of the additional bits and bytes in a sonically satisfying manner, whether in 16 or 24 bit.

 

[djjimmylyons]

Hey Bottlerocket,

I'm kinda new to this site. It's not unethical (sorry 'bout the double negative) to copy your links and post them elsewhere right?

 

I started a FB page called "Dear iTunes, We Want Better Quality Audio" and I'd like to post these there (you should go click "like" and chime in as well). It's mostly recording school students and other nerds trying to feed the dialogue.

 

It's like we're waiting for a critical mass on this issue.

 

Also, if you read this Jerico: props on the Big Trouble in Little China pic.

thanks,

jl

 

[driven -- by sound]

How do you like the M2tech Young DAC paired with your Mac? A new DAC for my mini is on the horizons.

 

[bottlerocket]

They're not my links; they belong to their respective web-masters, who probably work very hard to get as many back links as possible. You are doing them a service to post them all over the place.

 

[agentsmith]

Still no news?

 

[rkay5]

Hi,

Apple lossless codec can do 24/192 no problem I have 24/176.4 Apple lossless files on my hard drive.I recorded vinyl at 24/176.4 and save in apple lossless or flac for play back in foobar2000 and itunes.I use itunes for organizing and burning CD only.

 

[Markjulie]

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