List Audiophile Quality Download Sites

[GeorgeW1238]

Looks like music giants is bankrupt and Naxos is only 128Kps AAC

 

[GeorgeW1238]

deutsche grammophon down loads are available on HD Tracks at 96K/24 - i downloaded Beethoven's 9th on thursday.

 

[GeorgeW1238]

Great quality - tried one of the Studio master FLAC's down loads yesterday - i just wish that they had a wider selection of artists & genre

 

[GeorgeW1238]

doesn't seem to support anything above Dc quality WAV

 

[GeorgeW1238]

Looks like a good source of material if the artists are what you are looking for - added it to my favorites

 

 

[GeorgeW1238]

Looks like a source of hiRez material - Artists & material /

 

[GeorgeW1238]

Looks like they support FLAC up to CD Quality

 

[GeorgeW1238]

looks like a good potential source of FLAC material. Not sure about how good the catalogue is.

 

[GeorgeW1238]

My primary source !!

 

[GeorgeW1238]

the max hi rez is 48Khz/24 bit but the material sounds very good & the mindset is one of offering really high quality sound.( bitrate aside )

 

[ted_b]

for most posts in an hour.

 

Lots of us use HDtracks and discuss it here quite often. I notice you've mentioned it a few times already (Beethoven, primary source, etc) but not more than a sentence each post. Rather than list it multiple times, tell us a bit more about why you like it, etc. Have you had any download issues, or found any faux hirez (HDtracks has been on a mission to remove files they've later found to be not truly of hirez or master tape origin)? I ask becuase I think their servers and overall service has improved lately, but would love to hear from newer CA participants.

 

[GeorgeW1238]

B&w is " only 48Khz/24 bit " but in my view it is close to the best sound available. it makes one wonder if it wouldn't be better to go 96/32 vs 192/24 !

 

[GeorgeW1238]

Looks like a good one - they seem to have a good appreciation of high def music !

 

[GeorgeW1238]

I'm very concerned with the lack of good content on HiRez !

I've gone to all the Websites that I have made a comment on and looked at what the download quality is and the catalog of artists.

My experience has been primarily with HD Tracks , Linn Records, B&W society of sound & Chesky records. I'm sure the DRM issue is a big factor but if i can only listen to Scottish bands vs CSO or NY philamonic than I'll contonue to buy CD's. I have 2 T1 lines feeding my house so i'd love to be able to get HQ music when I want it - I'm even willing to pay for it but not for the artists currently available.

I'm Running a current WIN7 system & the latest level of Java and have no download manager issues.

 

 

[Dennis Graves]

I found a website -- Apokarteron -- that has an amazing collection of classical downloads available. And, it appears there is no charge! I downloaded a set of Mahler recordings but was not able to play anything, either in JRiver or Windows MEdia Player. On the website the files are said to be flac, but the file designator is "torrent". I cannot get the files to play as flac.

Any thoughts on this site?

 

[CharlyD]

Torrent files require a peer-to-peer (P2P) client to download. As the name imlies, portions of the file are distributed to several peers and clients can then access and dowload these portions for reassembly into the original content. This download method is frequently used for distribution of pirated content. That's why this site is free... Just say no.

 

[Vitor]

 

Is there any site who have music like The Eagles, Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Led Zepellin in 96/24?

I've searched HDTracks with no success.

Thanks.

 

 

[almaatakz]

Oh, a site like this is something everybody here is waiting for but unfortuantely the answer is no and it is not clear if it will change in the future.

 

 

[tpan]

Very disappointing that more diverse content is not available. What's the point of having all this fancy equipment to play back 96/24. Amost feels like this community is in the same situation as sacd, divx, etc were in their early days (which is not a good sign).

 

[Encore]

Danish Dacapo Records are again offering a new free sample download each day of December. Each day one is allowed to download a track of one's own choosing from an album. There are also hires albums among them.

 

http://www.dacapo-records.dk/en/

 

 

[Andrew Jones]

Phish offer downloads of all their recent concerts in mp3, redbook FLAC and 24/96 FLAC-HD- details at http://www.livephish.com/

 

Nugs.net their technical provider also do the honours for others bands such as the Black Crowes, Metallica- check them out if interested in live rock music.

 

http://www.dgmlive.com/ provide concert downloads for King Crimson and Robert Fripp in mp3 and redbook FLAC. One fine deal is all 14 shows from the 1995 tour for $60 in redbook FLAC.

 

Hope this helps in some small way.

 

[dsnyder]

Hello,

 

It would seem that much (all?) of the Naxos catalog is now available at HDtracks. I counted 326 albums. Enjoy.

 

-- Daivd

 

 

[zerung]

Dave, Thanks for the update.

I was excited to note HD heading on the site heading,offerings were standard 16/44. I was also dissapointed to note that their price is same as the CD verision, other HDTracks offer better value, beating the cd price by a suitable margin.

 

But still a great preview site for Naxos....

 

[James1776]

So I will not be joining

 

[ted_b]

Same reason zip files exist. The physical file size savings for limited bandwidths is important. FLAC to Wav conversion takes very very little time and decent tools are freeware (best tools like DB poweramp are cheap). Plus FLAC includes metadata along for the download ride, should you want it.

 

Most of us use FLAC for archiving, so downloading in FLAC and playing in WAV is perfect combination of tagged storage savings (FLAC) and best sonics (WAV, please don't flame..save for another thread). my $.02 ($.01 in FLAC)