More Trickery in Hi Rez Downloads?

[Rust]

A little dated but still relevant.

The ubiquitous Eagles "Hotel California" which from the first day of release was considered to have excellent sound. Spectrographic analysis of the CD and 96.24 download.

http://www.ultrahighendreview.com/are-9624-downloads-better-than-cds/

A discussion of Santanas "Abraxas" DSD download

http://www.ultrahighendreview.com/dsd-downloads-double-speak-by-sony/

So the only way to tell is to do your own analysis after purchase I guess. Then on the other hand I just picked up new five CDs and a dual layer Reiner CD/SACD out of the bargain bins for twenty four bucks.

[JCOConnell]

I don't buy hi rez digital any more for these reasons, CDs only and mostly used for digital. Still prefer new and used LPs.

[JCOConnell]

When I said I don't buy hi rez digital anymore, I meant SACDs. I never really bought files.

[Johnny Vinyl]

First off, I don't buy files...I want the physical product. However, this is not exclusive to Hi-res (Hi Rez?) files alone. Vinyl buyers are confronted with not knowing if a pressing is analog or digital, because there is no transparency from the labels. This needs to stop. Whether files or physical we pay more than enough for the format of our choice and deserve to know what we're buying upfront!

[JCOConnell]

While I prefer my records to be master cut from the original analog tapes, that just isn't going to happen as often as it did in the past.
As long as the digital dub is very high resolution, i.e. 24 bit 192KHZ and dubbed from the analog master tape straight with no manipulation,
like compression or EQ etc, then digital mastering of a LP may be acceptable.

[Johnny Vinyl]

For the record (haha), I'm not unopposed to well-mastered and pressed digital vinyl...I just would like to know what I'm getting beforehand.

[Bruce B]

If you're just going to put the digital on LP or tape, I'll take the digital file any day. Give me the option of putting it on LP or tape.

[Rust]

JC - Last year a buddy who has some downloads and I did a listening comparison. Nothing special, his old model ADL GT40 with his files and my Well Tempered with a Sumiko Blackbird. We compared files I had matching standard and high quality pressings of. The 45 rpm of Dave Brubecks Time Out was the real clincher.

He quit paying for downloads. I'll admit to owning a DAC, simply for the convenience of playing back ripped CDs using my notebook as a library. The first little Audioquest dongle thing. And I do have a portable player for travel, plug it into the trucks system, listen on airplanes. It's a Zune. And I am thinking of something like that ADL for digitizing some vinyl and tapes. But after I finally get a new phono preamp.

[JCOConnell]

I use a standard desktop PC for ripping records and tapes to digital.

[Rust]

JC - What are you using for a DAC?

[JCOConnell]

JC - What are you using for a DAC?

For the PC, I use the chipset built into the motherboard (Realtek high definition audio, 24/96K) and just use the line in and line out jacks on the back of the desktop. For my CD player DAC, I use the optical output and feed it into a DIY DAC made from 2008 vintage chipsets (24/96k).