Outstanding Pure DSD256 Downloads with some DXD thrown in...

[matthias]

The opne thing it is missing? Compression. There is no compression, the dynamics are completely wide open and unconstrained. Gonzalo considers no compression to be a virtue for any true high resolution recording. Of course, compression is ubiquitous for commercial releases from other labels.

No compression is the real progress. I think the labels should disclose on every new release if "no compression" is used.

 

[Rushton]

A really nice concert organ recital and recording from Yarlung Records (2018), in stereo and MCh. Recorded to DSD256 and mastered entirely in the DSD Domain. If you've got the full range system capable of reproducing this, you have a wonderful audio system. It is among my Outstanding Organ Recordings in DSD256 and DXD posted earlier this year.As always with Yarlung recordings, no compression, it is full dynamics and full range.



Review and more photos HERE.

 

[Audiocrack]

Audiocrack, I spent some time today listening to both in short comparative segments. They are both excellent performances and both are very nice sonically. The sound is different reflecting more the difference in the recording venues than any material quality difference in the sonics. If I were picking nits, I'd say the inner detail resolution in the LSO Live recording is greater, but that may be as much about the drier acoustics of the Barbican than anything else. Both have nice soundstage, nice overall clarity, good frequency extension, and wide dynamic range.

As to the performances, the LSO perhaps plays with more technical precision and ensemble. I like the bass soloists in each performance. And the choruses (choirs) to a great job in both. And I find the interpretations from Noseda and Karabits to be very similar. Interestingly, the overall timing of both recordings is within a hair of each other (58:13 vs 58:11), with trading timings on individual movements.

If I had to pick one, I'd probably say the Noseda/LSO would be my preference just for the slightly greater precision and clarity. But the differences are very minor. I'd be very happy living with the Karabits/RNO. In fact, I left one movement running as I was typing this and completely lost track of which album was playing.

Much appreciated Rushton! In the past I was never ‘a fan’ of the LSO recordings made in Barbican (and I have quite a few of them available on my NAS). But apparently the engineers have found a solution for the difficult cq dry acoustics of this concert hall. Apparently because I am really impressed by the Pentatone dxd recording and the LSO recording seems to be equally impressive, sonically speaking (albeit different of course). Thanks again.

 

[Rushton]

...In the past I was never ‘a fan’ of the LSO recordings made in Barbican (and I have quite a few of them available on my NAS). But apparently the engineers have found a solution...

I agree with you about the earlier recordings made in the Barbican--just not very pleasing. But, as you suggest, the recording team has finally found a solution and the recordings coming out the past couple of years have been excellent. I've heard some folks say that the sound on the recordings today is better than the sound the audience can hear inside the hall. So, the Barbican acoustics must continue to be a real challenge for both musicians and audiences.

 

[Rushton]

Time for a little jazz, and who better? Transferred from a 15ips 2-track tape to DSD256, with no post processing in PCM, this is what would be categorized as a Pure DSD256-Analog Mixed album because it is a transfer from analog tape. And it sounds great! My review from a few years ago HERE.

 

[Rexp]

Thank you, Audiocrack, for your kind appreciation of my reviews of DSD256 and DXD recordings. I very much appreciate you commenting about these. You and I share a great liking for the excellent releases that have come from these labels over the years.

You pose good and reasonable questions. I'll try to offer clear answers.

First, it could be that my preference for Pure DSD256 files may be influenced by my DAC. As noted in my profile, where I've listed all of my audio equipment, my DAC is a Playback Designs MDP-8 designed by Andreas Koch. Internally it converts all incoming files to DSD and then modulates the signal well beyond DSD1024 before converting to analog. As a result, I never hear a DXD file that is not converted in this fashion by the internal operation of this DAC. However, I clearly hear differences between DXD and DSD256 when compared in as much an "apples-to-apples" manner as I can accomplish.

At the same time, I greatly value the excellent pure DXD recorded releases from Bert, Thomas Wolden (Lawo), and Morten Lindberg (2L), just to name a few recording engineers I think we both value highly. Bert has long been convinced of his preference for DXD, once giving me a long treatise about why in response to one of my many email conversations with him. Although, I've not talked with him about this since he has aligned with the new Master Fidelity equipment.

But, I do not think my choice of DAC is determining my preference for Pure DSD256 versus DXD. There are too many concurrences from people using a broad variety of other equipment. Brendon Heinst (TRPTK), for example, has for several years now shifted away from DXD for his tracking channels and uses DSD256 instead because, he told me, "it sounds better." In a blog post on his website he says, "At TRPTK, we generally record our artists’ performances in DSD256 for its natural sound quality, specifically with our Merging Technologies Hapi MkII A/D-converters. Since processing in DSD is a very difficult and impractical process, the DSD signal is then converted into PCM..."

Frans de Rond (Sound Liaison) has come to the same conclusion and is shifting to Pure DSD256 recording for future projects following his experience making the album, In Essence. You can read his comments here.

Jared Sacks (Channel Classics) and Tom Peeters (Cobra Records) and Robert Hunka (Hunnia Records) have made the same shifts to DSD256. First doing their tracking channels in DSD256 with mixing in DXD, and now shifting their mastering process to release in Pure DSD256.

So, I don't think I'm just being influenced by my choice of DAC. I think there are audible differences that more recording and mastering engineers are hearing.

Second, I agree about listening to the format in which the edit master was created. If the edit master is DXD, then I typically prefer listening to the DXD file because that sounds better to me in my primary system. This is not always the case, but is usually. I've spent much more time discussing my listening experience with this, and providing some sample file comparison downloads, in the article Choosing the Best Sounding File Format with Free Sample Downloads.

And finally, my complete equipment list. As posted in my profile:

DAC: Playback Designs MPD-8
Amp: HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE electrostatic headphone amplifier
Headphones: Stax SR-900S (two pairs)
JRiver Media Center

That's it. When I retired and downsized, my wife and I made a complete shift to digital files and headphones.

For someone looking to try DSD256, what's the lowest cost hardware/player that you've heard that does it justice?

 

[Rushton]

Hi Rexp, I wish I had a good recommendation for you from first hand experience. I can only rely on what others tell me about what they are using. One audio friend whom I've found to be a critical listener speaks very highly of the FiiO brand DACs that sell in the $900-1200 range on Amazon. He is currently using their new player/DAC/Streamer/preamp K17 model, which he thinks is their best yet. But prior to that he really liked the S15 model. Both use the same top-of-the-line AKM DAC chip, but the K17 has dual DACs.

There are certainly less expensive options, like the iFi Audio ZEN DACs, but I would not expect a DAC in the $200-250 price range to pass muster for critical listening to DSD256 files.

From here, hopefully others will share some alternative DACs to consider.

 

[marty]

Best current thread on the forum! For music lovers with gear head considerations thrown in. Keep it up, Rushton!

 

[Rushton]

Thanks, marty. It takes all of us to maintain the conversation, so I hope folks will keep asking and posting.

 

[Audiocrack]

Hello Rushton, you have access to a much greater number of high quality / resolution recordings than I - and I suppose (nearly) all of the WBF members - do. Therefore I would be greatly interested in hearing from you what recordings in particular appeal to you from a musical as well as sonic point of view, say ‘a top ten’ or so. I will throw in a few recordings myself which sound really impressive in my system. Some of these recordings I have already mentioned earlier in my Tidal La Assoluta thread on WBF.

Btw, the main reason for me to assemble a ‘large/big’ audio system is that I love the symphonies of composers like Bruckner, Mahler, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Bartok, etc. So a few of my future ‘top 10’ listings will be some of these symphonies but I will start with a few other top notch / high resolution recordings.

 

[Audiocrack]

Here is my first recommendation:

Viriditas (Hi-res Download) • Sibil•la Ensemble

Buy Viriditas by Sibil•la Ensemble as Hi-res Download on TRPTK.com.

trptk.com

This Viriditas recording by Brendon Heinst - of the small but high quality Dutch label TRPTK - sounds really gorgeous in dxd / 32 bit. Recorded in a Dutch church the instruments and voices sound very realistic. For example the extinction of tones can be ‘followed’ beautifully.

 

[Audiocrack]

The second and last one for today:

YULE - NativeDSD Music

Yule is the 4th release at NativeDSD from the Grammy nominated Trio Mediæval vocal ensemble. It is available at NativeDSD in Stereo and 5.1 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and DXD plus Stereo DSD 512 and 7.1.4 Channel Dolby Atmos True HD MKV & Auro 3D Immersive Audio. The...

www.nativedsd.com

The beautiful voices of this trio are captured beautifully by the 2L record company (I have this recording available in the dxd / 32 bit format). Listen for example to the fourth song - Lussinatti Lange - and you will undoubtedly be impressed by the power/ dynamics as well as the purity of the voices.

 

[Rexp]

Hi Rexp, I wish I had a good recommendation for you from first hand experience. I can only rely on what others tell me about what they are using. One audio friend whom I've found to be a critical listener speaks very highly of the FiiO brand DACs that sell in the $900-1200 range on Amazon. He is currently using their new player/DAC/Streamer/preamp K17 model, which he thinks is their best yet. But prior to that he really liked the S15 model. Both use the same top-of-the-line AKM DAC chip, but the K17 has dual DACs.

There are certainly less expensive options, like the iFi Audio ZEN DACs, but I would not expect a DAC in the $200-250 price range to pass muster for critical listening to DSD256 files.

From here, hopefully others will share some alternative DACs to consider.

Thanks! Presumably you'd also need a server to store the large files on, what do you use and how is it connected to your DAC?

 

[surfing_dude]

Patricia Barber - Modern cool in DSD 512.
I had the bluray version 192/24 bit (Ripped to wave files) for many years and I'm familiar with the album intimately.
This DSD is by far the best digital (The most realistic and truer) version of this great album.
On my Vivid's G3S2- it blows me away every time I play this album. Amazing!
I also recommend her latest release of the first album, also in DSD 512 - Excellent recording and mastering!!
Bought from NativeDSD

 

[surfing_dude]

First, please allow me to share a bit of background for what I hope will become a continuing conversation among friends... I've been away from the What's Best Forum for a number of years and recently returned to explore what I've been missing. What I see here are a lot of folks passionate about superb sound quality in their music playback. And I love that! Back in my vinyl days, I had a passion for searching out better pressings and finding great 45rpm reissues because those got me closer to what I heard when listening to excellent 15ips 2-track tapes (when I had the opportunity to hear those). I never added R2R tape to my audio, I was vinyl-only at home. Instead of more than one media, I invested my audio budget into the best turntable, tonearm, phono stage choices I could identify and pay for. Over the decades, I built a vinyl library of over 8,000 carefully selected LPs. But, then came retirement, downsizing, moving to a city to be nearer family, and becoming an apartment dweller.

My wife (who is my constant listening partner) and I chose to transition to all-digital files for our post-retirement, downsized, future life with music. Our principal enjoyment today is in very high resolution digital: DSD256 and DXD. As I worked past mourning the loss of my vinyl, I found that very high resolution digital recordings, with an excellent DAC, assuaged the angst. With David Robinson's encouragement as a means of therapy, I started writing music reviews for Positive Feedback, and I have developed email relationships with a lot of digital recording and mastering engineers. Let's just say I've gotten my feet on the ground and am now very happy with my digital library. And because I enjoy the conversation about music and high quality reproduction, I've been looking to see where, or if, I can make a contribution. I didn't see another thread here that focuses on very high resolution file downloads originally recorded and released in Pure DSD256, with the occasional outstanding DXD release, so I offer this thread to hopefully become a place for that sort of conversation.

By way of diving in, I'll make a few comments that I hope folks reading this thread with take in the spirit with which they are intended: kindly. And I hope others will add to this start and share some of the DSD256 and DXD albums you are listening to that are just amazing. So, with apologies to many of you for whom this next bit may be old-hat, let me share some baseline information for any newcomers to this world of very high resolution downloads.

Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) technology and DSD (actually 1-bit Pulse Density Modulation or PDM) technology are significantly different. If you are familiar with PCM, you really cannot transfer any of your understanding of PCM to the very different world of DSD (PDM). For example, many will already understand that moving a file from DSD64 to DSD256 is a modulation. It is not a conversion. There is no resampling, no upsampling. The file continues entirely in the DSD domain. DSD is so very different from PCM that many people who are used to upsampling in PCM don't appreciate how seamless a DSD modulation is. Sure, there is no additional information being included when remodulating from DSD64 to DSD256, but doing so is not in anyway futzing with or harming the signal. In fact, this is exactly how my Playback Designs MPD-8 DAC operates, designed by one of the masters of DSD technology Andreas Koch. In fact, the MPD-8 modulates well beyond DSD1024 internally so that by the time it converts to analog, the signal is almost an analog signal already. More and more DACs are now designed to process the signal this way. See my interview with NativeDSD's mastering engineer, Tom Caulfield, for a better explanation of all of this:

An Interview with NativeDSD's Mastering Engineer Tom Caulfield

There may be some exploring this thread who use only physical media. For you so situated, I hope you will someday acquire (or borrow) a well designed DAC that can process DSD256 files because it is at this level that the DSD magic really begins to show itself. I have many DSD64 files from SACDs, and also many 44.1kHz PCM files, but my happiness comes from the aural density and resolution that really only shows up at much higher resolutions.

With respect to DSD256, I'd be remiss not to note that most albums released in DSD256 have been mastered in DXD. They thus have gone through the decimation of PCM processing. Many of you may have heard the statement that it is not possible to mix in DSD, that you have to take the file to analog or to PCM in order to mix it. That is a myth. It IS possible to mix in DSD (or multi-bit PDM) thus keeping the file entirely within the DSD domain. Mixing entirely within the DSD domain is what Gonzalo Noqué of Eudora Records has been doing for at least the past four to five years. Below are links to some articles about the process and some free downloadable sample files so you can hear the sound quality differences for yourself.

Mixing in Pure DSD - No PCM Allowed (free downable sample files included that will allow you to hear the same DSD256 original recording mastered DXD and then output to DSD256, versus that same recording mastered completely within the DSD domain with no PCM)

NativeDSD will also consider a file mixed in analog to be Pure DSD, identifying to general categories of Pure DSD processes, as discussed here:

Get the Master Tape Listening Experience with Pure DSD256, Free Sample Downloads Included

And, if you are willing to entertain downloading files for music listening, here is a list I recently posted at Positive Feedback of My Top of the Pile Pure DSD256 releases for audio quality:

Pure DSD256: My Top of the Pile

Pure DSD256 from Analog Tape: My Top of the Pile

And, just to offer something more to chew on about why I get so excited about DSD256 recordings:

Pure DSD256 - What We Hear

I'll follow this post with some posts of outstanding Pure DSD256 and DXD recordings to which I've been listening. I hope you will share yours.

Thanks Rushton! I read and bought many of your recommendations

 

[Rushton]

Thanks! Presumably you'd also need a server to store the large files on, what do you use and how is it connected to your DAC?

With the FiiO units, you can play directly from a USB flash drive plugged into the unit and using the front panel to navigate the file structure of the flash drive. So, to just try things out, you could start there without a further investment in equipment.

Longer term, if you build a larger library of files, you'd want to have some sort larger capacity storage device(s), and you will then want some sort of software to manage the files library and to use as your interface. I started by just using my PC and JRiver Media Center. I now use a dedicated mini-PC (an Asus NUC Pro) and JRiver in our primary system. My wife's office system uses an ancient Lenovo laptop and JRiver. Both have worked just fine for us.

Files are stored on external USB Western Digital My Book hard drives, each with a matching back up hard drive.

JRiver is my media manager of choice because I like the full control over editing the metadata, but it is not an easy piece of software to just pickup and use. I got help initially, and am now very comfortable with it. Alternatives such as Roon and Audirvana, are both more "user friendly" alternatives if you're not interested in editing and massaging the metadata for customization of files management. They also cost more.

On a home network... I have evolved our system to having files stored in one room connected to an Asus NUC file server and sharing the files across a home ethernet network to the other PCs that serve as our player devices. I don't do any streaming, but, if I did, my streaming would be directly over the NUCs without any sort of dedicated streamer device. I detailed our setup as of a few years ago in a Positive Feedback article HERE if you want to get into more detail. Of course, as with all things, there are multiple ways of handling any of this.

 

[Rushton]

Hello Rushton, you have access to a much greater number of high quality / resolution recordings than I - and I suppose (nearly) all of the WBF members - do. Therefore I would be greatly interested in hearing from you what recordings in particular appeal to you from a musical as well as sonic point of view, say ‘a top ten’ or so. I will throw in a few recordings myself which sound really impressive in my system.

This is such a great idea! I love it. First a few introductory comments...

First... Yes, I do have access to more high resolution recordings of the DXD and DSD256 variety than many people. And, full disclosure: as an active reviewer, I get free sample files as long as I crank out reviews and articles. I pick and choose what I want to write about. And I will write only about stuff I like. There are too many excellent albums out there, and too little time, to waste ink on something that is not that great or that I don't really like. So, if you read any of my reviews, you will not find me talking about things to avoid, you'll only find be talking about things I like and think you might like as well. I try to cover original DXD and DSD256 recordings coming out of NativeDSD, TRPTK, Spirit of Turtle, and HDTT. I'll add some lower resolution PCM recordings when they are really nice performances of good music and are well engineered.

Second... I like a lot of recordings that often duplicate other performances of the same work that I also like. To me, each performance has something unique to say and I can enjoy many of them, just appreciating and learning from the differences. I often have favorites, but that favorite may change next week. I do not like making "best of" lists because different recordings bring different things to the party. I value the variety of interpretation. At the same time, I'm pretty intolerant of badly miked, poorly produced recordings. And I do have a preference for sonic excellence in recordings.

Third... my tastes are about as eclectic as one gets when it comes to "classical music". So, you will see my reviews hopping from orchestral, to chamber, to solo instrument, and from renaissance to baroque to romantic to modern. And Audiocrack and I share similar appreciation for the large orchestral works of Bruckner, Mahler, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Bartok, etc. I also enjoy jazz, particularly from the '50s and '60s, but this has been a "later in life" coming to appreciate. Classical is my mainstay.

Fourth... In the next few posts I'll share some of the recordings I love that I would probably pull out for some audiophile friends coming over for a listening session this week. Next week, the recordings selection might be different.

Finally... I will start off with an album you might not expect. Recorded by Westminster in Carnegie Recital Hall on May 25, 1956 in stereo. And it sounds, to my ears, as if it could have been recorded last week, it is so transparent.



Pure DSD256 transfer from a Westminster Sonotape 2-Track. My review of this album can be found HERE. And you can download for free the first track of this album using the download link provided in this Positive Feedback article:
Pure DSD256 from Analog Tape: My Top of the Pile

This album is a favorite of mine. And when I play it for others, there is confusion, stunned silence, then smiles all around. Enjoy the sample track.

 

[Rushton]

This Viriditas recording by Brendon Heinst - of the small but high quality Dutch label TRPTK - sounds really gorgeous in dxd / 32 bit. Recorded in a Dutch church the instruments and voices sound very realistic. For example the extinction of tones can be ‘followed’ beautifully.

Boy, right off the bat you listed an album I really enjoyed and think is great. Brendon does outstanding work with his recordings and this album, as you note, sounds very realistic. I wrote a review a year ago, HERE, for those interested in some additional information and further thoughts about it.

 

[Audiocrack]

This is such a great idea! I love it. First a few introductory comments...

First... Yes, I do have access to more high resolution recordings of the DXD and DSD256 variety than many people. And, full disclosure: as an active reviewer, I get free sample files as long as I crank out reviews and articles. I pick and choose what I want to write about. And I will write only about stuff I like. There are too many excellent albums out there, and too little time, to waste ink on something that is not that great or that I don't really like. So, if you read any of my reviews, you will not find me talking about things to avoid, you'll only find be talking about things I like and think you might like as well. I try to cover original DXD and DSD256 recordings coming out of NativeDSD, TRPTK, Spirit of Turtle, and HDTT. I'll add some lower resolution PCM recordings when they are really nice performances of good music and are well engineered.

Second... I like a lot of recordings that often duplicate other performances of the same work that I also like. To me, each performance has something unique to say and I can enjoy many of them, just appreciating and learning from the differences. I often have favorites, but that favorite may change next week. I do not like making "best of" lists because different recordings bring different things to the party. I value the variety of interpretation. At the same time, I'm pretty intolerant of badly miked, poorly produced recordings. And I do have a preference for sonic excellence in recordings.

Third... my tastes are about as eclectic as one gets when it comes to "classical music". So, you will see my reviews hopping from orchestral, to chamber, to solo instrument, and from renaissance to baroque to romantic to modern. And Audiocrack and I share similar appreciation for the large orchestral works of Bruckner, Mahler, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Bartok, etc. I also enjoy jazz, particularly from the '50s and '60s, but this has been a "later in life" coming to appreciate. Classical is my mainstay.

Fourth... In the next few posts I'll share some of the recordings I love that I would probably pull out for some audiophile friends coming over for a listening session this week. Next week, the recordings selection might be different.

Finally... I will start off with an album you might not expect. Recorded by Westminster in Carnegie Recital Hall on May 25, 1956 in stereo. And it sounds, to my ears, as if it could have been recorded last week, it is so transparent.

View attachment 156114

Pure DSD256 transfer from a Westminster Sonotape 2-Track. My review of this album can be found HERE. And you can download for free the first track of this album using the download link provided in this Positive Feedback article:
Pure DSD256 from Analog Tape: My Top of the Pile

This album is a favorite of mine. And when I play it for others, there is confusion, stunned silence, then smiles all around. Enjoy the sample track.

Very interesting choice, Rushton. I have this recording (only) available in the 24/192 format and I suppose the dsd file you listen to will be superior (sounding) to my pcm file. So I need to try to listen the free download track, thanks for pointing that out to us. But I can understand your fondness for this recording: in the 24/192 format it is a very direct, ‘dry’ recording with great dynamics, a perspective that puts you right in front of and close to the musicians.

 

[Rushton]

I'll get to some modern recordings pretty soon, but Audiocrack mentioned Mahler (whose music I love), so I thought that Horenstein's 1970 performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 3, recorded by Jerry Bruck deserved a mention. I'll get to other Mahler recordings sometime, but this one is special. First, it is an iconic performance well loved by audiophiles in the Bob Auger recording for Unicorn (released in the U.S. on Nonesuch). However, while this is the same performance, it is an entirely different and independent recording made during the same sessions.

Yes, it is PCM 192kHz, so not the usual DXD or DSD256 recommendation. However, it is a direct transfer from Jerry's session tapes assembled from transfers of those session tapes by Bob Witrak of HDTT and then edited and mastered by John Haley of Harmony Restorations, LLC. The reason it was not transferred at Bob's usual DSD256 and then mastered in DXD is practicality to actually assemble it all. The session tapes are 4 tracking channels. They had never before been assembled into a full playable tape, and John says they were like ribbons of confetti with segments of just minutes long as Horenstein would coach the players, play a bit, then stop, coach, then play a bit, then stop. And, Jerry did not leave a detailed road map for how all these session tape segments should fit together. Maddening to try to assemble it all by ear, then match to the LP to ensure the performance match to the final performance Horenstein had approved for issue. And dealing with double and greater file sizes to do all the assembly required just didn't seem like a manageable project. So, it was a trade-off. But, hearing this music directly from transfers of the session tapes is a remarkable listening experience.

If you like the Horenstein performance, then you really need to hear this Jerry Bruck recording of that performance. It is so vastly superior to the overly multi-miked sonic schmush (technical term) from Bob Auger released on Unicorn. For much more information about this release from HDTT from the original session tapes, see my review:
Horenstein's Mahler Third - Jerry Bruck's Excellent Recording from HDTT



For those reading, THIS IS AN OPEN DISCUSSION. Feel free to add your own recommended recordings.