Stunning sounding high res files

[Joe Whip]

I believe you can from Sound Liason and Blue Coast and other smaller labels.

 

[rbbert]

I believe you can from Sound Liason and Blue Coast and other smaller labels.

Could be. I should amend my statement to say major on-line retailers, which for high-res files is almost an oxymoron.

 

[Alpinist]

I refer you to post #187. At this time one cannot buy "original WAV" files from HDTracks or any other on-line retailer.

Hi Rbbert,

I have purchased many 192/24 WAV files on HDTracks.com. Check out their website and explore the file downloading options. Format choices are AIFF, ALAC, FLAC and WAV.

http://www.hdtracks.com/jazz-in-the-key-of-blue-192-24

Ken

 

[Andre Marc]

Hi Rbbert,

I have purchased many 192/24 WAV files on HDTracks.com. Check out their website and explore the file downloading options. Format choices are AIFF, ALAC, FLAC and WAV.

http://www.hdtracks.com/jazz-in-the-key-of-blue-192-24

Ken

Actually I am sure Rbbert meant is that you cannot buy an ORIGINAL WAV master file. The files HDT sells as WAV are decoded to WAV on the fly from FLAC more than likely, in other words, the file was sitting as flac on their server and when you choose to purchase WAV it unpacked for you to download.

 

[rbbert]

Actually I am sure Rbbert meant is that you cannot buy an ORIGINAL WAV master file. The files HDT sells as WAV are decoded to WAV on the fly from FLAC more than likely, in other words, the file was sitting as flac on their server and when you choose to purchase WAV it unpacked for you to download.

Right, except that it is downloaded to you as FLAC and the Jriver Download Manager then decodes it on your computer. This is also true for AIFF, although perhaps ALAC is downloaded as ALAC (I haven't checked that possibility)

 

[Alpinist]

Actually I am sure Rbbert meant is that you cannot buy an ORIGINAL WAV master file. The files HDT sells as WAV are decoded to WAV on the fly from FLAC more than likely, in other words, the file was sitting as flac on their server and when you choose to purchase WAV it unpacked for you to download.

Andre,

Ok, I see what you are saying. Assuming they were converted from FLAC to WAV, what would be the difference between this WAV file and the original master WAV file? Shouldn't the transfer be identical? My original point is that I have found uncompressed files such as WAV and AIFF to have more soundstage depth and nuance than compressed files such as FLAC and ALAC, which are being decoded on the fly when playing the music.

Ken

 

[Andre Marc]

Andre,

Ok, I see what you are saying. Assuming they were converted from FLAC to WAV, what would be the difference between this WAV file and the original master WAV file? Shouldn't the transfer be identical? My original point is that I have found uncompressed files such as WAV and AIFF to have more soundstage depth and nuance than compressed files such as FLAC and ALAC, which are being decoded on the fly when playing the music.

Ken

That is a good question actually...theoretically there should be no difference....

Btw...this has been debated forever, but the a FLAC/WAV file or AIFF/ALAC file are bit for bit identical...if there is A difference in playback it is caused by some local issue and not by some inherent difference, Unfortunately a computer is far from a SOTA playback component and in my opinion should only be used as a NAS and library management device. Just my opinion.

Even let us assume there is a difference, there is no way I would give up the tagging and space saving benefits of FLAC for 5% better soundstaging.

That is why I use Ethernet...all difference between the 4 formats are totally null via network playback.

 

[Andre Marc]

Right, except that it is downloaded to you as FLAC and the Jriver Download Manager then decodes it on your computer. This is also true for AIFF, although perhaps ALAC is downloaded as ALAC (I haven't checked that possibility)

Yes, even more accurate.

 

[Andre Marc]

Andre,

Ok, I see what you are saying. Assuming they were converted from FLAC to WAV, what would be the difference between this WAV file and the original master WAV file? Shouldn't the transfer be identical? My original point is that I have found uncompressed files such as WAV and AIFF to have more soundstage depth and nuance than compressed files such as FLAC and ALAC, which are being decoded on the fly when playing the music.

Ken

...and just one other minor point...all playback programs and integrated streamers use buffered memory..so nothing is is really decoded on the fly so to speak.

 

[RBFC]

First of all it is nice to see that some members are paying attention to the records listed in this thread. However, overall I find the participation in this thread disappointing. So once again I ask our members to participate more so that we can learn from eachother what recordings are real treasures.

As regards your question MadFloyd: first of all I am no real wizard with computers (and links). Secondly every recording listed by me can be easily found on the internet. For example the latest two recordings that I listed: go to the website of the Academy of ancient music and you will find all their recordings that can be downloaded. Furthermore you will find some interesting 'clips' of some of the recordings.

So I presumed that our members - if they are really interested in the recordings that I have listed - are smart enough to find them. Or do I overestimate the qualities of our members?

Lastly, off course there are quite a number of different music download sites and I do not have the time nor the willingness to list all of them if a certain recording can be downloaded from various sites.

We don't know for sure how many of our members actually acquire and use high-resolution music files in their system. I personally felt that the bolded comment (in your quote above) was quite unusual for you, as you are a great contributor and this seemed out of character. I understand that you may not have the time or interest in supplying links and more information, but questioning the intelligence of our membership was unnecessary in this case. WBF is a collection of very intelligent individuals, some who might wish for the convenience of a "one-click" research experience provided by a direct link to the recording under discussion. It's not the end of the world, let's just remain cordial.

Lee

 

[Audiocrack]

We don't know for sure how many of our members actually acquire and use high-resolution music files in their system. I personally felt that the bolded comment (in your quote above) was quite unusual for you, as you are a great contributor and this seemed out of character. I understand that you may not have the time or interest in supplying links and more information, but questioning the intelligence of our membership was unnecessary in this case. WBF is a collection of very intelligent individuals, some who might wish for the convenience of a "one-click" research experience provided by a direct link to the recording under discussion. It's not the end of the world, let's just remain cordial.

Lee

Well, let's agree to disagree Lee. I would assume that everyone understands that the question in the bolded comment was retorical. So interpreting this comment as me (really) questioning the intelligence of our readers strikes me as rather odd in all honesty. But let's move on. In the end all that matters in this regard is sharing stunning sounding high res files with eachother.