Bowers and Wilkins Society of Sound have been joined by LSO Live

This could be really good. I haven't downloaded the sampler, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what they select for us.

I too was initially quite excited by this piece of "good news".

I have looked at the B&W site a couple of times but found nothing that I would pay for or even really want to listen to even if it were for free.

But so far this new development seems both confusing and not really that good at all.

To begin with,the only available title from the LSO,is as Eloise already mentioned, only a samples download ie a couple of minutes of music from lots of different pieces.

Moreover it is only available as a 16 bit flac ,which makes it completely uninteresting too me.

I have several of their SACDs,which I can play in pure DSD with my SACD player.

Why would I want to play a downsampled 16 flac file of a hi rez recording?

Why adevertise one thing and then offer something else?

And it seems to be a stupid subscription based system where someone at B&W chooses what music will be available for download.

Is this for kids or what?

I am,as an adult,perfectly capable of knowing what music I want to listen to and pay for.

I certainly don´t need anyone to do that for me.

Buy a burger and get a bag of chips for free,or what?

So far,good news only if they actually do it right!

And so far they certainly don´t as far as I am concerned.

Even if they do eventually offer full albums from the LSO catalogue in true hi rez,I absolutely don´t need THEM to decide what I can buy or not on a monthly subscription basis.

And certainly not if it includes having to buy pop crap in order to access real music.

ps I don´t consider Peter Gabriel pop crap.

But some other of all their pop music titles they have in their catalogue seem to be of a kind that has absolutely no benefit to be offered in any hi res format whatsoever.

But I do know that for some people that expensive pair of speakers or other High End gear is just for decoration anyway.

Why the LSO chose B&W as partner for their venture into hi res downloads is a riddle to me?

With a catalogue of some 70 titles recorded in hi rez ,only making them available one by one on subscription is just stupid.

If I could,I would buy at least five to ten titles that I don´t alredy have as SACDs asap.

It still seems as if left hand doesn´t quite know what right hand is doing here!

ps I have already mailed them and asked why they don´t offer their often very good recordings also via their own site.

No response as yet.

Hi Chrille. I think you make some really good points. the idea that they're going to be dolling out one or two releases a month isn't so great. It all comes down to whether I'll want to hear what they choose. That said the society membership is only like 50 bucks a year which is the price of three high res downloads from HD tracks, so you don't have to want them all for it to be a good deal. I've actually enjoyed a lot of the stuff thats available on their site so I kind of feel like I've gotten my moneys worth out of it already - but thats my taste. I think your dismissal of all of the music on the site as stuff that doesn't benefit from a high res format is a little harsh. There are some really talented musicians represented there who I wouldn't have given a listen if it wasn't already paid for. I guess if you already know exactly what you want to hear and aren't looking to explore new sounds the society probably isn't for you, but if you're open to getting turned on to something new and different its pretty cool and relatively inexpensive.

chrille, get your facts correct before going off the deep end.

I'm a very satisfied subscriber and here are the facts: a London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) SAMPLER with complete movements of various pieces of classical music is available, it includes movements from two Beethoven symphonies lasting 12 and 13 minutes long, other selections are 9 minutes, 8 minutes, down to 5, 4 and 3 minutes from various composers.

3 formats are available, 24/48 FLAC which I convert to AIFF with Max, 16/44.1 FLAC and APPLE LOSSLESS.

The other albums available on the site are recorded by PETER GABRIEL from his Real World Records recording studios, and includes a large variety of great music, the majority of these are available in the same formats as those described above for the LSO. Peter's latest album "SCRATCH MY BACK" is the download for April.

Another very good album available recently was the music of ENNIO MORRICONE, conducted by the composer. Morricone has written over 450 movie soundtracks, including "The Mission" and the westerns "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" and "For a Few Dollars More". This album was a taste of a new series celebrating over 50 years of movie music by Morricone.

From now on 2 albums will be available each month, one convened by Peter Gabriel and the other the LSO. This very good value for money opportunity from B&W is the most cost effective way of discovering well recorded new world music, jazz and classical.

Where else can you get 24 high res (24/48 FLAC) albums for US$60 annual subscription, why that's US$2.50 per album. Try getting that kind of value from Linn Records or Naim Label downloads.

I'm in no way associated with B&W, apart from being a satisfied subscriber for over 18 months who has discovered some great new music from this collaboration with Peter Gabriel and now the LSO.

I was just going to write a defense of Bowers and Wilkins' society of sound ... but I see that Blu has written pretty much what I was going to say.

The majority of the offerings from the Society of Sound are available in 24/48 FLAC as well as in FLAC and ALAC at 16/44.1. Whether you consider this High Definition audio can be debated but they are clear about what they offer. As Blu said, the LSO "sampler" is a selection of recordings of complete movements from Beethoven's 6th and 9th symphonies, Brahm's Concerto for Violin and Cello, Elgar's Enigma Variations, Mahler's 6th and 8th symphonies, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Smetana's Ma Vlast and Verdi's Requiem Dies Irae and Requiem Tuba Mirum (any errors in that list are my own). All popular pieces of music but it's is badged as a compilation album so no different from any other compilation - hopefully future releases will be more complete pieces but we'll have to wait and see.

The B&W Society of Sound is not marketed as a general download service - it is, as the name implies, a Society where "they" (and if you look at the website it says who the main members are) choose recordings to offer to the subscribers. Not all will be to everyone's taste but personally I've enjoyed several recordings I would never have looked at otherwise.

Anyway personally I feel the SoS is a great concept but each to their own.

Eloise

PS. I think most of the recordings (from Real World Studios) would be more appropriately listed as World Music ... hardly any have been "Pop" or even "Rock" in even the broadest definition used in Western Music.

So do you.

I may have been a bit hasty in my condemnation of the way they do things there.

But I was frustrated to find that so far the only LSO download available isn´t even a hi res one.
Why all the fuss and then upload something that isn´t anywhere near what they say it is?

And if they are going to convert DSD masters to 24/48? flac for downloads?

Well then again, the promise of "exactly the same quality as the master" is simply not true.

But if on the other hand they will deliver 24/88.2 0r 24/96 or even 24/192 flac files then it could indeed become really interesting even with the delay and all having to wait for the next month and all those things I find so irritating.

Especially if you take into account the prices asked, compared to SUPER EXPENSIVE SITES LIKE LINN!!!

I´ll keep an eye on it and see what happens.

Who knows,I may even discover some interesting new music that I would never have bought unless it had been part of a deal?

I am not stupid just a fool.

I have been considering joining and have been a little confused as to just what I get. I understand that included will be 2 albums of their choosing/month. If one only liked half of their choices, that alone seems like a pretty good deal.

They then state that members have "Access" to their complete collection. Is this at no extra charge? Does it include all the music they show on their website. If the answers are yes and yes this seems like a screaming good deal - especially for the first year. Even if one only likes a few of their existing choices it still has to be a great bargain. And as others have said perhaps I'll get enlightened with something other than my usual tastes.

Rod

"..They then state that members have "Access" to their complete collection. Is this at no extra charge? Does it include all the music they show on their website. If the answers are yes and yes this seems like a screaming good deal - especially for the first year.."

Yes you do get the back catalogue as part of the subscription, and yes it is a screaming good deal in my opinion.

right now you have access to 23 recordings. Not all of the recordings are in 48/24, but the ones i have downloaded have all been very good recordings. I think if you're looking at it just for the classical/ LSO stuff its so far just a promise and I'd wait. but if you're into world music its a deal. The Afrobilly Sessions is a flat out kickin afro-blues jam.

I'm with Eloise. I'm very happy with my subscription.

Me too!!!

Have recently subscribed and am very impressed

I just got answer from LSO regarding the hi res downloads via B&W it reads as follows:

Hi Christer,

Many thanks for your e-mail.

Regarding our new deal with B&W, it is our first experiment with hi res downloads and by no means whatsoever the only place we are intending to make such quality downloads available. We have to start somewhere and B&W’s gradual release of titles gives us the time to create the files required. This is particularly time consuming and has a not insignificant cost as many older titles need to be loaded into digital audio workstations to be able to be outputted.

We are looking at further options for making high quality downloads available and have been pleased by the response of people such as yourself who are clearly passionate about hearing us in as high as quality as possible. Please do keep in touch via our LSO Live e-newsletter http://lso.co.uk/stayinformed/ or our Facebook/Twitter feeds as I’ll let people know any announcements through those channels.

Best wishes

Gavin

LSO Live

i also just got the following response to my seconf mail to B&W.
It reads as follows :

Dear Christer,

All our 24-bit FLAC albums are 24/48, we do not offer files of higher quality as we would like the files to be accessible to as many people as possible to encourage them to start using high quality bit files.

The LSO album is offered at 16-bit for trial members only.

I do hope this helps,

Kind regards,
Susanna

Well that settles it for me, no membership ,I am afraid.

I´ll have to wait until the LSO do it right on their own, which I m sure they will do soon according to Gavin.

I don´t really understand why they choose to compromise, when several others are beginning to deliver 24/176.4 and 14/192.
It probalby doen´t matter much for most of the msic they have so far. But most LSO Live releases are from DSD masters and 24/48 from DSD is downconverting.
But it is up to them to make the decisions on their own site and it remains up to me to still decide what music I am willing to pay for.

Disappointing.

Well the Society of Sound have their first "full" recording from LSO available.

A full recording of Mahlers 8th Symphony, conducted by Valery Gergiev and performed by London Symphony Orchestra (obviously) and Chorus along with the Choir of Eltham College and the Choral Arts Society of Washington.

So good news for Australians (see other thread) who are looking for (moderately) High Resolution downloads as the performace can be downloaded in 24/48k FLAC, along with 16/44.1 ALAC and FLAC.

Not sure how it compares to LSO Live's SACD DSD original but maybe someone will have the SACD to compare.

Eloise

Sorry ... double post.

Can someone who has downloaded the 48k version check to see if there is a note that came with the download stating that its been upsampled from 44.1k? I've downloaded 48k albums from SoS in the past and there has been such a file.

I'm not speculating, just looking for additional detail.

I can confirm ... there is no note saying that the FLAC 24/48 version is up-sampled from the 44.1 version.

Eloise