audiosaurus

Nelson Wright is an outstanding singer/songwriter and is offering his latest album, Orphans & Relics, in high-res at 96-24. Full disclosure: I know Nelson, and while I have no involvement at all in the album itself I may have played a small part in convincing him to offer a high-res version. I'm happy to say it came out quite well. I've listened to both the regular CD and high-res versions on my system. The high-res version sounds great and is clearly superior. More air between players/instruments, deep three-dimensional soundstage, free-flowing, natural even liquid sound. The 96-24 version deserves the audiophile label. Orphans & Relics is Americana, with subgenre styles ranging from folk to jazz to blues. I don't think there's a weak track on the album. Decide for yourself. You can preview the album and buy the high-res version here (and as far as I know, the high-res version is only here): Nelson Wright - Music Downloads If you like it, support him. I wish all independent musicians would offer new music in high-res versions as good as this.

I asked Acoustic Sounds about this issue, specifically about Cafe Blue. Here is their response: A customer support staff member has replied to your support request, #519578 with the following response: My guarded answer to your question is yes, we will be offering this in 24/192 PCM for download. We are focusing heavily on adding content in DSD format for now, but over time, you will see many version of each title offered. It is our intent to offer the most download choices of any business on the web. It will take time for us to go through that much volume, but it will happen eventually. Thanks, Nate We hope this response has sufficiently answered your questions. If not, please reply to this email. Acoustic Sounds Super HiRez Super HiRez | Acoustic Sounds

A follow-up: I just listened to a bit of the Kirsten Hersh Boomkat 44.1/16 FLAC, and was pleasantly surprised to find out its HDCD encoded. I have an HDCD decoder in my DAC; the recording sounds very good.

There's some great stuff here - lots to explore. I just bought the Kirsten Hersh flac. Thanks for exposing this music - I'll be following your blog.

The DVD-A material is 48-24. Too bad they didn't master at a higher sample rate; its a very good album and it deserves true hi-res treatment.

With regard to 192 vs 96, IMHO its not the frequency content, its the difference in filters used. There are always filters in the mastering path, and they can be more benign in the audible range if you are mastering at a higher sample rate.

I think the question here is whether those of us that have suffered through many digital versions of this album (the initial CD release of this album was absolutely abysmal) want to buy the album one more time. Is it worth it? I just sat down and compared 3 versions: - MFSL UDCD 775 - SME Records SACD SRGS 4583, Ripped to 88.2/24 using PS3/Weiss Saracon - HDTracks 176.4/24 The HDTracks 176.4/24 is noticeably superior to the other two on my system. Not night and day better, but noticeably better. Instruments and voices sound more correct/compelling, instrument images are more precisely placed, soundstage is more 3D. For me, on my system, the HDTracks 176/24 is definitely worth it. Looking at the spectra for a couple of tracks, its clear that this is a DSD master and that HDTracks is using a very gentle filter on the ultrasonic noise. The gentle filter probably explains why it sounds better than the Weiss Saracon SACD version.