The Sound Guy

Naxos started as a budget label. I am not sure why they kept their download prices high. Finally their downloads seems reasonably priced. Thanks.

Unfortunately they don't seem to be doing their regular 24 bits of Christmas but they have 10 tracks from Bach's Christmas Oratorio free! (Upto 192/24 available) Linn Records - J.S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio (Bonus Tracks)

I don't see any free download for today! Has the free daily track been stopped?

Thanks for the graphic. I purchased Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 17 in D major, D850 and Mozart : Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K459, both 96/24. The Schubert Piano Sonata has no useful information above 12kHz probably because it is solo piano but the Mozart Piano Concerto has information up to 30kHz.

Are these authentic hi rez files? I was looking at some DG albums and wondered if they are original 96/24 resolution. Do other websites also sell the same downloads or are these exclusive to Presto Classical?

For the summer sale, Hyperion has enhanced their weekly promotion of 10 discounted albums to 50. Also the list is updated every few days for the sale instead of being done weekly. Here is their own announcement from their front page: Until the end of August we will be expanding our celebrated ‘Please, someone buy me’ offer from ten to fifty CDs, all available at half-price (and with download prices reduced to match). BTW, the list has been finally refreshed after I started this thread.

I didn't know Hyperion recorded in DSD. I did notice that many of their newer recording are generally available as 96/24. I hope these are not converted from DSD. It would be nice if recording companies were more open about their recording and release process.

Hyperion is having its summer sale: 50 CDs and the respective downloads are offered at discount. Every few days the discounted list is updated. If anyone buys an album, it gets replaced. (A few Liszt CDs have been stuck there since the beginning of the sale!) I have no affiliation to Hyperion but like music and discounts. If more people buy, the list gets refreshed more and we get a better choice! Hyperion recordings are usually good. A few high resolution recording (96/24, 44/24, 44/20) have also appeared during the sale. Hyperion summer sale link

Hi francisleung,<br /> <br /> The site that you mention does not open! Is the URL correct?<br /> <br /> Thanks,<br /> The Sound Guy

Hi Bruce, This is not the first time that you have mentioned that 88.2/24 could not contain the richness of a SACD. Why don't you offer 16 - 20 bit files but at 176.4 kHz sampling? After all processing, 24 bit is over kill and you could save file size by cutting off these unwanted bits! 88.2@24=2116bits 176.4@16=2822bit, approx 30% more data for much clearer transients & less pre/post ringing? I trust you have compared 88.2/24 to 176.4/16. What are your comments? Andrew.

I suspect that your player's FLAC decoder is old. I have had problems playing FLAC files encoded with a newer encoder when the player's decoder was old. Hyperion probably uses a newer encoder while DG probably uses an older encoder. The decoder you used to convert FLAC to WAV must be newer than your playback decoder and hence it did not have noise.

David, thanks for the clarification, the free versions are limited to MP3 AFAIK.

David, I am subscribed to chandos' mailing list and I alway got only MP3s. How do you mange to get lossless file?

So HDTracks doesn't allow 88.2/24? That's very unfortunate.<br /> If two convertors were used, it seems that it involced D-A & an A-D re-conversion. Apparently RR prefers this route. Hope Chesky and other will allow 88.2/24 and 176.4/24 too.<br /> Is Chesky planning on a BluRay or DVD-A or HRx format?

I didn't expect Exotic Dances to be an analog master especially seeing the CD catalog no as 71. So converting this to 96/24 is probaly a good idea as some DACs (especially computers) don't do 88.2/24 properly. 96/24 can also be written to a DVD-V disc. Do let me know about their all digital recording. <br /> <br /> I read at http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/37914.html that Chesky records at 192/24 and the tracks are down sampled to 96/24. Is that true? Once hi-rez downloads get popular and internet bandwidth increases, I hope he will offer 192/24 downloads.