HD Music

[selby]

I've just got hold of my first DAC (M2Tech HiFace - Full Review to follow shortly once I've had a chance to A/B test it) and after it simply astounding me, even with offline Spotify files, I'm keen to find out if HD music is worth the investment.

So my questions are as follows:

Are HD Tracks worth it or just a marketing thing?
Where to buy the best quality possible?
What player to use on a Mac? Audirvana / Amarra?
If HD is just marketing tosh, then what's the next best thing? SACD? CD Ripped to a lossless format?

Any feedback from your trial and errors would be great.

[AlfaGTV]

Ähumm.. The M2Tech HiFace is not a DAC, at least not mine?

Anyways, I occasionally buy downloads from HDTracks.com and find some of the downloads very nice sounding, some are not raising eyebrows compared to their 16/44.1 brethren...

Also have triedLinn Records, but they're too expensive (basically, so is HD Tracks)
Same goes for Reference Recordings, but their quality is relly awesome on the samplers i tried.

I play the files through my Streamer/Preamp/DAC, and mostly they sound marvellous!
But to me, in my system, using my methods, a well ripped CD can sound just as amazing, or more so, than the 24bit 176.4Khz file from Reference Recordings...

(When i play files using the Mac i use Amarra/iTunes which works very well!)

Regards Mike

PS a recording i really enjoyed from hdtracks is Fleetwood Mac - Rumours in 24/96 format

[Stratmangler]

It might well be one of these Mike

[shevans]

James, do check out B&W Society of Sound, well worth the money.

[Rothchild]

Unless the whole recording, mixing and mastering process was completed at (or above) the final file resolution it's a wash.

And even if the above conditions are met it may well still be a wash: http://xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

There's also quite a neat app here to do some checks on files to see if they've been upsampled from other sources: http://en.true-audio.com/Tau_Analyze...icity_Detector

[Themis]

Are HD Tracks worth it or just a marketing thing?

What is really important is the mastering, not the format by itself. With the same master, any difference between 24/48 and -say- 24/96 will come from the downsampling software used. Usually, professionals have better downsampling algorithms than the ones you can find in mainstream dacs and home media players.
HD tracks does a good job, but others do an equally careful work : Rhino, for instance.
There are plenty of exceptional masters produced by the mainstream editors : Sony, EMI and so on : rarity is not an equivalent to quality in this matter.

What player to use on a Mac? Audirvana / Amarra?
If HD is just marketing tosh, then what's the next best thing? SACD? CD Ripped to a lossless format?

Any feedback from your trial and errors would be great.

I don't owe a Mac, but most of my (sound-demanding) friends use iTunes or Audirvana.

SACD is another matter alltogether: the biggest advantage of this format, when it first came out, is that it could be playbacked by entry-level hardware (costing pennies) while producing exceptional quality sound. In the meanwhile, PCM D/A converters became better and cheaper, so, today the difference (if any left) is not worth the trouble.

Stick to the basics if you don't want to go wrong : the most important is the mastering, not the format.

[Themis]

James, do check out B&W Society of Sound, well worth the money.

Agreed !

[zygote23]

Can anyone confirm if the subs to Society of Sound are monthly or annual? Their web pages are a little short of info.

[AlfaGTV]

Mine is annual anyway... Lots of good music at a very reasonable cost!
//Mike

[Themis]

Can anyone confirm if the subs to Society of Sound are monthly or annual? Their web pages are a little short of info.

Society of Sound Subscription - €40,00

Get full access to our catalogue of lossless audio downloads, and two new albums a month for a year.

The subscription is -as stated- "for a year".