DSD Downloads... Sony hap-z1es

[fubar925]

I Guys I have a sony hap-z1es for about a year now and not got much use form it at all because of getting hold of tracks, I have been looking the last few days for somewhere to get some good DSD's from? Have you guys any recommendations to sites? Have you had any good or bad experiences?
Thanks for your help.

[Audio Advent]

I'll find for you some hi-res tracks... previously found a norwegian label's free sample page where the tracks are available in loads of different resolutions for comparison. Will see if I can find it again.

UPDATE: Well, that was a quick search! First result with the search terms I used:

http://www.2l.no/hires/

clicking on each link will bring up a box asking for username and password which is "2L" in both cases (as is described at the top of the page anyway - but who reads these things?)

[fubar925]

I'll find for you some hi-res tracks... previously found a norwegian label's free sample page where the tracks are available in loads of different resolutions for comparison. Will see if I can find it again.

UPDATE: Well, that was a quick search! First result with the search terms I used:

http://www.2l.no/hires/

clicking on each link will bring up a box asking for username and password which is "2L" in both cases (as is described at the top of the page anyway - but who reads these things?)


Thanks for that I have used there store for downloads in the past as well. Maybe I didn't make it more obvious I'm looking for albums mastered or recorded in DSD from a site like HDtracks kind of thing.

I have both Eric Bibb albums from opus3 and they sound amazing but struggling to find a good site with a good selection.

[Audio Advent]

Maybe I didn't make it more obvious I'm looking for albums mastered or recorded in DSD from a site like HDtracks kind of thing.

I'm not sure what you're saying - I'm reading that two ways:

a) that those downloads didn't count because they weren't pure DSD (instead recorded in DXD and turned into DSD)?

or

b) that you're not looking for label's own websites but looking for general download sites where all label's DSD releases are listed?

To answer a) That Eric Bibb recording isn't a DSD recording either - it's an analogue tape recording re-issued as DSD. Not much different to a vinyl rip as DSD or a 24/96 recording as DSD. Difference is of course that you'll probably find the analogue recording better in some ways than the others and DSD will probably be the best digitisation of that. Opus 3 are a fantastic label recording-wise but you might find the DSD is no better than the original vinyl or that, if they bothered to release such a thing, a 24/96 or 24/192 version would sound just as good as the DSD. They don't offer a comparison so you don't know if it's the DSD specifically which is making it sound good.

If you want to hear the possibilities that DSD can bring, one has to really listen to releases recorded at such high resolution from the outset. DXD is a technically higher resolution than DSD128 and anyway, you can't edit or master in DSD at all because of the way it works, you have to transpose to a PCM version such as DXD for a computer to do any calculations on it at all, I think that even includes adjusting levels. The only true DSD recordings will be straight through live recordings with the levels set on an analogue desk.

There's a bit of a "danger" with DSD releases in that you don't know what you're getting without slavishly looking into the details of each release. Some were only originally recorded in 24/48 but still re-released in DSD for example.

To answer b):

I don't think there are many about because the labels are able to handle things very well themselves. The market is small, the people issuing as DSD is small and so it's just as easy for a consumer to skip through the label's own websites as anything else, and that way the labels will keep all the money. Do a quick search for something like "DSD tracks download" and there are a couple of sites at the top of the results which are sites like HDtracks.