HD Music Alerts!

[Chuck Elliot]

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Damn the Torpedoes
96kHz/24bit!
www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=catalogdetail&valbum_code=HD00602527486345

[malibujeff]

Even better and cheaper is to go to Amazon and buy the LP or Blu-ray audio disk and it comes with the 24/96 files as a download.

www.amazon.com/Torpedoes-Blu-ray-Audio-Bonus-Download/dp/B0042KZJ50/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289524054&sr=8-1

[Chuck Elliot]

I knew about this, but I'm just trying to support the HD music download community. It's our only chance to get beyond compressed download crap!

I though this would be a good thread to post things found!

[blessingx]

Don't miss the HDTracks Band on the Run sale. Sounds great. Even an additional discount over on Head-Fis homepage.

[Chuck Elliot]

HDTracks:

Steely Dan - Gaucho @ 96/24

Boy does this sound good through the XDA-1!

[rclark]

Do they have any modern music in this format?

[jhoak]

Dec 9, 2010 18:55:23 GMT -5 Chuck Elliot said:

HDTracks:

Steely Dan - Gaucho @ 96/24

OK... I LOVE this album. How do I go about piping this to my XDA-1?

I do have a PC connected by USB to the XDA-1. It's a fairly "low end" box running Windows Media Center 2005.

Explain it to me like I am a 1st grader... ;D

[bdripper]

^^^

www.ayre.com/usb-foobar_setup_vista.htm

[Chuck Elliot]

I can’t speak to the version of Windows you are on, but I will explain my HD adventures with Windows 7. I also am not using the USB input at this time. My PC has a SPDIF output and I am using the optical to connect to my XDA-1.

Windows 7 supports higher resolution sound files natively much better than older versions. Windows XP needs add-ons to perform the same functions.

First off, I had used iTunes to play everything up to this point. I went searching for an alternate player. After trying a few, I settled on J. River Media Center: www.jriver.com/

Here is how I configured the above sound card:



First Select the sound card and click properties



On the Supported Formats tab I selected all possible formats. The cool thing here is that you can test each format. Because the XDA-1 does not display the format being played, I connected to my AVR for this step and verified what was being sent out.



I disabled all enhancements



You must set the 2 check boxes to allow the J. River Media Center to assume control of the sound card. Note that the default is still 44.1/16 for everybody else.


J River:



Under the Player menu select Playback options




I have my output mode set to WASAPI. Click on the output mode settings.



Here is where you set the device to match what the name is in the control panel. Also, you must set exclusive access.


This setup has worked very well for me. I've only begun to explore the features in J. River.

I think the sound features in Window 7 make it a worth the upgrade.

[sei]

Many thanks for the explanation in detail. Windows Vista has the same feature in sound.

[xyz1]

Thanks! I will be down loading this, this afternoon, when I get home.

[stuofsci02]

This is quite interesting.

I was at HD tracks ealier today and looked at all three of these albums.. Was seriously considering going for it..

Now I come across this thread..

[duffda]

Speaking of HD audio, do we know for sure whether the USB can handle anything beyond CD quality?

[ÈlTwo]

Yes we do.
On my Oppo BDP-93 I used the USB port to read a 24/192 FLAC file on a flash drive, from the Oppo to the UMC-1, and the UMC-1 readout confirmed it.

[kt10r]

cfelliot, a zillion thanks for taking the time to show as well as tell us how to do that. It makes it alot easier for us less computer savy people to do stuff like that when you can actually see what to do.

[bdripper]

I was always under the impression that the "HD" music would sound soo much better. But after browsing the HDTracks website, I saw this and it sorta of made me set my standards low for the high resolution revolution.

Quote taking from the site:

What is High-Definition Music?

Our high-definition music sounds more realistic and offers greater sonic detail than most commonly available online music. All of our audio formats sound substantially better than standard 128 kbps MP3 files.

[Deleted]

Although it sounds good, It's not a huge upgrade to a regular CD or flac file IMO

[Chuck Elliot]

Dec 13, 2010 18:47:06 GMT -5 @n8dogg said:

Although it sounds good, It's not a huge upgrade to a regular CD or flac file IMO

I have noticed the biggest change is getting from 44.1/16 to 48/24, a smaller change to 96/24, but I don't think 192/24 brings very much additional to the party.

I strongly support buying HD audio tracks. If a market doesn't develop for this, the MP3 format may rule when the CD dies.

[bd52]

I may be wrong here, but I think the HD audio market will always be with us from now on. Here are my reasons for thinking this. From what I read DAC's are getting more and more popular. They lend themselves nicely to Hi-rez music. Sooner or later the MP3 kids are going to grow up and probably want a nice music system.

They will already know and understand digital music and the process of downloading it. In fact, that's probably all they will know because CD's will be dead. How hard will it be for them to jump to better sounding HD music when they mature and can afford it?

Lastly, how much do these HD music sites have tied up in inventory and overhead costs? For example, once a site has a really nice classical piece that will basically never go out of style, why would they ever stop selling it? Same with classic rock. It's not going to cost them much to keep it on their website is it?

Just my opinion here.

[Chuck Elliot]

It's all about market share.

This is why so much software is not available for the MAC.

If you run a big software development house are you going to double the staff for the last 16% of the market.

It isn't just kids. I'm 58 and most friends have retired their stereos in favor of Bose iPod docks or something similar!

We are a minority in the whole that listens to music! I have over $10k invested in sound equipment. Most think that is extravagant.