[grokit]

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If I thought that was always the case, I would definitely downsample it myself. But it seems to be a somewhat 'open secret' that the reason that many hi-res music files sound different is because they are mixed and mastered to sound... drum roll... different (than their hi-res counterparts). <SNIP>

(I guess you mean lo-res in one of the two above?) I think what would be interesting would be to buy both versions (one time only), create your own downsampled version from the "HD" version and compare it with their equivalent-quality version, both by ear and by measurement (binary comparison & inside audio editor) and see what, if any, difference there might be... I even think one audio site or magazine did that recently, and let's say it didn't turn out so well for the sellers... can't find the link to the article now.
I wouldn't expect the files to measure that differently but it could be interesting. Great idea re downsampling the hi-res version as a more interesting comparison.
 
I only bought a few "HD" albums for the same reason you mentioned: because I -hope- they are mastered differently (better!) Sometimes they state it obviously, noting the sound engineer et al. Sometimes not so much... I bought one 24/44.1 track from an album I had ripped myself from CD at the usual 16/44.1 for comparison purposes, mostly because I kinda liked the album and it was brick-walled (very audibly) in the current fashion, hoping for a bit more range to alleviate the problem. It sounded exactly the same (to my ears anyway) and measured the same in the DR metering app (not the most complete, but since I was looking specifically for a DR improvement, adequate) In short, pointless purchase.
Interesting, was that Little Broken Hearts? If so and you use iTunes, I noticed that the metadata was wrong, it came out a a "2-bit" file instead of 24. Perhaps the 24-bit headroom is better for DSP though. 
 
I think my total hi-res audio disks and downloads can be counted on one hand, maybe two if I add the Russian FLAC albums I bought before I knew better. I'm very satisfied with lossless rips on my computer, as well as vinyl; I just wish that the mix/mastering quality was more consistent.
 
We're getting off-track here, so I would just add that since Chesky himself rolled this one out, I would think that more care than usual was taken to optimize the varying versions... Good point.
 
I myself bought the 24/96 version because I like the binaural thing a lot and want to encourage more of it. I have to concur with others that the track selection as a whole is a bit meh; some tracks are very enjoyable, the binaural experiments work very well, but a lot of it is just not something that will make me listen to the album as whole repeatedly. However, all of them are definitely binaural in the sense that they all have some parts "outside" of the headphones typical of binaural. Now in terms of soundstage etc., yeah, not that impressive.
That's probably what I'll end up doing as well. Maybe I'll pony up the extra $ for both versions, but I kind of doubt it.
Frankly, my favourite "musical" binaural recordings remain:
- Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra's Up Close album (YouTube Sample) ('cause I like the guitar music anyway)
- And the amazingly freely available Cowboy Junkies Live at the Ark (Hybrid Binaural, FLAC available) (at the Internet Archive) ('cause I'm a big CJ fan) Thanks for the link, me too!
For those not hanging out so much here yet, these were pulled from this thread and this thread
 
Ultimately I put my money down for Chesky's album because: MOAR BINAURAL PLEASE!

 

[TheGrumpyOldMan]

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Interesting, was that Little Broken Hearts? If so and you use iTunes, I noticed that the metadata was wrong, it came out a a "2-bit" file instead of 24. Perhaps the 24-bit headroom is better for DSP though.

It was Lana Del Rey's Born to Die, on CD. Some songs on there are nice, but even the quieter ones have a noticeable harshness in her voice and of course the whole album is loud relative to my usual listening volume. I bought one track on HD Tracks to compare, Carmen, with the aforementioned result (also: DR Database entry, 5 album DR

)  Looks like vinyl won out on that one, once again not because of the medium itself but because of more careful mastering...

 

[William007]

Want this on cd for my setup can't burn it on one because my cdp-101 can't read burned cd's

 

[johnwmclean]

I encourage a realistic volume level, anything less and binaural effect diminishes Sonically its an amazing album, my system did a fantastic disappearing act. As to the music is absolute rubbish, but I expected that from Chesky.

 

[Ultrainferno]

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I encourage a realistic volume level, anything less and binaural effect diminishes Sonically its an amazing album, my system did a fantastic disappearing act. As to the music is absolute rubbish, but I expected that from Chesky.

 
I did like a song or 2. Especially the organ ~ Bach Toccata And Fugue

 

[songmic]

I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks this way, but the two hi-rez binaural albums that garnered a lot of attention here at Head-Fi, namely "Explorations in Space and Time" and "A Sensational... Binaural Album" by Dr. Chesky, seem to have been recorded with the pure intention of showing off this binaural technology at its best. And frankly, yes, the technology is quite impressive. However, now that we know how advanced binaural technology has become thanks to these two albums, I'd like to listen to binaural albums of similar recording quality that don't just focus on the binaural factor but also has great music we audiophiles can enjoy. Admittedly, explorations in Space and Time blew my mind the first time I heard it, but these days I only listen to it every once in a while to remind myself how awesome binaural recordings sound, but not really because I enjoy the music itself. And with A Sensational... Binaural Album, it only seems like an experimental album filled with a rather disorganized array of short tracks, recorded with the intention of trying to re-prove the awesomeness of binaural technology which was already demonstrated in Explorations in Space and Time.
 
I know binaural technology isn't relatively new but it hasn't been long since it captivated people's attention at Head-Fi thanks to these two albums, which somewhat served as eye-openers IMO. Now that we know and crave for more, I hope Chesky Records (and other recording studios, for that matter) to start recording and releasing binaural albums we can listen to enjoy not only "sound" but also "music" as well.
 
On a side note, although I don't know if this is really doable, but I'd be thrilled if some of my all-time favorite albums from legendary bands like Pink Floyd, U2, etc. gets re-mastered and re-released in hi-rez binaural tracks.

 

[AaronAnderson]

What am I missing? I've got some decent equipment and lots of appreciation for stuff that sounds great.... This feels like some rubbish stuff recorded in big fancy halls and someone actually bothered to do some left/right separation. 

 

[054k4]

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I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks this way, but the two hi-rez binaural albums that garnered a lot of attention here at Head-Fi, namely "Explorations in Space and Time" and "A Sensational... Binaural Album" by Dr. Chesky, seem to have been recorded with the pure intention of showing off this binaural technology at its best. And frankly, yes, the technology is quite impressive. However, now that we know how advanced binaural technology has become thanks to these two albums, I'd like to listen to binaural albums of similar recording quality that don't just focus on the binaural factor but also has great music we audiophiles can enjoy. Admittedly, explorations in Space and Time blew my mind the first time I heard it, but these days I only listen to it every once in a while to remind myself how awesome binaural recordings sound, but not really because I enjoy the music itself. And with A Sensational... Binaural Album, it only seems like an experimental album filled with a rather disorganized array of short tracks, recorded with the intention of trying to re-prove the awesomeness of binaural technology which was already demonstrated in Explorations in Space and Time.
 
I know binaural technology isn't relatively new but it hasn't been long since it captivated people's attention at Head-Fi thanks to these two albums, which somewhat served as eye-openers IMO. Now that we know and crave for more, I hope Chesky Records (and other recording studios, for that matter) to start recording and releasing binaural albums we can listen to enjoy not only "sound" but also "music" as well.
 
On a side note, although I don't know if this is really doable, but I'd be thrilled if some of my all-time favorite albums from legendary bands like Pink Floyd, U2, etc. gets re-mastered and re-released in hi-rez binaural tracks.

 
I had the same thoughts when I listend to the sample of the Exploration album and didn't buy it. The technology is indeed impressive, but I am not a fan of the music and the music is what matters the most to me. Dr. Chesky's album did it right in my opinion. He mixed in a lot of genres of music such that one would be able to have a few favorite tracks. Moreover, the "binaural-ness" is much more subtile in the Dr. Chesky's when compared to the Exploration album which is good to my ears. It actually feels that I am in the hall listening to the music. For vol. 2 I hope that they do not incude the binaural trick tracks ( left channel tests and etc ) and included more genres.

 

[TheGrumpyOldMan]

I agree the music is all over the place, but unlike a previous poster, I also think some tracks are very nice, incl. the first one in particular despite not being that much of a showcase for binaural. The test tracks were short, so I don't mind their addition, and it's easy to make a playlist of the album that only includes the music.
 
As far as the sometimes weak binaural effect goes, IMHO it could be due to 2 things: one being the placement of the musicians & singers: if they're right in front, you can't expect the kind of spectacular effect (as in spectacle, literally) that the demo tracks have. The other may be their Binaural "+" technology whose main differentiator seems to be stereo compatibility, which seems to indicate a compromise, as in the binaural recording being somewhat compromised / watered down to accommodate better stereo playback? But since I haven't read any more technical explanation on how the tracks were processed, it's hard to tell...

 

[liermam]

This is sensational, fantastic, and simply amazing.

 

[Double-A]

Man why can't all albums be recorded binaurally? 

 

[Double-A]

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Complaining about the pricing scheme is kinda silly - since there is no proof of an audible difference, and the math indicates that 192/24 could potentially sound worse, everyone should be buying the $11 album anyways  
 
 
I just bought the album, it is downloading now.  I'll hopefully get around to posting some impressions later

Yes! This! Exactly this! There is NO proof of an audible difference! I agree with the "and the math indicates that 192/24 could potentially sound worse" part I saw a page on the internet talking all about how music that is higher bit and has a higher sampling rate than CDs is pointless and CAN potentially sound worse. I'm glad to see that there is another Head-Fier that knows this little tidbit of information! Practically everyone on Head-Fi buys 24 bit music with high sampling rates because they want the best quality music they can get a hold of and they believe it sounds better than CD quality but IT CAN ACTUALLY SOUND WORSE!! 
 
Okay, I am calm now (hahaha). Moral of the story: just buy CD quality music and don't waste your money! Buy CD quality music and be happy with it!
 
EDIT: By the way, sorry for double posting y'all!

 

[nijohc]

oh wow. great album.

 

[vvs_75]

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What am I missing? I've got some decent equipment and lots of appreciation for stuff that sounds great.... This feels like some rubbish stuff recorded in big fancy halls and someone actually bothered to do some left/right separation. 

+1
And what is  exactly "Sensational, Fantastic, and Simply Amazing"  about this show? The ultrasone CD with samples I got years ago for free with my headphones did a better job and had better music. The classical tracks does not sound that different from regular stereo recordings. Of course its just IMO. 

 

[IEMCrazy]

I finally got around to listening to it an I have to say I'm extremely impressed. I don't want to hear about how multi kilobuck headphones are so uber detailed. This proves that while the popular Head-Fi adage about the headphones being more important than source or amp may be true to a certain degree, the recording is still far more important than the headphone. Bifrost + Lyr + K702 blew me away with the level of detail in the 24/92 edition of this recording. Is the recording really more detailed than any of Cheskey Records exceelent recordings? Doubtful. But the binaural nuiances really elevated the performance. Played at live volumes it sounded subtlely binaural and realistic and excellently detailed and spatial. K702 is the most neutral of my headphone stable, so I went with those for this recording. They didn't dissappoint

Contrary to some opinions here I think a good number of tracks were excellent as well. Namely the classical and world music selections and the concluding jazz track. The Dixieland jazz was the most standout on the album, but I do realize that's an acquired American taste and may not appeal to all.

All in all , an excellent effort by Dr. Cheskey and I look forward to some real albums recorded in this manner instead of some demo discs. Favored genre or not, I believe I'll be buying whatever Cheskey releases with this binaural tech, purely for the sonic performance.