[TheGrumpyOldMan]

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TheGrumpyOldMan, I just bought Up Close the other day and it arrived today. When I listened to it on Zune (which is 192kbps WMA mind you) it didn't seem that bad, but listening to a few track snow I see it, te lack of frontal staging. I'd personally blame this on the fact that maybe they weren't, um, in front of the head? Who knows, but it enveloped me in the music and took me to another world, which was what I wanted, so I bought it. Hopefully FLAC of it sounds even better
 
Hopefully I find more good binaural albums too, as I love music that envelops me with amazing soundscapes and can take me to another world. This is why I really liek certain types of electronic music too, it's pretty cool. Sample based electronic can also give you a taste of everything: acoustic/folk simple style; funky vocal samples and oddball drum beats; deep and soulful and/or sampled vocals that say things that make you really think or imagine; engaging and powerful.

If you look at one of the corresponding YouTube videos you can see that they go all around... it really seems to be something with binaural recordings and perhaps the fact that we can't re-orient our head relative to the music to get a better sense of location?
 
I just like to imagine that I'm sitting on a balcony on a nice evening in Spain, and the guys are jamming in the room behind me

  The music is, as always, excellent anyway.

 

[jtaylor991]

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If you look at one of the corresponding YouTube videos you can see that they go all around... it really seems to be something with binaural recordings and perhaps the fact that we can't re-orient our head relative to the music to get a better sense of location?
I just like to imagine that I'm sitting on a balcony on a nice evening in Spain, and the guys are jamming in the room behind me

  The music is, as always, excellent anyway.

I didn't even notice them moving around that much, not like *all* around, hmm..we'll have to see if a FLAC rip fixes that though, it very well could for all I know

 

[Benjamin6264]

Looks like Amber Rubarth's (the singer from Storms Are On The Ocean) album just got released on HDtracks.
 
https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=artistdetail&id=10313
 
Sounds great!

 

[yklee118]

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This isn't going to be #1 (or even #100,000) on Billboard or iTunes, guys. Ultimately, over the life of the album, sales of this type of thing are usually very limited. Chesky hires engineers, equipment, rents musical instruments that may be needed (which they rented quite a lot of for Explorations), hires the musicians, consults with experts in 3D audio, rents out the venues (and the recording sessions typically span days), and incurs the day-to-day costs associated with being a business. And then, if all goes well, there's hopefully some profit at some point--no venture can continue without it; no more albums of this type can be made without at least some reasonable hope of it.
 
Albums like this are obviously part of a very niche, very specialty market right now, and will likely be so for a long time to come (and may remain so forever). This is high-resolution, binaurally recorded music, and most of the folks who care to buy an album like this one are people like us, and we're not exactly the broader market. And, to the best of my knowledge, nobody is putting more effort and passion into it than Chesky.
 
 
Millions? Really? Even if 100% of the $24.98 price of the 24/192 version was profit (which obviously it cannot be), Chesky would have to sell 40,000 units to make one million (and over 50,000 units at the discounted price)--again, that's with the ridiculous hypothetical of 100% of each sale being profit. So, millions? Really?
 
I hope Explorations turned a profit. I hope this album turns a profit. Passionate as he is about all of this, even David cannot continue to make binaural albums if they do not turn a profit.

Well Said and I agree.

 

[hedphonz]

the left &  right channel ID tests were freaky - found myself leaning away from the sound when he was whispering into the dummy's ears - it was personal space invasion

 

[TheWuss]

The new chesky release of Amber Rubarth's solo album (Sessions from the 17th ward) doesn't seem to be getting the kind of promotional push that the compilation did.
I happened to be browsing hdtracks new releases today and saw it.
Only listened through twice, but it is a much more cohesive (obviously) and pleasing album than the binaural comp chesky put out in june.
If you like folk, and female vocals, it is a win-win.
And, the cello and violin add a nice touch.

Highly recommended.

 

[Failed Engineer]

I've been an Amber Rubarth fan since Something New, and stumbled upon this binaural album of hers on HDTracks.  I bought the 24/96 version a couple days ago and it's spooky.  She sounds incredible as usual, but all the surrounding instruments are coming from crazy places for headphones.  It is a brilliant listen and I've spun the album 5 times already in less than a week.

 

[Benjamin6264]

Wicliffe Gordon's Dreams of New Orleans recently came out as well, adding an album to Chesky's Binaural+ series. Highly recommended as well!
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I've been an Amber Rubarth fan since Something New, and stumbled upon this binaural album of hers on HDTracks.  I bought the 24/96 version a couple days ago and it's spooky.  She sounds incredible as usual, but all the surrounding instruments are coming from crazy places for headphones.  It is a brilliant listen and I've spun the album 5 times already in less than a week.

 

[iamdarren73]

I just do not see enough of a benefit going with this technology.  I am a loudspeaker person, mostly, but lately I have been using my single-ended headphone amplifiers and USB DAC for daily listening.  I bought the album, tried it with my Bayer DT770's (250-ohm) and HD595's and IEM's with several DAC's and amplifiers without ever going WOW!  It seems like a novelty, but maybe I am just getting old and my ears do not work as well as they did.  That, or I enjoyed my college years a bit much! 
 
It is cool, no doubt, but not something I would pay a premium for or even chose over a well mastered and recorded album.  I still like listening to my LP12 with my EL84 headphone amp and my Ortho's.
 
Darren

 

[iamdarren73]

OK - I publicly retract my previous statement!  I just listened to Explorations in both recording methods and I can say WOW!  The difference was much greater that I realized.  Having both recording techniques to compare with really showed the extra sense of space, richer, fuller and more textured sound.  I found my open backed 595's sounded a bit better than the DT770's in my set-up.  Really, really cool to hear both versions of the same song for comparison.  Without that, I do think the audible differences are less perceptible.
 
Darren

 

[Fairwell]

Is the 20% coupon code still valid? I haven't bought anything yet from HD Tracks so I can't check it without creating an account beforehand.

 

[HeadFrick]

Wher can i bay flack version on internet ?
bat not from hd sounds as i live in UK

 

[jtaylor991]

Wher can i bay flack version on internet ?
bat not from hd sounds as i live in UK

like, FLAC as in Free Lossless Audio Codec? There's HDTracks.com, and I personally buy CDs and rip them to FLAC myself, seems to be the cheapest option for lossless (if not the only) and I still get a physical copy of my music. I enjoy vinyl too, which you could rip to FLAC if you really wanted to.

 

[Fairwell]

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like, FLAC as in Free Lossless Audio Codec? There's HDTracks.com, and I personally buy CDs and rip them to FLAC myself, seems to be the cheapest option for lossless (if not the only) and I still get a physical copy of my music. I enjoy vinyl too, which you could rip to FLAC if you really wanted to.

Of course you can do that, but the tracks from high res stores such as HDTracks.com offer higher quality. They don't only offer 24/96 or 24/192 (where the difference is questionable, there are many articles on this, so I don't want to argue here) compared to regular 16/44.1 on regular CDs and (which is the really important thing) are mastered with high quality. A good mastering process really makes a huge difference. If you ever heard the same song with different masterings you will know what I'm talking about.

 
If you want to compare prices you need to compare it with at least some kind of SACDs which also not only offer higher resolution but a good mastering process. Apart from that I think some albums (such as the Chesky Records albums etc) are not available as regular CDs.

 

[jtaylor991]

Of course you can do that, but the tracks from high res stores such as HDTracks.com offer higher quality. They don't only offer 24/96 or 24/192 (where the difference is questionable, there are many articles on this, so I don't want to argue here) compared to regular 16/44.1 on regular CDs and (which is the really important thing) are mastered with high quality. A good mastering process really makes a huge difference. If you ever heard the same song with different masterings you will know what I'm talking about. :tongue_smile:

If you want to compare prices you need to compare it with at least some kind of SACDs which also not only offer higher resolution but a good mastering process. Apart from that I think some albums (such as the Chesky Records albums etc) are not available as regular CDs.

I just watched a video with a roundtable discussion on a bunch of the most famous music producers, mastering engineers, etc. and many/all seemed to agree that SACD was the closest to the master tapes, so I'd love to hear some but the limited amount of material is kind of, well, limiting (discussion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY5hI98HEi0 )

And I know mastering is a big deal, but it seems like the music I would listen to isn't stuff that is a serious thing with mastering. Like (good!) hip hop, and modern rock (Skillet, Breaking Benjamin etc.), and metal (Disturbed and Black Sabbath and maybe Metallica). Well I was gonna keep an eye out for different masters on the Black Sabbath and I noticed a difference on some vinyl rips of Metallica's black album vs. the streaming (but that's FLAC vs. MP3 anyway) but the other stuff, I mean....*shrug*
I like vinyl and it probably sounds better because of the better mastering and stuff on them for the audiophile market vs. CDs, but I wish there were such thing as "Audiophile" or "Vinyl-Mastered" CDs that were just the superior vinyl master on CD. Maybe that's what SACD is?