[Peter Hyatt]

update: Without explanation, HD Tracks issued refund.

It seems that some of the tracks were not 24/96--- perhaps my ears have gotten pretty good at discerning sound after all!

 

[psuKinger]

You've got to love it when hd tracks sells you a 24 192 file of a 20 year old album.. However I have to say that when I compare a song on iTunes and the same song on hd tracks 24 96, the hd version most often seems to have much better dynamic range.

Anybody ever buy a 24/96 file and then run it through some software to convert it to 24/48? I think that process should be pretty smooth/painless (no interpolation/creation of "new" data points, just remove every other one)... but in practice I want to make sure that a piece of software isn't going to somehow "do it stupidly" instead of what seems like should be obvious to me.

My DAP only supports FLAC up to 24-bit 44.1 kHz and 24-bit 48 kHz, if anyone is wondering why I might want to do such a thing... that and I'm personally skeptical of the value of sampling beyond 48 kHz (Nyquist Theorem), but I do believe in the granular benefits of 24-bit and that dr.loudness-war often shows more dynamic range for the Hi-Rez version than the CD 16 bit/44.1kHz CD version...

 

[SachinSen]

I'm not sure if things have changed recently at HDTracks, but I'm finding it quite impossible to agree with the criticism. First of all, one can always sample a hi-res track before making a purchase, so one would/should know what quality they are going to get. Secondly, HDtracks clearly mentions that they do not accept music that is simply upsampled to 24 bit. They also mention they test the authenticity of the bitrates if they are actually 24 bits or not. If there is a situation of upsampling, it is mentioned on the album page itself (and I have noticed that too for a number of albums). This means there's transparency.

Lastly, I recently made my first purchase through HDtracks, a Toto greatest hits album, AIFF 24/96. And I must say that I have indeed noticed differences against the same songs I previously purchased as Mastered for iTunes. I haven't listened to these songs off a CD, but there's noticeable difference compared to what I got from iTunes. I am quite happy so far.

Sachin

 

[bigshot]

Their quality control isn't nearly as good as they claim. You should take a few of the HD Tracks you have and open them in a sound editing program and do a frequency spectrum analysis. Many HD Tracks files have little or no frequency content above 20kHz, and some of them contain super audible noise spikes due to sloppy engineering. In those cases, bouncing the HD Track down to 16/44.1 will make sure that the noise spikes don't create distortion in the audible range.

 

[SachinSen]

I understand your point. Having said that, I have sampled the same tracks from other sources like 7 digital for comparison, and my ears tell me that they do not sound any better. Of course, this will not be the case with every instance of comparison. I have, in fact, noticed that some songs sound better from HD tracks while some sound better from 7 digital with similar bitrates. It seems to me it depends mostly on how the source audio is engineered rather than what HDtracks might or might not have done to it.

Also, are you implying that many HDtracks songs are simply upsampled rather than being true 24 bit? If so, then like I said, they mention this as a disclaimer to maintain transparency of information. Unless, they do it for few and lie for maximum others.

Lastly, I'm not really a technical person, I rely on my ears for quality. Can you please suggest a decent sound editing program that is easy to acquire for free so that I can verify you claim?

 

[bigshot]

Here is a thread with some spectrum charts of HD Tracks.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/what-kind-of-ultrasonic-frequencies-are-in-hd-tracks.885484/

I use Sonic Forge but it isn't free. Someone else might be able to suggest a freeware alternative.

 

[stonesfan129]

They are just a storefront selling what the labels tell them to sell.

 

[Cla55clown]

Read through the thread and it sounds hit or miss. So, can anyone give a few albums that they have experienced that have GOOD sound quality and/or mastering from HDtracks?

 

[stonesfan129]

Read through the thread and it sounds hit or miss. So, can anyone give a few albums that they have experienced that have GOOD sound quality and/or mastering from HDtracks?

Green Day - American Idiot/21st Century Breakdown/Uno, Dos, Tre!
Van Halen - (Get the 24/192 versions)
Paul McCartney - McCartney/Ram/Band On The Run uncompressed versions
Jethro Tull - Aqualung and Thick As A Brick
The Who - Live At Leads Deluxe remix/Who Sell Out Mono and Stereo/Who's Next Deluxe

If you don't mind 256kbps AAC files, many of these same remasters can be had on iTunes. Look for the "Mastered For iTunes" tag and it's usually the same mastering.

 

[JWolf]

Green Day - American Idiot/21st Century Breakdown/Uno, Dos, Tre!
Van Halen - (Get the 24/192 versions)
Paul McCartney - McCartney/Ram/Band On The Run uncompressed versions
Jethro Tull - Aqualung and Thick As A Brick
The Who - Live At Leads Deluxe remix/Who Sell Out Mono and Stereo/Who's Next Deluxe

If you don't mind 256kbps AAC files, many of these same remasters can be had on iTunes. Look for the "Mastered For iTunes" tag and it's usually the same mastering.

I can't say about Van Halen and The Who, but I can say that Green Day, Jethro Tull and Paul Mccartney are very good. Well worth getting. Forget AAC. You'll never get even close to how good they are with AAC.

Another good set or recordings is from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Just so good. Tom Petty supervised the hi-res masters.

 

[stonesfan129]

I can't say about Van Halen and The Who, but I can say that Green Day, Jethro Tull and Paul Mccartney are very good. Well worth getting. Forget AAC. You'll never get even close to how good they are with AAC.

Another good set or recordings is from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Just so good. Tom Petty supervised the hi-res masters.

I disagree. The iTunes AAC encoder at 256kbps is very close to transparency. I have never heard anyone who was able to reliably able to tell a difference in a double blind test. Plus the iTunes albums typically cost about half of what the high-resolution versions cost with the exact same mastering. That said, I try to buy the CD or 16/44.1 FLAC files when I can just so I have a lossless, reference-quality file on my NAS.