A lot of posters here seem to be neglecting the simple fact that an increasing number of releases are being presented on sites like HDTracks without the dynamic-range compression relative to their retail CD counterpart. The nyquist theory argument, is, for better or worse (depending upon one's view), becoming largely irrelevant, at least in terms of the purpose of these releases and the associated numbers for bit-rate and sampling-depth. The hi-res release is coming to mean a less fatiguing listen, more enjoyable listen, regardless of any other factors. That is a good thing, IMO.
I'm certainly not saying that this is a mass market problem, but, for the subset of this niche market for whom an excessive amount of DRC happens to be a primary concern, those folks can now buy their favorite records, largely without issue (for a premium, obviously).
Another factor to consider is that while we can sit here all day, experts each and every one, debating graphs and hard numbers, or whether or not an analog recording in a hi-res bucket is true hi-res, for many of us, the current analog to digital re-masters that have been released as hi-res will likely be the best sounding commercially available versions we will ever have access to.
Have there been cases of blatant upsampling? Of course there have. I do know, at least in one case, that the label actually went back and did a re-transfer of the material for John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme." HDTracks comped each person that bought the old one, and did not force them to select the new version in return. You could choose to buy whatever you wanted.
One last thing....Where was all of this detailed "provenance" information while I was growing up? I'm sure the instant entitlement brought on by the internet age has nothing to do with this debate.
I'm certainly not saying that this is a mass market problem, but, for the subset of this niche market for whom an excessive amount of DRC happens to be a primary concern, those folks can now buy their favorite records, largely without issue (for a premium, obviously).
Another factor to consider is that while we can sit here all day, experts each and every one, debating graphs and hard numbers, or whether or not an analog recording in a hi-res bucket is true hi-res, for many of us, the current analog to digital re-masters that have been released as hi-res will likely be the best sounding commercially available versions we will ever have access to.
Have there been cases of blatant upsampling? Of course there have. I do know, at least in one case, that the label actually went back and did a re-transfer of the material for John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme." HDTracks comped each person that bought the old one, and did not force them to select the new version in return. You could choose to buy whatever you wanted.
One last thing....Where was all of this detailed "provenance" information while I was growing up? I'm sure the instant entitlement brought on by the internet age has nothing to do with this debate.
