I do occasionally buy 24/96 albums from HDTracks, but my experience with them is about 50% - half don't sound very good, so a waste of money and they aren't cheap.
"Hires" remasters from HDTracks are like you said, 50/50. Nw releases recorded recently, for instance from ECM and Blue Note, are very good, but probably not so much better than getting the CD and ripping it that they justify the price. I buy from HDTracks because I'm impatient when new music by favorite musicians shows up, and because I'm running out of CD storage space.
"Hires" remasters from HDTracks are like you said, 50/50. Nw releases recorded recently, for instance from ECM and Blue Note, are very good, but probably not so much better than getting the CD and ripping it that they justify the price. I buy from HDTracks because I'm impatient when new music by favorite musicians shows up, and because I'm running out of CD storage space.
Yeah, I hear you about running out of space. I still have a TB or so available on my external, but on the Mac that's my primary music source, I'm getting limited. I know this isn't cutting edge, y'all, but many of us are in this boat. Still, with Mike's MB technology, we are all listening to 16/44.1 music like it never sounded before digitally.
I am looking actively for a dedicated music server - got my eye on the Bryston BDP-2 with Linux base, but it's pricey.
I do occasionally buy 24/96 albums from HDTracks, but my experience with them is about 50% - half don't sound very good, so a waste of money and they aren't cheap.
"Hires" remasters from HDTracks are like you said, 50/50. Nw releases recorded recently, for instance from ECM and Blue Note, are very good, but probably not so much better than getting the CD and ripping it that they justify the price. I buy from HDTracks because I'm impatient when new music by favorite musicians shows up, and because I'm running out of CD storage space.
About the only remasters of older material that I prefer to early CD is the Blue Note series of 24/192 of classic late 50s early 60s jazz, done by Alan Yoshida and later Bernie Grundman. Blue Note apparently did a really good job of storing the tapes, and Yoshida clearly has come up with some tricks - perhaps software - to make those sound genuinely good. But his earlier XRCD releases (16/44.1) are also very good.
I also prefer the 2007 Miles Davis Columbia SACDs, and the early 2000s Dylan Columbia SACDs to earlier (or later) versions, as well as the Beatles and solo 24-bit remaster releases.
Otherwise, I am finding the first released CD to generally be the best sounding version. In a few cases, I have rips of original vinyl (NOT later audiophile vinyl) UK LPs from a friend that are the best - everything later sounds progressively worse (Dark Side of the Moon is a good example, as is Gabriel-era Genesis.
21st Century recordings - such as live Haitink Mahler - sound excellent on SACD or 24/192, because there was never a master tape to age and wear.
Yeah, I hear you about running out of space. I still have a TB or so available on my external, but on the Mac that's my primary music source, I'm getting limited. I know this isn't cutting edge, y'all, but many of us are in this boat. Still, with Mike's MB technology, we are all listening to 16/44.1 music like it never sounded before digitally.
I am looking actively for a dedicated music server - got my eye on the Bryston BDP-2 with Linux base, but it's pricey.
I meant closet space to store the actual CDs, not digital storage space, which I have lots of. As for dedicated music servers, they may make things easier than NAS + streamer, but their prices are ridiculous. My best setup includes a Synology NAS, which cost around $500 with drives, and an excellent (Ethernet>USB) streamer, the Sonore microRendu ($640) with a Teddy Pardo power supply ($350). You can do the streamer part for just $300 at a small drop in overall quality (Sonore Sonicorbiter SE).
About the only remasters of older material that I prefer to early CD is the Blue Note series of 24/192 of classic late 50s early 60s jazz, done by Alan Yoshida and later Bernie Grundman. Blue Note apparently did a really good job of storing the tapes, and Yoshida clearly has come up with some tricks - perhaps software - to make those sound genuinely good. But his earlier XRCD releases (16/44.1) are also very good.
I also prefer the 2007 Miles Davis Columbia SACDs, and the early 2000s Dylan Columbia SACDs to earlier (or later) versions, as well as the Beatles and solo 24-bit remaster releases.
Otherwise, I am finding the first released CD to generally be the best sounding version. In a few cases, I have rips of original vinyl (NOT later audiophile vinyl) UK LPs from a friend that are the best - everything later sounds progressively worse (Dark Side of the Moon is a good example, as is Gabriel-era Genesis.
21st Century recordings - such as live Haitink Mahler - sound excellent on SACD or 24/192, because there was never a master tape to age and wear.
Great pointers, thanks! I agree that some of the 50s/60s Blue Notes are excellent, I should get a few more I should look at the Miles SACDs. Haitink Mahler sounds worth exploring, nothing that I have currently sounds as good as I'd like.
I may be wrong, but I seem to remember that MQA comes with integrated draconian DRM features, one of which is that the decoded stream cannot be outputted digitally but only as analogue signal. This is why I think Jason mentioned that Meridian requires access to DAC internals from manufacturers...
The reason for that is not specifically DRM, but the requirement that the filtering in the DAC be known to, or specified by, MQA. At both the ADC and DAC, they compensate for the alleged "deficiencies" of the hardware and filters. That's the basis of their "better than regular digital" claims.
Surely a SATA/DAC interface would be simpler than a DAC/USB USB/SATA interface for HD/SSD.
This should make sound quality optimisation easier, as you wouldn't worry about 3rd party USB iterations.
Then you could plug HD/SSD directly to Super Yiggy via SATA connectors,. bypassing USB, and using monitor via HDMI and Remote Control to control file access ala Oppo BR Players. (or possibly phone/tablet)
Off course you still need the other connection options, hopefully including USB 3.1
There are probably reasons why this can't be done relatively easily, though I can't think of any offhand. (I am not a technical expert)
Surely a SATA/DAC interface would be simpler than a DAC/USB USB/SATA interface for HD/SSD.
This should make sound quality optimisation easier, as you wouldn't worry about 3rd party USB iterations.
I was hoping to take the computer out of the equation, apart from putting files on the hard drive.
I have run Asus compact PC system with IFI Dac using optimised OS and software, which I found bothersome and not as good sounding as my JLTI Level 4 modified Oppo BDP95 with Evo 850 SSD and Curious USB cable. If anyone has compared a Schitt multibit dac with JLTI Oppo I would be extremely interested in their opinion.
I think a one box solution would be elegant, though I'm personally not interested in ethernet audio, I can see why it's becoming popular.
Surely a SATA/DAC interface would be simpler than a DAC/USB USB/SATA interface for HD/SSD.
This should make sound quality optimisation easier, as you wouldn't worry about 3rd party USB iterations.
Then you could plug HD/SSD directly to Super Yiggy via SATA connectors,. bypassing USB, and using monitor via HDMI and Remote Control to control file access ala Oppo BR Players. (or possibly phone/tablet)
Off course you still need the other connection options, hopefully including USB 3.1
There are probably reasons why this can't be done relatively easily, though I can't think of any offhand. (I am not a technical expert)
USB is not a pain, bad implementations of USB (Windows in particular) are.The solution you propose would require the DAC to be able to mount a drive, read from it, buffer the data it reads, and send it under the control of an accurate clock to the actual D2A circuitry. Most likely, this would be done with a specialized computer board, which plenty of opportunities for bugs and electrical noise leakage. I think that the ethernet audio everyone is swooning about is going to have similar issues, an ethernet endpoint implementing that protocol needs to establish connections, do buffering and resynchronization, recover from failures. Having done a bit of work with RTP (the underlying transport protocol for ethernet audio) back in the early days of internet telephony and SIP, none of this is any less complicated/bug prone than USB audio.
Which distro do you use with RPi3? Last I checked the various distros were scrambling to provide support for RPi3, but it required a bit of manual hacking...
Which distro do you use with RPi3? Last I checked the various distros were scrambling to provide support for RPi3, but it required a bit of manual hacking...
Currently using an RPi3 & Hifiberry Digi+ & USB HD --> (coax) Agd DAC-19 and it's working great. You will have to dip into a CLI once in a while, but nothing complicated.
This thread got me started. Currently planning to do another build for one of my Schiit stacks.
That's what I've been doing, using Raspberry Pi3, for the last few months streaming through USB to my Multibit Bifrost this setup works great. Have you tried Moode 2.6 TR (Test Release)? It's a great streaming application for all Raspberry Pi s.
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![20250517_125204[1].jpg](https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/12739349.jpg)
I should look at the Miles SACDs. Haitink Mahler sounds worth exploring, nothing that I have currently sounds as good as I'd like.
