[wahsmoh]

I would like to ask people on Head-fi where they generally download their lossless music. I say lossless because you can find .mp3 downloads just about anywhere.
 
I was surprised by the amount of unique albums I didn't think I'd have a chance of finding online that I ended  up finding on 7Digital. This includes Latin music that my girlfriend sent to me like group Los Auténticos Decadentes from Argentina or La Quinta Estación from Spain.
 
So here it is.. post the website you download your .FLAC, ALAC, WAV, MQA(hehe),  or DSD from the most.
 
Also, please this is not a pirating thread. I don't want to get in trouble so just tell me where you download your (legal) music from. I am not opposed to filesharing but I would like to keep this thread open and moderator friendly.

 

[moriez]

I do my previews of albums in any which way. If it's worthy it's Bandcamp that I get to first, where FLAC can be downloaded at no premium.
If an artist doesn't have a Bandcamp page it's still mostly Boomkat or Junodownload and if out of luck there I run a Google search that sometimes gets me to the label's digital download. Bleep.com and Beatport.com are two others that offer lossless.
 
And there have been cases that I'll just buy the (used) CD for ripping duty before selling it off again. 

 

[taffy2207]

Bandcamp, direct from the Label or ripping FLAC direct from the CD. I've got oodles of 24 Bit FLACs'  but they don't float my boat in all honesty, so I stick to 16 Bit if I can.

 

[raelamb]

Most of my 24/96 or 24/192 comes from HDtracks but I also use Prostudiomasters.com, ascousticsounds.com, and bandcamp.com.
 
I find Pono downloading very clunky and confusing.
 
A very useful tool is findhdmusic.com and you can sign up for daily alerts from them.
 
I no longer buy anything in 16bit unless TIDAL doesn't have it.

 

[screwedpeep]

I am looking for lossless albums from Dire Straits. I thought hdtracks could be the best place to get them but they don't have their catalogues. Any idea where else can i look?

 

[wahsmoh]

  I am looking for lossless albums from Dire Straits. I thought hdtracks could be the best place to get them but they don't have their catalogues. Any idea where else can i look?

I just noticed that HDTracks only has Mark Knopfler on their catalogue now. This might be new to me because I could have sworn Dire Straits was on their catalogue a few years ago. They might have been pulled due to a rights dispute.
 
Here is what you are looking for. https://www.7digital.com/search?q=dire%20straits
 
7Digital has really been my savior the past few months when I am looking for CDs that are hard to find and I don't want the .mp3 version of these albums.

 

[raelamb]

If by "lossless" you mean CD "Redbook" of 16/44.1 then besides CD you can stream or download on TIDAL.
 
If you mean "Hi Rez" like 24/48, 24/96, 24/192, or DSD then no Dire Straits yet.
 
Much if not all of Mark Knopfler's solo albums are available however on HDtracks and other services.

 

[wahsmoh]

  If by "lossless" you mean CD "Redbook" of 16/44.1 then besides CD you can stream or download on TIDAL.
 
If you mean "Hi Rez" like 24/48, 24/96, 24/192, or DSD then no Dire Straits yet.
 
Much if not all of Mark Knopfler's solo albums are available however on HDtracks and other services.

You are right and thanks for clarifying. We don't have hi-res Dire Straits yet but I believe there are SACDs and DVDs with greater than 16/44.1khz resolution out there. I personally don't find much of a difference when all else is equal (quality mastering) when it comes to 16/44.1khz and 24-bit/192khz. Technically redbook is also lossless if we are talking about what is on the CD and then after if it is ripped to FLAC or WAV.
 
I just like it when I can get an untainted album in FLAC or WAV. I choose not to listen to 320kbps for good reasons and I don't claim golden ears but I have always heard a difference and there are only a few albums that I can stand in 320kbps on my playlist (but they are @#%$ masterings like MGMT - Oracular Spectacular)
 
Truth is what is lost is lost in lossy compression. The backers of mp3 claim that they can basically cut out certain parts of the bits that aren't as important and make compromise without ruining the overall frequency balance of the sound. What happens though is the lower the mp3 bitrate the more ambience and cues that were deemed less important become lost. Going from 128kbps to 320kbps VBR you can see the path of destruction it makes. 320kbps are good.. but not good enough for my ears and I have done blind tests to confirm what I heard.. much harder to do when the mastering is poor then the bitrate won't save it either

 

[Music Alchemist]

Most of the lossless music I download is from Bandcamp, but nearly all of my lossless files are ripped from CDs.
 
I'll also drop some useful links:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/a/list-of-lossless-and-high-res-music-flac-alac-aiff-dsd-dxd-etc-download-sites
http://www.head-fi.org/t/644595/official-free-flac-file-music-sharing-thread
http://www.head-fi.org/t/731523/the-free-music-thread-100-legal-downloads-of-all-formats

 

[raelamb]

 
You are right and thanks for clarifying. We don't have hi-res Dire Straits yet but I believe there are SACDs and DVDs with greater than 16/44.1khz resolution out there. I personally don't find much of a difference when all else is equal (quality mastering) when it comes to 16/44.1khz and 24-bit/192khz. Technically redbook is also lossless if we are talking about what is on the CD and then after if it is ripped to FLAC or WAV.
 
I just like it when I can get an untainted album in FLAC or WAV. I choose not to listen to 320kbps for good reasons and I don't claim golden ears but I have always heard a difference and there are only a few albums that I can stand in 320kbps on my playlist (but they are @#%$ masterings like MGMT - Oracular Spectacular)
 
Truth is what is lost is lost in lossy compression. The backers of mp3 claim that they can basically cut out certain parts of the bits that aren't as important and make compromise without ruining the overall frequency balance of the sound. What happens though is the lower the mp3 bitrate the more ambience and cues that were deemed less important become lost. Going from 128kbps to 320kbps VBR you can see the path of destruction it makes. 320kbps are good.. but not good enough for my ears and I have done blind tests to confirm what I heard.. much harder to do when the mastering is poor then the bitrate won't save it either

You're right. I was just thinking of downloads. Back in the day when I had an SACD player I remember owning "Making Movies" and "Brothers in Arms".

 

[wahsmoh]

  Most of the lossless music I download is from Bandcamp, but nearly all of my lossless files are ripped from CDs.
 
I'll also drop some useful links:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/a/list-of-lossless-and-high-res-music-flac-alac-aiff-dsd-dxd-etc-download-sites
http://www.head-fi.org/t/644595/official-free-flac-file-music-sharing-thread
http://www.head-fi.org/t/731523/the-free-music-thread-100-legal-downloads-of-all-formats

 
Thank you for these links and they are good resources. I'm glad that other threads have touched base on this. I hope my thread though is just a clear question as to what people use and maybe it will become a resource too for people to find music.

 

[brent75]

I had traditionally gotten most of my stuff from HDTracks, but I just did my first rode with 7Digital as they had the new Radiohead (but HDTracks didn't).
 
That album sounded great in FLAC. But for some reason, the other 2 I downloaded from them fouled up.
 
One of them was an R.E.M. album (24-bit FLAC) which for some inexplicable reason a few of the tracks were abnormally quiet after download, and the other was a Yellowman album (320kbps) which for some inexplicable reason was chopping off the length of some individual tracks (e.g. the site says it's 4:04 but it would only download 1:22).
 
I re-downloaded both and it happened again.
 
Very frustrating, and I hope it's not a precursor of more errors in downloading, as there appear to be several albums I'd love to get.