DB's Hi-Rez Audio Thread

[Danny Boy]

GFY

fcl

 

[Danny Boy]

Also, HDtracks is now selling The Division Bell in 24/96 for about $20, so you can get the remaster in high-res without shelling out $125 for the gradiose box set.

 

[Danny Boy]

There's been a lot of talk about these Eno • Hyde: albums.

Both are available from Bleep in 24-bit lossless.

https://bleep.com/release/50027-eno-hyde-someday-world
https://bleep.com/release/51713-eno-hyde-high-life

 

[bono_212]

Maybe...maybe too much talk.

 

[Danny Boy]

I'm actually a little wary of liking them too much. I don't want to be one of "those fans" who only likes music that is somehow U2 related.

But they are in fact quite good.

 

[Danny Boy]

 

[Danny Boy]

Big Star's #1 Record and Radio City are being re-released on Sept. 2, remastered 24-bit lossless.



Stax Records » Big Star’s #1 Record and Radio City to be REMASTERED and reissued by Stax records

 

[Danny Boy]

 

[u2popmofo]

Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference to annoy Cobbler

 

[Danny Boy]

 

[u2popmofo]

Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference to annoy Cobbler

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Big Star's #1 Record and Radio City are being re-released on Sept. 2, remastered 24-bit lossless.



Stax Records » Big Star’s #1 Record and Radio City to be REMASTERED and reissued by Stax records

I bought these. They feature new liner notes from Mike Mills himself.

 

[Danny Boy]

My Arcade Fire Limited Edition Pono arrived today. Prepare yourself for many posts about how great it sounds.

It's getting it's initial full charge right now.

 

[u2popmofo]

My Arcade Fire Limited Edition Pono arrived today. Prepare yourself for many posts about how great it sounds.

It's getting it's initial full charge right now.

Braggart.

 

[Danny Boy]

Braggart.

Did I mention it sounds great?

 

[u2popmofo]

I don't even remember what the hell a Pono is, so I'm imagining it's like a pony, but for music.

 

[Danny Boy]

 

[bono_212]

It's that weird triangular MP3 player that plays Hi-Rez audio.

 

[Danny Boy]

It's a musical Toblerone. Well, except mine is silver.

Listening to Led Zeppelin I right now.

 

[u2popmofo]

Can't normal mp3 players play hi-rez? Why does DB think he's so much better than us? Pony's are better. You can ride them and they eat hay and stuff.

 

[Danny Boy]

Can't normal mp3 players play hi-rez?

No.

I do wish I had a pony.

 

[u2popmofo]

No.

OmG U r teh pretenshus an eleetust

 

[LemonMelon]

He's probably listening to Radiohead on his pony right now

 

[BigMacPhisto]

This thread honestly is orgasmic. Mostly because I get to see pictures of cool things I can never afford.

Oh, by the way, someone online went and did high end rips of The Beatles Mono vinyl box set. Since the vinyl is unlimited, it should be superior to the CD rips of those recordings and would fit nicely alongside your Beatles USB. They're pretty much all on PirateBay although I had to get his 24-bit version of Mono Masters somewhere else as he had only uploaded the 16-bit one as a torrent for whatever reason. A lot cheaper than paying $400 for the box or however much it costs.

 

[Danny Boy]

Pono Homomania

Spoiler

Actually only CD quality lossless but it sounds great.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

I'm thinking of buying a high-end player...someone on Amazon has the Fiio X3 used for a hundred bucks which is $70 in savings from buying it new. I'd plan on getting a 256 GB SD card to chuck into it (it looks like Fiio currently supports that). Since I'd get the roughly $100 card for any other high end device, it basically means I'd be buying a hi-res portable player for $100 which is a lot less than what they're asking for Sony's latest ($300) and the Pono (which I think is $400 now that the kickstarter is over).

I commute an hour via BART to work each way (but I only work part-time), so upgrading the headphones (you have to go with Bose in that situation as they have the best noise-canceling technology and you sure as hell have to drown out noise on public traansport) and the audio device would be nice. Plus, my MP3 collection at 128 quality is around 140 GB at the moment, so it would be nice to have all of that plus 24 Bit Flac files all in one place as my old iPod classic only holds 80 GB.

 

[Danny Boy]

2014 has definitely been the year that high-res broke through for me. I've overhauled my desktop audio system with a Sprout, which has a 24-bit, 192 kHz DAC, as well as new speakers and a subwoofer; and upgraded my portable to the Pono.

More and more new releases are now available in high-res on line from HDtracks, ProStudio Masters, Acoustic Sounds, PonoMusic World, and Qobuz. This is the first year that I can definitely say that I have bought more albums in hi-res than on vinyl and CD combined. The prices are a bit higher than CD, but cheaper than vinyl for sure.

Unfortunately a collection of digital albums does not photograph as well as a shelf full of vinyl. Here's a couple of shots of the new rig:

And a list of 2014 releases I have purchased in high-res.

alt-J - An Awesome Wave (24/44.1)
The Antlers - Familiars (24/96)
Aphex Twin - Syro (24/44.1)
Ariel Pink - Pom Pom (24/96)
Beck - Morning Phase (24/96)
The Black Keys - Turn Blue (24/44.1)
Caribou - Our Love (24/96)
D’Angelo And The Vanguard - Black Messiah (24/96)
Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots (24/44.1)
Elbow - The Take Off And Landing Of Everything (24/96)
Eno • Hyde - High Life (24/44.1)
Eno • Hyde - Someday World (24/44.1)
Flying Lotus - You’re Dead! (24/44.1)
Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways (24/44.1)
Interpol - El Pintor (24/96)
Jack White - Lazaretto (24/192)
Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence (24/44.1)
LCD Soundsystem - The Long Goodbye (24/96)
Lykke Li - I Never Learn (24/44.1)
Neil Young - Storytone (24/192)
Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal (24/96)
Phantogram - Voices (24/44.1)
Pink Floyd - The Endless River (24/96)
Pixies - Indie Cindy (24/44.1)
Real Estate - Atlas (24/44.1)
Smashing Pumpkins - Monuments To An Elegy (24/96)
Spoon - They Want My Soul (24/96)
St. Vincent - St. Vincent (24/96)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Hypnotic Eye (24/48)
Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright In The End (24/96)

A few regrettable choices that I probably wouldn't have bought were they not in hi-res, but I've bought a few bum albums every year since I started buying cassettes in the 80's. I bought quite a few catalog titles, too, including the Zeppelin remasters, but I won't bore you with another list.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

I'll definitely be tracking some of those titles down now that I've preordered the Geek Wave 64 via IndieGoGo. It's actually pretty easy to keep up with new albums that are released in 24 Bit because so few of them are released in that format...out of the over 100 titles I bought on vinyl/cassette last year, maybe ten are available in that format.

There's a new remaster for the Pono store of Beck's Sea Change...so that should go along nicely with your hi-res copy of Morning Phase. Both classics.

I'm going to only be collecting stuff in at least 16-BIT FLAC (cd quality rip) or higher from now on. A lot of the sites I use to get music illegally put up FLAC rips of CD albums while the tape label stuff I buy almost always has FLAC rips available with purchase on Bandcamp, so that should work out alright. I'm not really stealing any of that material though given that I am purchasing it in one hard format or another...but I won't be buying any new reissues/compilations, so I guess that constitutes theft.

Regardless, it should all sound great on this new player!

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways (24/44.1)
Interpol - El Pintor (24/96)
Pixies - Indie Cindy (24/44.1)
Smashing Pumpkins - Monuments To An Elegy (24/96)
Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright In The End (24/96)

A few regrettable choices that I probably wouldn't have bought were they not in hi-res

mIrite?

Also, it's kind of weird that the Ariel Pink album is available in that format considering how muddy it is...I bet it sounds pretty cool though and it did have some nice songs even if it dragged on forever.

 

[Danny Boy]

mIrite?

Partially. Don't think I would buy the Damon Albarn album if I had it to do over.