Why would anyone use HD Tracks for Downloads?

Dvd audio had the ability to go as high as 24/192 but rare were the recordings that met that watermark. Most were 24/48 or 96.

Also, have you ever looked at the actual wav. on those discs? I have and it ain't pretty. Most have hard compression and extreme listing on them....that would include Dire Straits, Paul Simon, Steely Dan and Talking Heads to name a few. What it is on or how it is encoded means nothing if the engineering or mastering butchered it.

But as a recording engineer I agree that when done properly digital can be great. Without digital I would not be doing what I do.

that is suppose to be limiting not listing.

Raymonda,

I actually do have decent experience with analog, having utilized vinyl playback for a decade or more using very good quality turntables and cartridges but never ultra hi-end equipment. I enjoyed a lot of good music on those systems and thought the fidelity, at the time, was very good. I also listened for many years to a friend's reel-to-reel system playing copies of master tapes of Steely Dan, the Moody Blues and the Marshall Tucker Band albums. Those sounded better than I had ever heard a system sound up to that point. I have no doubt that good analog recordings on both vinyl and reel-to-reel, played back on high quality systems, can sound exceptionally good.

20 plus years later, however, I decided to set up a computer audio system (laptop running JRiver and connected to an Oppo 105 as a DAC via a NAS and wi-fi network) and discovered that, if the recordings were made direct to digital by a competent engineer, the result is highly accurate and the most 'in the room' realistic that I've ever heard thus far. In my opinion and to my ears, recordings merely transferred from the original analog masters are not nearly as satisfying since they have a higher noise level, lower dynamic range and less detail. That 'in the room' illusionary impact is lessened in my experience.

I do not wish to carry on the analog vs. digital debate; to me, the the debate has been settled.

Zd542,
Yes,I consider'standard resolution' to be anything at or below Redbook CD quality. I would classify vinyl, reel-to-reel and cassette tape as standard resolution.

You stated: " For analog recordings, there's no limit on resolution. Quality will vary depending on how well the recording was made. It can range from very high, better than CD quality, to very low quality."
I definitely agree that quality will vary depending on how well a recording was made. However, claiming there's no limit on the resolution of analog reel-to-reel recordings ignores the fact that it has a high noise floor and its dynamic range is limited to 60-70 db while digital has a dead-quiet noise floor and has a dynamic range limit of 90-95 db.

However, my reason for posting this thread was not to dismiss analog as a music source. Analog users know how good it can be.

Looking back, I think it was HD Tracks email ads that spurred my posting. Their site is filled with good artists and music that I want to buy but know I shouldn't because the recordings are not up to the standards of true hi-res. I think, at best, their recordings are transfers of the original analog masters to digital PCM and DSD formats. But I cannot be certain because they give absolutely no information of how their so called 'Hi-Res' titles were created. I'm assuming they're just transfers from the original analog masters since I know of none of these artists re-recording their music directly to digital and qualifying as hi-resolution audio.

I think my frustration at HD Tracks not identifying their process, and not making a distinction between analog transfers and direct to digital recordings, spurred me to post this thread questioning their claimed hi-res offerings.

I am certain that music recorded directly to digital by a competent recording engineer, and played back through a high quality system, results in a musical experience that the vast majority of Audiogon members would classify as excellent. I think this because I've achieved these results using several different direct to digital recordings.

I think my main point is that companies like HD Tracks selling analog to digital recordings as hi-res will only lead to disappointment from buyers since they will be unable to hear any differences between their existing music and those falsely claimed to be hi-res. The sad truth is that they'll be right, there is no difference, since the music was not recorded direct to digital.

Hopefully, more artists will become aware of this important distinction and begin recording digitally but companies selling analog transfers as hi-res titles certainly won't help.

I hope I adequately clarified my thoughts,
Tim

Dolby SR is in the 90-95db ratio of signal to noise. I think you are looking at Dolby B systems of the 80's Analog noise reduction has come a long, long way since then. Try listening to Circus Monkey from Walter Becker. This was recorded totally in analog using Dolby SR. I doubt you will be troubled by any noise floor. Too bad that you can only get Becker's album on CD. It would be great to have an AAA copy.

I'm not bashing digital at all. As I said, if it weren't for digital I would not have the business I have today. Last night I had a job, which was a multi-track live record of Hot Tuna. I just couldn't afford the cost if I ran analog, nor would I be able to easily set up and tear down equipment or mix it within the time frame that my customers need. With digital it is wham, bam thank you! And, yes, the results can be fantastic......but I dream and drool over the thoughts of a SOTA multi-track analog rig. But that turns into a lot of money and a lot more work and time.

So, beyond the digital vs analog issue....to my ears transfering well recorded analog to high rez digital is worth it. But I wouldn't let go of the analog master cause digital can not capture everything that analog can.

BTW, where in the world did your friend get those analog masters? Was he a big time studio engineer that had access to these masters? Those are some big name artists that he worked with. Very impressive. I'm envious!!!!!

BTW, it is pretty easy to see whether HD is using CD and upsampling. Just look at frequency graph. Filters and brick wall filters tell all.

And if they are...well it is consumer fraud and a class action needs to happen.