What are we buying these days?...

Chris

Chris

New member
As I audition new/old bands and discover some seriously cool music (to me anyway) and/or even the new 45 rpm vinyl reissues  of classic albums, ie. hoffman etc. I would like to hear reviews and the like to keep me abreast of a broader music scene than I would not normally know about...so, any cool new discoveries??  great new albums of old favorite bands?? Great concerts you have just seen?? Reviews on said vinyl reissues or HD tracks reissues that are MUCH better than the originals etc... I would love to hear about it....  Thank you :)
 
Anyone with experiance with the new Van Halen Hoffman/Gray vinyl remaster series versus the new HD tracks hi res reissues?? Is the vinyl still superior?? Thank you...
 
Hey Chris,

Can't answer the van halen question, but why not tell us what music you like and don't like.

For example, I'm a fan of a wide variety of music, but certainly not all music. I like indie rock (radiohead, bon iver), the Beatles, electronica (underworld, washed out), female singer songwriters like Fiona apple, Regina spektor. I like things with a raw edge to them. I cannot stand typical audiophile music. Smooth jazz makes me want to pry my eyes out with a spoon.  Adult contemporary of the 90's is like nails on a chalkboard.

Some recent discoveries that sound amazing (to me):
Muddy waters folk singer
Alt-j
The books - lemon of pink
Norah Jones - Little broken hearts
Fiona apple's latest
 
Great post, thank you.. I am open to all things.. So, the artists that you list, and the reasons you included are great reasons also, I will check them all out and see what happens.... Example, I am not a real blues fan, however, one day at the Orlando library, I saw a cd of the Holmes Brothers.. REAL Black Southern Blues, and wow, I really liked them.. NEVER dreamed of that happening.. I like what most of you will probably not ie.. Feeder, Coheed and Cambria, The Wildhearts, Pretty Maids etc., so listings from me probably isnt so necessary..  But, I greatly appreciate hearing for you guys...
 
I was just listening to the Van Halen remasters tonight, interesting enough. Nice remaster IMO. I'm talking about the CD release though. No opinion on the vinyl though.
 
I agree, even the reissue cds sound better, But HD tracks has released  the Roth albums on hi/res.. I would jump on that in a heartbeat, BUT Acoustech released 4 of the Roth albums on remastered Vinyl by Kevin Grey... I would love to hear a  comparison...
 
HI Chris,

Try Dawes (Nothing is Wrong), and maybe something from The Head and the Heart. While we're at it, have a listen to Fleet Foxes too.

Best,

Mike
 
Just picked up Willie Nelson's 'Stardust' on HDtracks tonight, and remembered how much I loved these covers. Sat there with eyes closed bobbing my head like a fool.
Wonderful . . .
 
About HD tracks.. Not all are in 192khz, Now I see more and more talk of the 384khz dacs like the Chord dac years ago.. Well, IF that ends up being a superior listening experience years down the road and HD tracks does stuff in 384.. How many more damn times do we have to buy the White album?? (in the spirit of Tommy Lee Jones in MIB)... If I bought the Van halen stuff now, then here we go again if it is in 384 later? I think I will just get the Hoffman/Gray Van Halen masters on vinyl and just BE DONE with it.......
 
Hey Chris - I have a few HD Tracts "high res" downloads. IMO they are not worth it. I listened to the CD remaster upsampled next to the HD high res FLAC download and was unable to hear a difference. Thats just my opinion. If I can get a high res remaster on blu-ray audio, ok I might go for it. Who the hell knows what you are getting with HD Tracts. Again, IMO....
 
Yeah, thanks Wax.. I know, the HD tracks type thing for me anyway, maybe still a little young to be pulling a bunch of purchase triggers yet... I see that they are doing alot more of the type of music that I DO have, but, I think I will wait longer before I start replacing my cd collection with hi/res downloads of the same music... hugely expensive to do so... Maybe with NEW music, I will bite, but a total HD track collection replacement, don't think so....
 
True Mike - I have the "Rasing Sand" album with Plant/Krauss 24/96 from HD Tracks. Very good indeed. Not above any of my good rebook recording though... Not saying its not worth it though!
 
To my ears, some of them are, and some of them aren't. What is your playback chain? (Never mind - I see it now) I can hear a difference with real higher sample size/sampling frequency recordings through Pure Music and a Halide DAC HD. The DAC HD is analog-like, but with enough resolution of detail for me. Listening to the real deal (as opposed to redbook recordings available for download that, surprise, sound like redbook recording available for download, like maybe that Stardust album I paid too much for as a matter of convenience) sure sounds better to me than most CD's, except for, e.g., ECM and Mapleshade discs. I'm sure there are as many opinions on this out there as there are listeners. Oh, well.
 
No, keep the opinions going... This is what I want to find out. If the extra expense is worth it.. Or is vinyl still superior...
 
Hey Mike - Not sure what you have tried with software upsample of redbook, on the laptop, before it gets to the DAC. I have even found that my 24/96 HD Tracts sound slightly better upsampled to 192khz. Its kind of voodo stuff, but it works!
 
Hey Eric,

Fair enough - time to play with the music software.

It's been a while since I compared (i) rips of 16/44.1 CD's to (ii) native 24/88.2 or 24/96 digital recordings formatted in AIFF (I use a Mac). 

I'll select automatic upsampling in Pure Music for sample rates under 88.2. (I think that's my default setting anyway.) Then its off to find a native high res download and compare it with the upsampled rip of the same album from redbook CD. I don't remember whether I own such doubles or not; have to look,

More later,

Mike 
 
I think that analog has an effective sample rate of infinity.  As you approach that sample rate digital sounds more analog. 

Just my opinion.
 
Mike - the other thing about software algorithms is that there are some good sounding techniques that are worth experimenting with - not sure with the Mac, but if you can find software where you can play with the filters - the "minimum phase" filter sounds very nice. It called "apodizing" filter, and many upsampling DACs use them. Sox is also a good freeware DSP. I did most of my playing around with Foobar.
 
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