[adrummingdude]

Hey guys,


I was wondering where your favorite places to download high res audio reside around the web. I have downloaded 24 bit FLAC files from Bowers & Wilkins' "society of Sound," but their selection is very limited.


Any other favorites out there?

 

[dtb300]

Many forums and sites have listings like below...just a little searching (Google is your friend) can find you sites.

http://www.head-fi.org/a/list-of-lossless-and-high-res-music-flac-alac-aiff-dsd-dxd-etc-download-sites

 

[adrummingdude]

Hey, thanks! What a great list. Do you have a favorite site?

 

[dtb300]



Quote:
Originally Posted by adrummingdude  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24495752


Hey, thanks! What a great list. Do you have a favorite site?

Favorite site? The one who has the album I am looking for the best price....

 

[Transmaniacon]

I think it's just cheaper to buy CDs and rip them yourself. Even going used is a good option, you can get some good stuff for a few dollars an album, rip the tracks in .FLAC, and save yourself upwards of $20. Then you can resell the CDs and make most of your money back. Buying online is convenient, but there aren't many good deals on hi-quality stuff.

 

[adrummingdude]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Transmaniacon  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24498827


I think it's just cheaper to buy CDs and rip them yourself. Even going used is a good option, you can get some good stuff for a few dollars an album, rip the tracks in .FLAC, and save yourself upwards of $20. Then you can resell the CDs and make most of your money back. Buying online is convenient, but there aren't many good deals on hi-quality stuff.

A quick perusal of some of the sites has led me to believe exactly that. I mean really, $40 per album for some of these!?...do they make me better looking?

 

[Transmaniacon]



Quote:
Originally Posted by adrummingdude  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24499205


A quick perusal of some of the sites has led me to believe exactly that. I mean really, $40 per album for some of these!?...do they make me better looking?

Yeah they are really expensive. Amazon is also good, you can buy new or used and find anything. We used to have a music store near me that sold new and used CDs, and we would go and grab a few albums at a time, that is how I accumulated most of my collection.

 

[Threadbare]


For HiFi downloads i would personally recommend Qobuz, Linn and HDtracks as the best. These offer high resolution downloads as well as redbook and the range of music is getting larger all the time!

 

[adrummingdude]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Threadbare  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24528064


For HiFi downloads i would personally recommend Qobuz, Linn and HDtracks as the best. These offer high resolution downloads as well as redbook and the range of music is getting larger all the time!

I've looked at HDtracks, and honestly was pretty taken aback by the prices.


Maybe when high res music becomes more commonplace, which should be the outcome of higher capacity devices combined with faster broadband speeds, the prices will come down to low res ITunes territory.

 

[hogger129]

I'd just go with a CD. They're cheaper than HDTracks and sound great when done right. If you do your research, you can usually find a review on Headfi or Steve Hoffman forums about which versions of a particular CD are the best sounding.


A little off topic, but just don't question a Steve Hoffman mastering on his site or you'll get banned off his site. (I posted on a thread about his mastering of the Audio Fidelity Billion Dollar Babies Hybrid SACD for a glitch on No More Mr. Nice Guy that they decided not to fix. Apparently with DSD, you want as pure a source as possible, but I don't think it would have been bad to drop into Pro Tools and edit out the glitch. It has to do with some kind of a defect on the master tape they used).

 

[Cebolla]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Transmaniacon  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24498827


I think it's just cheaper to buy CDs and rip them yourself. Even going used is a good option, you can get some good stuff for a few dollars an album, rip the tracks in .FLAC, and save yourself upwards of $20. Then you can resell the CDs and make most of your money back. Buying online is convenient, but there aren't many good deals on hi-quality stuff.

Don't know about the States, but in Europe it's illegal to to buy & rip CDs, if you then 'lose' the CDs while you've still got the rips.

 

[Transmaniacon]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Cebolla  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24535579


Don't know about the States, but in Europe it's illegal to to buy & rip CDs, if you then 'lose' the CDs while you've still got the rips.

http://mp3.about.com/od/digitalmusicfaq/a/cd_copying_laws.htm


If you buy the CD then you can pretty do what you want with it, aside from distributing it. If you want to sell a used CD, I don't see any issue with that, many places like Amazon allow you to buy used CDs online.

 

[hogger129]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Transmaniacon  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24535716

http://mp3.about.com/od/digitalmusicfaq/a/cd_copying_laws.htm


If you buy the CD then you can pretty do what you want with it, aside from distributing it. If you want to sell a used CD, I don't see any issue with that, many places like Amazon allow you to buy used CDs online.

That's what I thought too. As long as there is no copy protection on the disc, you are allowed to make a backup for personal usage. At least in the US.

 

[Transmaniacon]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hogger129  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24535831


That's what I thought too. As long as there is no copy protection on the disc, you are allowed to make a backup for personal usage. At least in the US.

Yeah, movies have DRM which prevents you from ripping them, but I have never encountered a CD with DRM.

 

[jdcrox]

Once you sell the original CD, you no longer have the "rights" to use the material that was on it. So technically what you are doing is illegal in the US. It is the same as borrowing a friend's copy of a CD, and ripping that. You did not buy the disc, so you have no right , or "fair use" to make a copy of it.

 

[Cebolla]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jdcrox  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24539103


Once you sell the original CD, you no longer have the "rights" to use the material that was on it. So technically what you are doing is illegal in the US. It is the same as borrowing a friend's copy of a CD, and ripping that. You did not buy the disc, so you have no right , or "fair use" to make a copy of it.

Ok, so it is similar to Europe then. Ripping CDs is legal so long as they're yours and you must keep the original CDs while you've still got the rips/any copies.

 

[Transmaniacon]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jdcrox  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24539103


Once you sell the original CD, you no longer have the "rights" to use the material that was on it. So technically what you are doing is illegal in the US. It is the same as borrowing a friend's copy of a CD, and ripping that. You did not buy the disc, so you have no right , or "fair use" to make a copy of it.

Thanks for the clarification, I keep my CDs, but that is good to know.

 

[Suite]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hogger129  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24534348


I'd just go with a CD. They're cheaper than HDTracks and sound great when done right. If you do your research, you can usually find a review on Headfi or Steve Hoffman forums about which versions of a particular CD are the best sounding.


A little off topic, but just don't question a Steve Hoffman mastering on his site or you'll get banned off his site. (I posted on a thread about his mastering of the Audio Fidelity Billion Dollar Babies Hybrid SACD for a glitch on No More Mr. Nice Guy that they decided not to fix. Apparently with DSD, you want as pure a source as possible, but I don't think it would have been bad to drop into Pro Tools and edit out the glitch. It has to do with some kind of a defect on the master tape they used).

I have these on CD as well as in 24/96 or 24/88 hi-res studio master wav format. The CD's sounds very good but the Hi-res files are even better.

Especially the ''Torn'' and the ''After Silence'' album sounds significantly better in hi-res.

I had a very small glitch on one file, and send an email to the company about it. Within 2 hours I received a new copy via we transfer, with a note from head engineer Frans de Rond, telling me not to hesitate contacting him again if I would discover any other abnormalities.

That is service and I guess true love of the product he is selling.
http://www.soundliaison.com/

 

[KingLeerUK]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Transmaniacon  /t/1523001/best-hi-fi-download-websites#post_24536529


Yeah, movies have DRM which prevents you from ripping them, but I have never encountered a CD with DRM.

Oh, they certainly have tried. Sony/BMG did their infamous Extended Copy Protection (aka rootkit) which caused a bit of a fuss a few years back.

 

[JWhip]

I concur that the high Rez files of the soundliason recordings sound sensational.