Does anyone have a reliable review site that compares Hi-Res downloads with, say, CD quality?
I’m recently familiar with DR.loudness-war but that seems confusing especially when they have so many variants of CD being reviewed.
I’m not into classical - mainly rock & pop.
I just don’t want to waste money and with some albums costing up to 40GBP it’s a fairly significant risk.
Currently have a SU but moving to a 272/250 DR.
i use mainly Qobuz and Bandcamp. If i purchase a track or album, i can download the same track on many formats ( if available in hirez).
So it’s possible to compare 16/44 to hirez, waw to aiff…
The best review is your ears. Some specialists prefer DSD, other PCM, other don’t like hirez in general…
I’ve not found such a site that compares download’s vs CD’s.
I read the usual & various www press reviews, problem is they only seem to report on the expected big sellers & known artists, sometimes new interesting stuff, but its all about the recording they have, not comparing versions of the same.
One or two sites report on what is the best release version of a recording, but most of these are looking at historical stuff rather than new current.
However, watching this thread with interest.
I read press reviews on the music as such and always buy the highest resolution available, while not going under cd quality.
Hi Jack,
A fair few years ago I used to analyse the HiRes downloads I bought as a fair few were simply padded, I then post the results here; no one was particularly interested.
There was a site that I used to visit that did likewise.
Annoying to find that you have a standard file that has no more data than a CD.
I’ll have a dig around and see if the site I used to visit is still active, if that thread is still going I’ll let you know.
On a side note: For me the problem is that CD vs HiRes is more than a matter of resolution, it is far more about such things as the source and the mastering. I have found that the sound quality I get from 16/44.1 can be superb and so my interest in HiRes has faded, although I do still buy and own a fair few.
Hi Jack,
I am sure the thread was om Computer Audiophile, now called AudiophileStyle (yuk!). I couldn’t see the thread, which is a shame as they had a standard analysis methodology.
Now they have a sub-forum called, ‘Music Analysis - Objective & Subjective’; this does seem to include some analysis on some of the threads.
M
It really IS a risk, and we’ve all spent money on hi res digital downloads that don’t satisfy. Unfortunately I don’t know of a decent review site. The Steve Hoffman forums have a lot of reviews, but rather little re hi res downloads; I suspect because most of the users play vinyl, cd’s, or pirate the digital downloads. There’s a lot there about ‘best cd version’ and ‘best vinyl version.’
Not that many people will plunk down the cost of digital hi res downloads with regularity outside of the ‘high(er) end’ hi fi folks.
I’ll only buy Hires if I’ve listened to the album on Qobuz Studio. This avoids a costly disappointment.
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