rokia traore on HD Tracks
Posted by: Briz Vegas on 28 September 2013
Well, this is annoying.
i have Beautiful Africa on CD and now it's on HD tracks in what looks like a SACD conversion, ie 24 bit 88 kHz. So, do I buy it again I ask myself.
its one of those albums. In the car it can sound irritating, but in a a good system I like it. I guess I could buy it just to compare the versions. The CD sounds good already, so at one level it serves no purpose to buy it again..........but the audiophile in me insists that I have to check this out.
Anyone else pick this one up?
Hmmmm.
ok, I did it. It's maybe a little less loud, the volume is lower, and it's a little more rounded. Might need to wait until tomorrow to evaluate properly. It's after midnight here and fighting with iTunes to load the album was the last straw and very frustrating.
itunes is is only simple if you use with their store and the two copies of the record caused all sorts of issues.
Follow up.
The system. Well the valve amps have been up and running for an hour so it should be at 80% of its best transparency, the Preamp takes longer to really impress but it's almost there. Naim DAC/XPS2 DR has been on for 24 hours ( I had to unplug to watch a full home theatre movie on Friday night). This is a $50k system in a room tuned with bass traps etc, not a guarantee of transparency but it's pretty darn good. ( I keep hoping the Paul Hynes computer/interface power supply that I ordered in January will finally turn up as I think it's essential at this level to optimise my computer based source.)
Listening to the last track on the a Rokia Troare album as it's conducive to a few replays.
CD Bit of an edge to the sound, I think the apparent detail is due to less body, it's a bit harder and a bit louder. On the up side it's not a bad recording at my moderate listening levels and you get a hard copy backup and the CD sized artwork.
Download 24/88 A few dB less loud (to my ear), maybe a bit more relaxed and pleasing in the vocals, a fuller sound. I think I will play the download in preference to the CD rip but to be honest there is not much in this one.
This inspired me to revisit my Naim sampler CD. I have the track Do you Believe on the CD and the reimagined (remixed for audiophiles) version in 24/192. In this case the CD sounds good and the download is simply brilliant. One sounds like a good CD the other like you are visiting the studio.
if every download was like the Naim one the case for hi res would be a simple one. Listening to the HD tracks album vs CD comparison does not make a good argument for the format. That is despite using a close to optimal system for revealing the differences.
At this point, looking at these two recordings, I conclude that the recording is way more important than the format and bit depth.
Given the choice I would buy the HD tracks version of the Troare album, but only just. If I had a decent turntable I can see why people would buy that album on the vinyl. In the case of Meet me in London, the 24/192 is a way better version of the recording and would be a no brainer.
At this point, looking at these two recordings, I conclude that the recording is way more important than the format and bit depth.
As it ever was and shall ever be, regardless of format. It's obvious really but it needs stating. I am seeing an increasing tendency in the comics to throw blanket praise on HiRes material, although not everyone does it.
I treated myself to an afternoon on the sofa this week, a rare and guilty pleasure. I played through an old favourite and was somewhat disappointed in places. Details that I could have sworn were there were not coming through at times. The sound stage was small and low. And there was without doubt, glare in the high frequencies. At the end of the album, which I enjoyed in any case, I discovered that I had been listening to the CD rip. So I found the 24/96 version and played it through again. Everything that I thought was wrong with it disappeared. How much of this was down to the bit depth and how much was down to the mastering/engineering I couldn't say.
I do believe that in general, HiRes tends to render complex music more coherently, resolve instruments and voices more clearly and tends to overcome high frequency edge. I have another album in 16 and 24Bit versions in which the 24Bit version sounds a lot different. The problem is that the album is so dynamically compressed to the point of distortion that the HiRes merely makes it easier to hear the limiting. As a general rule I am now listening to HiRes versions of favourite albums (when available) in preference. There's only one where I prefer the CD and one where it's neck and neck. And because I'm now tending to buy the 24Bit version of new (to me) stuff in the first instance, I have fewer comparators.
Providence remains paramount. And technical dissection is only of interest up to the point when you listen and decide for yourself what your ears prefer. My unplanned A/B proved illuminating - but only for a single sample.