Explain me High Resolution

Posted by: Iver van de Zand on 18 October 2013

Hey forum members,

 

This morning I purchased Norah Jones's album Come Away With Me in high res 192khz/24bits with HdTracks. Be aware that I do have the same "physical" CD at home which I ripped into wav using dbPowerAmp. My personal opinion is that the original CD is already recorded very well.

 

Comparing both albums on my system, I absolutely hear NO difference apart from the fact when playing the high res album, I slightly need to increase the volume knob a little to have the same volume of playing. How could this be. I am a bit disappointed. I could live with it if my system wouldn't be good enough to make a difference, but this cannot be the case since I have examples of albums where I can clearly hear the advantage of HighRes ! Or am I wrong ?

 

Do others have similar experiences?

 

Cheers Iver

 

 

Posted on: 20 October 2013 by Iver van de Zand

Hi Benedict,

 

I am located in belgium and have a standard access account for HdTracks. In average I buy 1-2 albums per month. Normally never issues .

 

cheers,

Iver

Posted on: 20 October 2013 by Ikoun

Yep, once you pay with paypal, it doesn't make problems.
On my side, on more than 90% of the case, the Hires is clearly the winner and shows the future of audio. For Norah Jones and the present album, on my system, i had chance to compare too and the music is much more natural, flowing. The scen and the instruments are better separated without to be sculpted, just as it should be.

By the way, i am happy that the catalogue of HDtracks is has now a wide choice in every kind of music ;-)

Cheers

Posted on: 20 October 2013 by Iver van de Zand

So IkouN you can hear a clear difference where the HiRes version purchased from Hdtracks was sounding better ?

Posted on: 20 October 2013 by J.N.

High resolution recordings came pretty much as standard on flat black round things about thirty years ago. Then the recording industry went and shot itself in the arse.

 

The Scottish Gramophone Company showed what could really be achieved from the medium with 'Reaching for the Sky' by the Dutch band Renée in 1980. I've just played the (standard thickness!) LP and couldn't stop laughing at what a joke the average modern recording is by comparison.

 

And clearly digital encoding per se isn't the problem, because I believe that relatively unsophisticated 20 bit PCM mastering was used to make the gloriously spacious, transparent and dynamic sound.

 

John.

Posted on: 21 October 2013 by Ikoun
Originally Posted by Iver van de Zand:

So IkouN you can hear a clear difference where the HiRes version purchased from Hdtracks was sounding better ?

Yes definitely.