HDTracks sale - 20% off till 30th Sep.
Get 20% off everything they have, which now includes Nevermind. Email:
Nevermind: The Original Album, Never Before in 96/24!
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"...as much a part of the classic rock canon as anything by the Stones or The Beatles, Dylan or The Clash." -BBC Music Review "It's a museum piece, a record that merits a display in the Smithsonian." -Jody Rosen, Rolling Stone One of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time Nevermind, Nirvana's second studio album, was |
HDtracks Goes 20 for 20! Use the code hires20 at checkout. |
We're celebrating the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's ground-breaking, industry-changing release of Nevermind
with a special private sale giving you 20% off your entire order.
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*Use code hires20 at checkout for a one-time 20% off discount off of everything in our store.
Expires September 30th, 11:59PM PST
Comments
:-/
I have tended to pick up old "classics" that either I've never got round to buying, or have on vinyl and want to make a comparison. I think I've bought 4 albums from there in the last 6 months:
Louis & Ella
Marvin Gaye "let's get it on"
Buena vista social club
Eagles "Hotel California"
Wings "Band on the run" (haven't had the chance to listen yet).
All good musically. Only the Louis & Ella album has really impressed from a hi-res POV though. The reproduction of Louis' voice is stunning.
I own only 1 CD/Hi-res duplicate - Buena Vista Social club. Yes! There are audible differences - most noticeably the hi-res version is quieter. :-/ Bizarrely quiet in fact. Direct comparisons are thus tricky.
Beyond that though. the hi-res version sounds more...
... Hi-res.
On computer audiophile, they have analysed Nevermind and found its better than all the recent re-issues.
They also found the original 1991 CD is the most dynamic issue of all, by far.
Like most, I am not going to be re-purchasing music I already own just to compare.
My experience varies greatly between hi res purchases. A few sound better, however the majority I've downloaded don't sound any better than the equivalent cd or Spotify version.
This is another numpty question, but how can albums that were recorded 40 years ago be offered in sparkling 24bit quality? Isn't the quality associated with the recording method (not just upsampling the original)?
He made a convincing case, but I don't know how seriously to take it all. I have that one both as hi-res and conventional CD, and there are differences. Not an awful lot though, but you must remember the quality of this particular recording was never 'up there'. What the HDTracks release does is try to make the best use of what is there.
You pay your money, you take your choice. I keep an eye on Computer Audiophile for the indignant screams following each weeks new releases so I can avoid any wasters, but in general I like to buy the music I am (already) interested in in the highest resolution I can.
If CDs were all mastered well, I'd never need to buy a hi-res download. Re-masters tend to be a let down, whether hi-res or otherwise ime.
I've been waiting a while for it...!
I think it's right to say that recording/mastering quality varies enormously. Enormously. So one cannot judge a hi-res album in isolation - it could be that it's been made from a poor or a good recording. It's important that it's compared to the CD equivalent.
That said my Ella & Louis hi-res album is the best quality reproduction I own. This could be coincidence - I must get the CD version to compare.
I don't know what old digital recording quality is like. Is it 16/44.1...? If it is, i don't know if there would be any advantage to a 24/96 hi-res release. I doubt it. On the other hand, may be recording equipment has always operated at hi-res levels? I suppose the real question how much justice can well done red book do to most master tapes in a YOUR hifi system?
Pre-digital recording (no idea when the digital switch over began for recording studios (the late 80s...?)) I presume certainly can offer benefits. The Louis & Ella album that I mentioned earlier is I think from the 1950s so presumably is valves (?) and analogue tape. It sounds amazing, as do many albums of that type from that era. If hi-res does have the potential to make a difference I am sure that my favourite Ella LPs would realise that potential. I will seek one out on CD to check.
Re. That hi-res potential, Alan is right, I think it would be a bit blinkered to focus on increased dynamic range alone when it comes to hi-res. My impression from comparing Buena Vista Social Club (well and under produced) hi-res with CD is that hi-res sounds more detailed (little details) smoother, and produces a more satisfying shape for the percussive event (to use that famous term of our great leader ;-) ).
In short I think hi-res is a better format and can show itself as such, but it is not a magic wand to massively improve every LP. As with all hifi getting from source to ear as faithfully as possible is the name of the game. In this case, if some of the source (the original recording) detail is missed by red book, hi-res may show some of what is missed.
Now hi-res v vinyl.... :-o
Do they go right back to the original 4/8/16/32 track studio recording and remix it using hi-res mastering (surely not)? Or do they just take the original mixed down master tape and transcribe it at 24/96?
No idea what to make of that.
My bad.
The HD tracks hi-res version is billed as "uncompressed"!!! So may be it's one of the aforementioned "remasters"....? If so, I guess technically all comparative bets (with any 'compressed' versions, CD or otherwise) are off. Personally I think it sounds excellent. Very well sculpted sound - solid, assured and dynamic. Better than any CD rip I have (tho' as I say, I've never heard this particular album on CD).
I can see how he wouldn't cut it in an ugly music collection tho', so I'm aware that opening sentence is not saying much to you. ;-p
If it's any consolation, I bought that juju album this week on your recommendation. Ying and yang, balance in the universe restored etc.,...
I should get to listen to it today (after the rugby...).
"Wings. The band the Beatles could have been"....
Many of the solo albums are terrible - a few of Ringo's are actually comic (intentional or not I don't know). Lennon's are generally the best, if you can overlook his self indulgence and yoko's contributions. George Harrison's "All things must pass" is a very good album by any standards.
Most musicians seem to peak in their 20s* and then deteriorate in terms of musical creativity, but even given this the ex-beatles solo albums indicate that there was a musical chemistry there that made the band more than the sum of it's parts.
* I once saw a graph (I'll make an effort to find it) that showed an exact correlation between on one hand rates of violent crime in men against age, with on the other, rates of male musical creativity (can't remember how that was gagued) against age. I recall that 23 is the most prolific age for murder and song writing. I have no recall of what the hypothesis for this correlation was. :-/
No one shall take you seriously now... ;p
A Petard (assuming you weren't calling me a retard & mis-spelled) is a quote from Hamlet, and refers to an engineer being blown up by his own bomb (Petard).
It's simply a higher class of trolling on this site isn't it...?
Hi-res tracks are seeming to show off their superior pedigree to a greater degree. Especially bass and drums. Very well defined and visceral.