music download options
I need some guidance please..
What is the perceived wisdom on download rates and quality?
I have just been looking on the Linn Records site, and have the
option of Studio Master FLAC, Studio Master WMA or CD quality
FLAC and WMA.
Is there sufficient difference in sound quality between studio master
and cd quality when played back from a Sony Vaio laptop through
a Music Fidelity V-DAC into an Onkyo 875 and a pair of QA 2010's??
Is my system of too low a spec to differentiate?
I have a growing 24/96 collection now and most of it has replaced CD
versions. In a properly set up a system, there is a
noticeable improvement in detail and all those subtle things in the recording that CDs generally stuggle with.
If you have the option to buy 24/96 flac, get it - you then have a high quality source that you can make lower quality audio from to suit your own needs/equipment.
From a selfish personal point of view, it is important that as many people as possible download 24/96 material, so that more of it is made available so pushing it to semi-mainstream, so that the big boys start to take notice and make their material available.
Thanks for the replies, very helpful. I will go back to
the Linn site and download some as suggested.
Storage is no problem, so certainly for classical I will
go for 24/96 flac.
Happy Christmas..
sorry to thread-jack a teeny bit, but Oldenbroke, how much difference did you notice between your V-DAC and your Onkyo's Burrbrowns? Its something Ive been pondering doing myself. I did some blind tests between 320kbps files and some lossless files and couldn't tell a significant difference, Im wondering if its my ears or my 805 thats the weak link?
(as I understand it, the 805 and 875 were the same on the audio side, just the 875 had the better video processor)
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Try it!
There are at least 3 free to download tracks on the LINN site (incl. a very testing piano concerto). Download in a couple of formats that you are interested in and give your ears (and system) a challenge!
To be honest I listen to my computer music through an Arcam rDAC and struggle to differentiate between 24 bit FLACs and 16 bit ALACs, and for me the functionality of Apple's files, and the usability of the iTunes remote versus Songbird's and jRiver Media Centre's remotes means that I am now ripping entirely in ALAC with error correction and only using 24 bit for the classical high end downloads eg Society of Sound's incredible Messiah that became available today!
Weigh it all up!