Post by Chris July 11, 2015 (51 of 56)
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Pentatone Classics said:
Thanks for the interest in our REMASTERED CLASSICS series.
You suppose correctly, we currently can't provide high res downloads due to legal aspects.
We hope to able also offering this series for download soon.
Good to hear,
I haven't bought any new SACDs for several years but lots of hi res downloads and quite a few DSD downloads too, from Pentatone.
I will definitely get some of the DGG Boston Symphony releases when they become available as DSD downloads.
Is there any chance that you will be able to licence any of the many classical Quad EMI's
like KARAJAN'S IN SOME CASES, STILL UNRIVALLED OPERA RECORDINGS FOR EMI?
PS I might perhaps add that my Pentone DSD downloads have not been directly from Pentatone. I still don't understand why you decided to offer isos instead of dsf or dff files.
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NativeDSD has a far superior way of downloading DSF files also for the Pentatone releases. I only bought one DSD download from Pentatone direct and then converted to DSF with the help of JRiver
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Post by hiredfox July 13, 2015 (53 of 56)
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Chris said:
Good to hear,
I haven't bought any new SACDs for several years but lots of hi res downloads and quite a few DSD downloads too, from Pentatone.
I will definitely get some of the DGG Boston Symphony releases when they become available as DSD downloads.
Is there any chance that you will be able to licence any of the many classical Quad EMI's
like KARAJAN'S IN SOME CASES, STILL UNRIVALLED OPERA RECORDINGS FOR EMI?
PS I might perhaps add that my Pentone DSD downloads have not been directly from Pentatone. I still don't understand why you decided to offer isos instead of dsf or dff files.
...and are you satisfied with the SQ of the downloads? Have you A/B'd them against the SACD?
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Post by Chris July 13, 2015 (54 of 56)
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hiredfox said:
...and are you satisfied with the SQ of the downloads? Have you A/B'd them against the SACD?
Funny that you are asking this now when I am actually having a bit of a nostalgic trip back into SACD land.
I unfortunately have to charm my SCD-2 stereo only SACD player,to accept SACDs. But once it does so,sometimes after up to ten loadings, and some soft caressing and pleading,I am a bit surprised how close it actually sounds to the DSD downloads in most cases.The difference between my Benchmark DAC2 and SCD-2 are small,very small.
But Especially when played via my puny little HUGO which although it performs some internal magic before finally outputting to DSD out it makes DSD 64 and DSD 128 sound about as good as I have heard via home equipment so far.
Yes my old SCD-2 is very close indeed.In fact closer than I rememembered.
But HUGO digs so deep into what has been recorded and captured by the mics and ADC used at the recording sessions that it I prefer it both over my Benchmark HGC DAC 2 and over my SCD-2 SACD player on some of the very best recordings.
This weekend I have played some of my old favourites from the early days when companies like BIS Channel Classics Pentatone and LSO LIVE all recorded in DSD.
And not only am I happily surprised how good most of them still sound via my electrostatic speakers both on SACD and where I have the downloads to compare with.
I am a bit embarrased to have to admit after all the vitriole I have hurled at the dry acoustic of the Barbican, not only that Falstaff sounds absolutely fantastic,timbrally and tonally, in its SACD form, in spite of the less than perfect acoustics.
But also that Colin Davis's Sibelius sounds really good BOTH on SACD and now as DSD downloads.
SACD both was and is good,especially where natively record in DSD imho.
DSD 64 is,good as it is,not perfect.There are sometimes audible problems like HF noise that intrudes.
And resolution is not as high as it is with higher rates.
SACD is probably forever, limited to DSD 64 the same way rbcd is limited to 16/44.1.
But things are changing rapidly.Some labels have recorded in DXD or higher DSD rates for several years. And in a couple of years we will see many more DSD 128 and DSD 256 recordings as downloads. Neither SACD nor Bluray will be used for much longer by most classical labels. Both are stuck where they are in capacity.
For the masses that don't care about SQ there will still be some rbcds I guess.
The future for the highest possible quality classical recordings lies in DXD PCM probably even up to 32 bits 768 khz and higher DSD rates.
Some labels are already beginning to release DSD 128 and DSD 256 masters.
I would guess that in a few years most labels that record in DSD will be doing so at 256 or even DSD 512 and release as downloads only.
I have NOT got anything against SACD as such,I have several hundred of them.
And if at the final count-down for SACD,they become as dirt cheap as some rbcds are now.
I might even buy some again.
Just as I still do with LPs.
But the reasons I got my latest but not last DAC,HUGO was that it is so far the one that gets me closest to what I heard in the studio at sessions I have been to.
I also know that Jared Sacks who records in DSD not only has started doing so at 256 but also that he preferred HUGO over several much more expensive DSD DACS, with some of his own recordings like his excellent Mahler 9.
And both Soundmirror and take Five Productions do their current sessions at DSD 256.
SACD was fantastic compared to rbcd imo.
Finally after all those lost years of rbcd, SACD made recorded music actually sound like music. But progress is inevitable and I for one want to take full advantage of it.
Time to move on!
My next DAC will be one that plays DSD 256 and maybe even PCM 32/768.
Having said all this,I will now return to my recliner to listen to BIS's SACD-1509 CHINESE RHAPSODY GE GAN RU, recorded in 2003,which not only sounds great via my SCD-2 but is also contains some really great music, well off the beaten track.
Cheers Chris
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Post by Johnno July 20, 2015 (55 of 56)
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Chris said:
Good to hear,
I haven't bought any new SACDs for several years but lots of hi res downloads and quite a few DSD downloads too, from Pentatone.
I will definitely get some of the DGG Boston Symphony releases when they become available as DSD downloads.
Is there any chance that you will be able to licence any of the many classical Quad EMI's
like KARAJAN'S IN SOME CASES, STILL UNRIVALLED OPERA RECORDINGS FOR EMI?
PS I might perhaps add that my Pentone DSD downloads have not been directly from Pentatone. I still don't understand why you decided to offer isos instead of dsf or dff files.
Hi Chris,
Where do you download your DSD files from? Sadly one US supplier I deal with and who has a number of DSD64 and DSD128 albums available will not allow me in New Zealand to download them - or, indeed, any PCM formats either.
I believe the average DSD64 album is about 3 GHz in size while a DSD128 one is roughly twice that. Clearly a reasonably fast broadband connection is required to keep the download time to a reasonable figure.
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Post by Chris July 21, 2015 (56 of 56)
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Johnno said:
Hi Chris,
Where do you download your DSD files from? Sadly one US supplier I deal with and who has a number of DSD64 and DSD128 albums available will not allow me in New Zealand to download them - or, indeed, any PCM formats either.
I believe the average DSD64 album is about 3 GHz in size while a DSD128 one is roughly twice that. Clearly a reasonably fast broadband connection is required to keep the download time to a reasonable figure.
I download almost all of my DSD albums from native dsd.com .But large file size zips can be a problem via slow connections.
But where I have had problems while travelling they have been very helpful and have split large zips into two smaller ones.
They have apart from several hundred titles from Channel Classics in DSD 64, also almost 100 Pentatones, Challenge Classics and Harmonia Mundis and LSO LIVE and Mariinsky and a growing number of DSD 128 DSD 256 and even binaural titles for download.
Some ten new titles seem to be added every week. More than 600 DSD titles this week.
I don't think they have any regional restrictions like for example the German site Highresaudio which can be a PIA. They are full of restrictions and I rarely use them these days.
For PCM downloads I mainly use eClassical and Qobuz.
There are no restrictions at eClassical as far as I know.
And new BIS titles are offered at the same price as mp3 for about a week. This week´s special offer Bruch's 2nd violin concerto was 8 Dollars and 95 cents if I remember correctly. But sometimes Qobuz are even cheaper on some stuff.
Regarding their regional restrictions send them an email and they will sort things out for you.
Cheers Chris
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