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Saturday, January 22, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
HDtracks
I've decided to give HDtracks a try. Since I wan't looking for anything in particular, I started with the top 25 best sellers section. In third position is "Jazz side of the moon, the music of Pink Floyd". Sounds cheesy but the critics on Amazon are good and this youtube sample is not bad at all. Intriguing. This will be the first album I buy on HDtracks.
This is an example of an album available at the highest quality: 192khz/24bit. In this case, you have the choice of three levels of quality (and price):
- 192khz/24bit FLAC files for 26.96$, separate tracks for 2.98$
- 96khz/24bit FLAC files for 17.98$, separate tracks for 2.49$
- Regular CD format 44.1khz/16bit AIFF or FLAC files for 11.98$, separate tracks for 1.49$
The checkout process is painless. You can select to pay by credit card or PayPal. [I choose PayPal]
One the payment is completed, the browser redirects to a page where a Download Manager is automatically downloaded on my computer. It uses Java, so I guess it's the only software requirement. Once started, you need to enter your HDtracks user/password before the download can start.
The download manager has a limited interface, there's not a lot of information available. The size of the download don't even shows.
The download was a whooping 2.46GB, every 192khz FLAC file weight about 300MB. That's a lot of data!
In addition to the audio files, HDtracks provide a PDF of the entire CD booklet and a small JPEG of the album cover.
It's now time to listen. In a follow-up post I'll detail how to listen to 192khz on a Mac computer.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Yeasayer - Live at Ancienne Belgique
There's a good critic of the new Yeasayer release on Pitchfork today. The live album is available for download on their website for a "name your price" amount. You can get it for free or you can pay either 0.99$, 2.99$, 4.99$, 7.99$ or 9.99$. You decide. Available in FLAC or Apple Lossless.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Girl Talk - All Day
Today in the New York Times magazine there is an article about Girl Talk. His most recent album, All day, is available for free on his label website, Illegal Art. You can download the 484MB FLAC format here in either one big song or in separate tracks.
Two CD players for your lossless collection
It's 2011, and while nothing really happened on the lossless audio front, I should still make an effort to keep the blog alive. You knows, maybe this year we will be able to buy lossless music on the iTunes store!
In the meantime, here's two great CD players with a nice twist: a digital input. You can use their high-end DAC chip to listen to your lossless music stored on your computer, while still being able to enjoy a CD once in a while with the same device.
NAD C565BEE
As I've always own british music gear (Part of my current setup are a Creek amplifier and a Rega turntable), the NAD C565BEE is certainly on the radar for 2011. It features a Wolfson WM8741 DAC chip compatible with sample rates up to 192khz (/24bit). It has 2 inputs: a optical SPDIF and a USB connector for USB memory sticks. The optical input is more practical in my opinion as you can directly connect a computer (every Macs have an optical output) or an Apple Airport Express wireless router (with Airplay).
The retail price of this CD player is 799$. Spearit sound also sells refurbished units for 599$. The canadian retail price is 1000$.
Marantz SA8004
The SA8004 CD player has just been released and has about the same specifications of the previous SA8003 model. The DAC chip is a Cirrus Logic CS4398, a chip on the same level of performance as the NAD's WM8741. The chip might be about the same, but the Marantz features more input options: an optical SDPIF, a coaxial and 2 USB connectors. The USB connector on the front is used for memory sticks but what's nice is the USB on the back is used to connect the player to a computer.
The retail price is 999$ (Amazon). 1199$ in Canada.
A friend of mine own this CD player and he is very satisfied with the performance of the unit.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The BQE
Good news! Asthmatic Kitty Records is offering a voucher to download the FLAC digital version of a vinyl album. In this case, I had the opportunity to grab Sufjan Stevens' The BQE.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Christophe, je suis collabo et terroriste
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