XXHighEnd

Ultimate Audio Playback => Interesting Music / Testmaterial => Topic started by: soundcheck on June 18, 2007, 01:57:40 pm



Title: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: soundcheck on June 18, 2007, 01:57:40 pm
Hi folks.

You might want to have a look at linnrecords.com

There is a good chance that the offered 24/96 master-quality-material will lift audio quality further up!

http://www.linnrecords.com/index.aspx

I think its worth a try. What do you think?

Cheers
Klaus


Title: Re: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: PeterSt on June 18, 2007, 03:41:04 pm
Quote
There is a good chance that the offered 24/96 master-quality-material will lift audio quality further up!

You say it with some ease ... to my understanding these are REAL masters, hence the digital files used to burn the CDs (wrong, SACDs). So this is very important I think.

A bit of a pity is that my DAC doesn't do 24 bits (nor yours I think :)). Okay, more or less "decent" converting to 16 bits is possible of course but it would be such a pity ...

IMHO this should be better than SACD (where the masters were made for, as they explained themselves).

Nice find !




Title: Re: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: soundcheck on June 18, 2007, 05:37:37 pm


I am thinking to convert it by myself to 16/48. From 96 to 48 shouldn't be a big problem.
It should still be better than the detour over a redbook CD.
I've seen that certain files are available in e.g. 88.1 instead of 96.
That pretty much seems to proove that they are using the originals.

Now I need to find the best converter for doing the job.

Cheers
Klaus


Title: Re: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: Leo on June 18, 2007, 06:33:38 pm
I'll try it tonight with the Linn testfile in FLAC (decoded to wav) in masterquality using my 24/96 dac :grin:

Leo


Title: Re: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: PeterSt on June 18, 2007, 07:20:54 pm
Now I need to find the best converter for doing the job.

Hahaha, so now I need to DOWNsample as well ... never thought of that ...

Note though that Vista will do it for you when you tell the device it can do 48K 16bit only ... (but I don't know about the quality).
Supposed #3 is running at some time ... now do NOT use that, because it just will avoid the Vista DOWNsampling ...  :prankster:


Title: Re: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: soundcheck on June 18, 2007, 09:38:01 pm

You know my philosophy. If downsampling/upsampling than I am doing it offline. No conversion during realtime- playback. ;)

BTW. Did you consider that you might need to add dither while converting 24/16. ;)
You need to find the converter with the best dithering method.

Cheers.
Klaus


Title: Re: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: Leo on June 19, 2007, 08:58:48 am
Well I tried the Linn testfile, it would not produce sound with  XX and said that it was 88.2kHz. The cursor moved however with the 8 second music test bit. The testtone wouldn't move.

However, being from heretic Dutch stock I tried the Linn file with F**bar. Well, what to say, frankly it was the best F**bar I ever heart. For all 8 seconds of it, in repeat mode.

If Peter would consider to stretch XX unto 24/96 files, I would probably order a lot of music from Linn. And perhaps that would encourage other high end software providers like PentaTone. And then of course we would have nos 24/96 DAC's to go with it.
Have to go and talk with my bank...


Title: Re: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: PeterSt on June 19, 2007, 09:49:34 am
Hmm ... that XX won't play them was already known, although I already forgot about it ( http://forum.bd-design.nl/board_entry.php?id=14043 ).

As far as I have seen, it may be so that #1 and #2 will never be able to do it, because it should work and it does not (thus, out of my control). I am sure though that #3 will do it, BUT, that most probably needs my attention in a few areas.

As you know I am currently working on #3 itself, and right after it's working at "your" places I must make availbe an unrestricted version.  :)
So there's some priorities. :yes:


Title: Re: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: Leo on June 19, 2007, 01:07:32 pm
I am a bit confused about the sample rate. They are promoted as 24/96, but in the answer about the production Linn states it is recorded at  88.2. Or am I missing one or two points here ?


Title: Re: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: PeterSt on June 19, 2007, 01:15:54 pm
Sidenote : Leo, parallel to your last post, I split the topic (to http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=72.0 ).

Yes, it might look confusing. But if you dive into what they sell (like this list at the bottom here : http://www.linnrecords.com/linn-downloads-what.aspx ) you see that they just sell 88K2 as well. The post from Klaus I just moved (see above) explains it I think.
Also note that SACD would be about 96K, whereas CD is about 44K1. Thus, for good quality and with the CD in mind, they recorded at 88K2 (just allowing simple division by two (yes, including dithering)).

Peter


Title: Re: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: Flecko on July 09, 2007, 03:53:57 pm
Hi All,
i have thrown an ear on this releases and think it is great. It is the way to go. As I made experience with DVD-A I recognised the first time that we are listening to "lousy" records. The strong copyprotection made it impossible to use it with spdif, so I stoped buying DVD-A. With these files from linn it is easy to get good quality recordings on our pc's. I like to encourage everyone to try these files and compare CD quality to studio master quality . You don't need a high-end dac to hear the difference, but then you can imagine how it will sound on a highend dac. here is a link to a true 24/96 record. http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-bartok---kodaly-sacd.aspx (http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-bartok---kodaly-sacd.aspx) I listened to track 3, watch the drum at the end of the demo! In CD-Q boring, with SM-Q great!
Greetings Adrian


Title: Re: Linn Records 24/96 master material available for download
Post by: PeterSt on November 19, 2007, 11:13:18 am
Here's another one : http://itrax.com/Pages/LearnMore.php