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Is HDtracks really selling you Hi-Rez music?

I just purchased Santana Abraxas in 176KHz 24 bit resolution from HDTracks that has just been released this week. It was uploaded in AIFF format.

I purchased the 1998 remastered CD which I uploaded in AIFF format in ITunes for comparison and what a disappointment the HDTracks download was. I could not hear any difference between the 2 versions. Seems that the original master tape was not of great quality to start with. I had the same experience with Beach House 'Bloom' hi-rez download for which I previously purchased the CD version as well.

On the other hand I downloaded great hi-Rez albums from HDTracks which were like having the original master under hand. A good example is Kenny Burrell's 'Midnigth Blue' hi-Rez download that just kills the remastered CD version.

It would be great if HDTracks would publish purchaser's review of their downloads like Amazon.com. This would avoid audiophiles paying top dollars for poor quality downloads. I am really annoyed and feel I was screwed by HDTracks! Any similar experiments?
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Showing 1 response by rlwainwright

rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
HDTracks has been known to distribute re-sampled tunes that offer no benefit over the original plain old Redbook copy.

I have a copy of Abraxas on CD that was done using SuperBit Mastering and it sounds very good.

You might want to seek out the SuperBit version. There is also a DVD-A version, which I have, and it sounds terrific, too....

-RW-
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