Reference Recordings "WAV" files....


Does the fact Reference are "now" releasing "master tape" quality files mean that we can expect more of the same from other labels?
psacanli

I have been converting my flac files to WAV for some albums, enjoy the better sound.  Will be interesting to hear if there is still a benefit when my diRectstream MKII arrives later this month, fed via USB rather than the the EtherRegen I used  with my MK1.   

Clarification-I haven't seen any dacs with a 384 input sample rate, only 384kHz dacs. But it appears the I2S interface handles 384...
Psacanli: At the moment, I won't. I wasn't kidding -- my DAC doesn't accept a 176.4 signal, and my Empirical Audio USB interface doesn't either. If your dac takes a 176.4 sigal (many take anything up to 192), then you're OK. Or like Alex said, you can rip a DVD and play it on your DVD player.

How to proceed from here, and be safe for a while, is a good question. It's complicated. Although many recordings are made at 96, as you've pointed out things are moving forward. Not only do you need a dac that accepts 44.1 (CD)/88.2 (Linn)/96 (DVD etc.)/176.4 (Ref Recordings)/192 (HD audio)/..., you also need a dac that has the right kind of input connections (SACD, 24/192 PCM, HD audio) and might need to handle DRM. Also, you need to get the signal into the dac with as little jitter as possible. Low and mid-fi receivers (like my Denon 4308) can handle all these formats and connections, but I haven't seen any high-end stand-alone dacs that can. We'll probably see more dacs with all the right features in a year to two.

I've heard that HDMI 1.3 has relatively poor jitter. Too bad. Otherwise it would be great connection on a DAC: supports all current formats (including SACD, uncompressed 7.1 channel 24/192 PCM, the new HD formats like Dolby-HD, etc.) and DRM issues.

Since reading your initial post, I've been looking at DACs that take 192 and 384kHz signals.
You may be able to load the raw WAV files to a PC and then master a DAD (LPCM) with Disc Welder. At least this is what I am planning on doing so I can spin them on my universal player (any DVD player can read DAD). I hope a regular DVD-R will have enough capacity for uncompressed files of the entire album at 176.4/24. Otherwise 2 DVD-Rs would be necessary. You can always use MLP encoder, but that thing is quite expensive software.

Regards,
Alex
Linn now offers hi rez downloads. I've only bought there Messiah so far, but it's great.

Dave
That is interesting. Only a matter of time before more producers offer higher and higher rez recordings for download. Equipment makers should embrace PC-based audio, because as bit depths and sample rates increase, we'll need to keep upgrading our DACs to keep up. The RR files are 24-bit/176.4KHz. Looks like my 96KHz Meitner just became obsolete...
You have a link?...I don't see any mention of "WAV" file downloads at their site?

Dave