Ever since last fall when Sony made the announcement that they would start releasing hi quality music files, DSD, I have been waiting with great anticipation to get those. Acoustic Sounds (and other online retailers) followed-up immediately with their own announcements that much more DSD content was on its way.... What happened? I check every several days hoping to fine loads of new DSD files available on AS and other stores; so far, I am not seeing them. Yes, there are a few decent DSD titles out there, but so far it has been a big let down. What went wrong?
I've been hearing about high-res downloads and easy to use servers to play them that are "just around the corner" for about 20 years now. I hope that Sony will come through, but I advise patience and waiting till the goods are available before buying in.
SACD/DSD was a colossal failure in terms of mainstream acceptance. It wasn't the quantum leap leap in performance for people who had HTIB systems or weened on mp3s. Sony is notorious for dropping failed venures like hot potatoes...Beta anyone?
Sony is the next Kodak. They need to get their heads out of their arses. There's just no money in it for anyone. There's too many music lovers that are just as happy to listen to music on an alarm clock than a hifi.
They stuck with Betamax for a pretty good while. But the quality of VHS rose, plus it was accepted in ridiculously high numbers. There was no where to go with Beta.
"Where is All the DSD" and another topic here in the music category " Which High Res release worth buying ?" A bit light with contributors since 2011, Yet topics over hardware are quite popular..., I'm confused
Stickman - you have a nice vinyl setup and Klipshorns. Very cool. Just buy yourself a near-mint copy of the Butterfield Blues Band Live and turn it up. You'll forget about this (yet another) latest and greatest thing.
Agreed on Sony's availability. I guess it depends on what kind of music you want to listen to. There are on-line DSD download sites now. Acoustic Sounds has 280 DSD albums for download, and there are others - Channel Classics, Blue Coast Records, etc. Mostly jazz and classical. If you're into that kind of music, you could easily build a library of 500+ DSD albums via download, and growing...
Yep, as usual, they want to charge us too much for the same music again... How many times do we have to pay the record companies for a copy of our favorite album(s) which we bought on plain classic vinyl, then on cassette for the car, then on "Perfect Sound Forever", then on MFSL re-mastered vinyl, then on half-speed remasted vinyl, then on heavy-weight 200 gr vinyl, then on 45-speed heavy 200 gr vinyl, then on 256k MP3 so it would fit on our iPod, then downloaded in 44/16 PCM, then on 96/24 PCM, and then on 64 DSD (which sounds pretty good to my ears)....
When Acouustic Sounds has 25,000 DSD titles I will get excited... Let's just hope that they don't raise the price above the $25 -$28 range which is already EXTREMELY high for a computer file with NO liner notes, no song lyrics, and nothing to hold in your hand and look at....
I think we all understand that music companies and retailers are in business to make money. It is hard to say where this hi rez thing is headed. In some ways, the high prices and poor selection of music closely parallels the early days of CD. On the other hand, I think those attempting to create a market for this material, need to understand they can price themselves out of business. I recently bought a Sony HAPZ1, which I understand was released for the purpose of supporting Sony's Hi Rez download initiative. I am astonished at how good red book CDs, copied to my computer, then downloaded to the HAPZ1, where they are converted on the fly to DSD 2, can sound. I buy a fair number of discount CDs from Berkshire and used CDs from amazon. I am a dedicated music lover and audiophile, but we are talking 4-5 x the price for a DSD download. I will buy a few, just to see what sound quality can be expected, but as Stickman points out, there is not much to get excited about just yet.
Brownsfan, I have always questioned the record industry regarding their marketing strategy. Long gone are the days of the big recording contracts and unlimited budgets for recording sessions. It's become a distributed model where there are multiple independents and artists taking control of the product.
If Sony and others really wanted to push DSD, they would slash the price of the downloads to get more users excited about the sound to draw the masses to the technology. Otherwise, this will limp along like all the other format changes. At this point I'm pretty happy with my vinyl, CD's and SACD's.
The reality of this promising format is not too exciting so far, is it? My vinyl keeps me satisfied. But DSD could be such a cool thing for music lovers (as opposed to gear lovers).
Echoing a number of the above posts, I'm very disappointed with hi-res music download offerings. Not just DSD, but also 24/96/196. I'm NOT going to pay HD Tracks 25 bucks for a 24/196 copy of Bayou Country by Credence. Love the album, but not the price. I didn't buy into SACD either because of the high price point. As many others have said, mainstream adoption of hi-res will not happen if prices remain this high. And catch 22, the selection will remain poor unless wider adoption occurs. Ay, there's the rub. If Sony would just step up to the plate and belt out a nice barrage of reasonably priced downloads, then I think a flame could potentially spark up, even with the twenty somethings. (wishful thinking) But for now, I'm content with playing my Redbook CD's through a good DAC and playing whatever decent vinyl I have.
I'm not sure that dropping the price of hi-rez downloads would be a good business strategy for Sony. If Sony has closely studied the market for this product (and you can be 100% sure that they have), it's entirely possible that they've concluded that the market is small and mostly price insensitive. IOW, most prospective download purchasers don't care about SQ and those who do care aren't too concerned with price. (Bearing in mind here that we're talking about mass purchases, not the Audiogon community.) Would it surprise you if that were the case?
I live in LA and am friendly with several record company execs. Trust me, it's a tough gig. These people are smart, dedicated and clearly love music. They need to make a buck to keep their jobs and they're obviously doing what they can.
To me, the biggest issue is that digital distribution has devalued content. The critical mass of buyers today is not willing to pay for music in the way that the critical mass in the past was. People want their content fast and cheap and SQ is low on their list of priorities.
Oddly, Don Jr's comment re: Kodak may be quite true, if not quite in the way it was intended. When the total $ spent on photo finishing (Kodak's bread and butter) dropped like a rock in the wake of digital alternatives, the company collapsed. If they didn't have such a massive investment in physical plant that suddenly was worth pennies on the dollar, Kodak might have survived as a small boutiquey company, but that's probably best case.
Sometimes, technology kills (or, at least, maims) entire industries and I suspect that that's what's happening in the recording industry today. Just MHO.
Unfortunate, but probably mostly true. As I said, wishful thinking. Tech can certainly be disruptive in many ways, and not always for the better. Despite its obvious advantages, photography has in a sense also been devalued by digital.
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