Golden-eared music lovers in search of the acoustic holy grail have a new online haven for high resolution sound.
Audiophile music retailer Acoustic Sounds today opens Super HiRez (www.superhirez.com), an online site that is the first to offer high resolution downloads produced using Direct Stream Digital, the same technology used to make Super Audio CDs.
The Super Audio CD (SACD) format, launched in 1999, remains popular with some uncompromising music lovers. Acoustic Sounds, which opened in 1986 in Salina, Kans., has grown from a specialty vinyl LP pressing facility to a global seller of albums, SACDs and other high resolution audio discs.
“We sell more SACDs than anyone else in the world,” says founder Chad Kassem. “It’s closer to the sound of a vinyl analog (album). Our customers like the warm sound … (and) are begging for DSD (Direct Stream Digital) downloads.”
Just more than a decade ago, SACD and DVD-Audio were two competing disc formats that aimed to match the richness of music on vinyl by capturing more digital data from the original master recording. The Direct Stream Digital (DSD) process used in making SACDs – and the new downloads now available from Acoustic Sounds – offers 64 times the resolution of audio CDs and an improvement over lower resolution formats such as MP3.
The first DSD downloadable albums on SuperHiRez.com will include A Love Supreme by John Coltrane, August and Everything After by Counting Crows, Come Away with Me by Norah Jones, Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens and Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits. (Prices are about $25 per album.)
Norah Jones performs during the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas on Saturday, March 17, 2012. Several of her albums are now available as high-resolution downloads.(Photo: Jack Plunkett, Associated Press)
Acoustic Sounds, which is in talks with major labels to license mainstream music and has already closed a deal with Universal Music Group, expects to have between 30 and 40 titles in multiple formats at launch with more to come very soon.
They hope that higher fidelity downloads can capture a portion of the growing digital music market, which accounts for more than half of total recorded music spending estimated to surpass $8 billion in 2017, according to Strategy Analytics.
“To date we’ve resisted downloads because there was too much quality sacrificed,” says company COO Marc Sheforgen. “But now, finally, the technology is available where the customer can enjoy an alternative to iTunes and finally enjoy the convenience of downloads without sacrificing any of the quality. In fact, they can enjoy the highest quality.”
It’s not quite as easy to play the new high-res downloads as it is iTunes tracks, so the SuperHiRez site has a tutorial for customers. Downloads can be played on Windows and Macintosh computers using compatible playback software. Using a digital-to-analog converter, the output can be connected to a home stereo, too. Most consumers will probably use a PC that’s designated as a music server that can have additional external storage drives.
“One of the big goals of our service will be to demystify the whole experience of downloading and enjoying high-res music,” Sheforgen says. “We aim to make it obvious and simple and clean for somebody to come to the site to understand what the steps are.”
With access to the site before its official opening, I purchased and downloaded a copy of Norah Jones’ album Little Broken Hearts. Then, I unzipped the file (about 1.7 Gigabytes) and moved the album and to a 16GB USB memory stick. I plugged that into the Oppo Universal Disc Player‘s USB input and was able to access the songs. Compared to the standard CD, the DSD download had richer sound — and much more warmth than the portable version on my iPod.
Embracing digital downloads is a big step for Kassen, who began Acoustic Sounds as a vinyl LP store at his home. The business expanded into reissuing high-quality LPs and new releases recorded at its own studio. Two years ago, Acoustic Sounds began pressing its own Quality Record Pressings releases on high-quality vinyl.
High-res DSD downloads are “a big breakthrough for people that are interested in still having the flexibility that downloads provide, but want to stay married to the highest-end listening experience,” Kassem says. “We want to be on top of the oldest technology and the newest and have it all at the highest quality possible.”
That helps customers with their quest for the best musical reproductions at home. “Their goal,” Kassem says, “is to have Cat Stevens playing in their living room.”
Screen grab of the SuperHiRez.com website where Acoustic Sounds sells high-res music downloads.(Photo: Acoustic Sounds)