[Audio Empire]

On Sun, 24 Jul 2011 14:47:43 -0700, Gary Eickmeier wrote
(in article ):

"Audio Empire" wrote in message
...
Has anybody a comment on how come nobody noticed, by listening (it was
found, apparently accidentally, by someone who was looking at the
frequency
distribution of some of the files he'd downloaded), that HDTracks and
other
web-based music selling services were (inadvertently?) selling up-sampled
16-bit/44.1 KHz material as "hi-rez" downloads and charging $20-$30 an
album
for them? Could it be that there is no AUDIBLE difference between
16-bit/44.KHz material and so called hi-rez as was found by Meyer and
Moran
in their notorius ABX study of DSD, and that's why the fraud supposedly
went
unnoticed even by the people selling the music files?

It works kind of like religion. They talk a big game, but when it comes down
to actually being able to hear these things, game over. The only real
advantage that there could be from the new formats would be the more careful
mastering of originals, or producing new recordings in good surround sound.

While I agree, it's sort of irrelevant to the point. They are selling
upsampled 16-bit/44.1 Khz "CD masters" as true 24-bit/96 KHz. Doesn't matter
that hi-rez really does nothing sound-wise, what matters is that those who
are giving up their money for 24/96 aren't getting what they are paying for
and that's, at the very least immoral, and at worst, illegal. It's not like
selling $4000 interconnects because when you buy those, you are actually
getting expensive wire and expensive connectors. That there is no difference,
sonically, between the expensive wires and some cheap ones is neither here
nor there. With wires you are getting a product that is as advertised for
your money. With the downloads you are paying for hi-rez and getting
regular-rez masquerading as hi-rez. That's like paying $250 grand for a
Ferrari only to find that what you have purchased is the chassis from an old
Mustang with fiberglass body on it that merely LOOKS LIKE a Ferrari. On the
surface, at first glance, it looks like you are driving a Ferrari, but you
aren't even though the the mustang running gear might provide similar
performance.