Ok, so now I have the ultimate DAC, the PS Audio DSD. The question now becomes, where is the best place to download music? HDtracks is high on my list. A friend of mine swears that iTunes offers high quality downloads (although after reading through some of what iTunes has to say about said downloads it seems to be more marketing vagueness than specifics). So who do you use? Do you use more than one source for your downloads, and if so why?
Fortunately, there are a number of resources out there. An article at http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/the-abcs-of-dsd-downloads/ describes and lists several resources, so you might find that of interest. There’s also a good list from last year at http://dsd-guide.com/where-can-you-find-dsd-music-downloads.
Here are just a few sites that come to mind. I’m sure that others here will happily provide even more suggestions. 
- http://bluecoastrecords.com/
- http://downloadsnow.net/
- http://www.2l.no/
- http://www.davidelias.com/
- https://www.nativedsd.com/
- http://www.pentatonemusic.com/
- http://store.acousticsounds.com/
SF has given you just about everything that’s out there for DSD. I am particularly excited about nativedsd.com, since you know that anything for sale here is not some upsampled PCM, and they have a bunch more labels coming on line. Acoustic Sounds also seems pretty transparent about the sources of their albums; I bought the DSD version of “Tea for the Tillerman” and I hear also sorts of things I never got from this album before. If you like Mahler, you should get at least one of the San Francisco Symphony’s recordings; they are amazing, expensive but worth it.
You can add to the list http://www.highdeftapetransfers.com (mostly classical), some DSD and more PCM.
In another thread, Al Rainbow recommended the Opus3 DSD samplers. I got the third one and it’s terrific (and cheap by DSD standards).
As far as I can see, HDtracks.com still is not offering DSD.
For PCM downloads, check out eClassical.com (if you like classical music, that is); excellent selection, fair prices, discounts on new releases. Also Linn records has both pop and classical; the ones I’ve tried have been excellent.
When iTunes talks about hi-res, I think they mean “higher than the lossy compressed mp3 files that we’ve been selling for years” which is not what most folks here think of as hi-res.
Enjoy!! My DS arrives tomorrow
.
There have been periodic rumors that iTunes will offer high res downloads. Supposedly they ask the labels to provide 96/24 files which they then down-sample to 256k AACs so in theory they already have a lot of high res on hand (no idea if this is true). To date, all rumors have proved false. As far as I know, they do not currently even offer any red book downloads. I don’t think their iDevices are capable of handling anything over 48kHz. If the next iPhones or iPads can deal with high res, that might be a tip off. I’m not holding my breath.
I’d be wary of any download site that can’t describe the provenance of the recording.
HDTracks for example likes to simply say “whatever the record company gives us”.
Spectral analysis has shown many of their “high rez” downloads to be nothing but up-sampled CD quality recordings, which they still charge a premium for.
Some of the better shops like Blue Coast Records will tell you exactly where the recordings come from, because they do them themselves, or they get a clear description from the source.
Do your research before you buy!
Lonely Raven said+1. There is a forum on computeraudiophile.com where there are many examples of so called high res files being shown as up-sampled RBCD.I’d be wary of any download site that can’t describe the provenance of the recording.
HDTracks for example likes to simply say “whatever the record company gives us”.
Spectral analysis has shown many of their “high rez” downloads to be nothing but up-sampled CD quality recordings, which they still charge a premium for.
Some of the better shops like Blue Coast Records will tell you exactly where the recordings come from, because they do them themselves, or they get a clear description from the source.
Do your research before you buy!
CD Baby is offering now 44/16 downloads on some of their music. cdbaby.com
I’ve used these. Some cause I could not find a lossless version of a particular piece anywhere else.
- https://bleep.com/downloads
- http://cedillerecords.org/music/index.php
- http://www.eclassical.com
- https://www.hdtracks.com
- http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk
- http://www.linnrecords.com/catalogue.aspx
- http://www.nmcshop.co.uk
- http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Ondine/ODE7512
- http://www.soundliaison.com/all-our-products
- http://sunnysidezone.com/album/ghosts-of-the-sun
- http://www.theclassicalshop.net/24bit.aspx
- https://archive.org/details/audio
I’m interested to this new platform: www.primephonic.com
They have classical music collections from big labels.
Welcome, gclef!
I love the avatar name. Few will know what it means - but will now look it up.
I played trombone so I surely don’t know what it is. 
At least not until you got really good.
Helmut said https://www.promates.com/music-store/Funny.
i got an email out of the blue from them this week.
@gordon
So I feel we have the same source.
Hi DXD DAC dealers.
Please check out: http://www.stereophile.com/
Also, I have removed references to TEAC from my site.
Best regards,
Peter
It’s a good thing hard drives keep getting bigger. Seagate recently announced it will be shipping Archive series drives starting next month–at around $270 for an 8TB internal drive (the largest model). Don’t know how suitable they are for music (Seagate does not recommend using them in NAS applications).
Peter Scheelke from Promates.com will be posting some “teaser” files next week for our Christmas enjoyment.
Have fun listening and take a peek at his web site and music collection. https://www.promates.com/music-store/
Hi Guys
Hereby 4 x 1 min. teasers of very different music in DXD.
These links are enough to demonstrate the superiority of Your equipment, and you can also compare the quality with similar music that you already have. It is a Christmas gift to you from Promates. These links will disappear on December 31
http://d2kh9l2wyohf4w.cloudfront.net/DXD_%20demo/Corelli.flac
http://d2kh9l2wyohf4w.cloudfront.net/DXD_%20demo/Carl%20Nielsen%204.flac
http://d2kh9l2wyohf4w.cloudfront.net/DXD_%20demo/The%20Percussion%20Universe.flac
http://d2kh9l2wyohf4w.cloudfront.net/DXD_%20demo/A%20Bridge%20of%20Dreams.flac
Enjoy
Peter Scheelke
https://www.promates.com/music-store/
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The Naim Label has got some good sounding downloads; http://www.naimlabel.com/ 
The Sound Liaison label is my favorite at the moment.
Small label but very big on quality; http://www.soundliaison.com/ 
and Reference Recordings downloads on HDtracks;http://www.hdtracks.com/ 