Just went to buy something and see that Octave downloads have gone up from $19 to $29. I didn’t recall this being announced anywhere. I did see an email that said the price of DSDs dropped, but nothing about the downloads upping. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to sell recordings, but $29 for a download is pretty high even these days.
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You’ve made a excellent point!
I like to think my Octave Recordings purchases help to finance the whole Octave “program” in some, small way.
FWIW.
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I agree, and I’m embarrassed to be such a tightwad. I guess because $19 is closer to what I’d pay on HDTracks, High-Definition Tape Transfers, or bigger labels, I was more likely to buy something from Octave. I also listen to music not just for its audio quality but its level of musicality. On the “audio” side, I’ll return to my Octave recordings from time-to-time, but their musicianship “hit rate” for my own tastes has not been the highest. I’m not saying never again over ten extra bucks, just saying it won’t be quite as easy for me to justify.
Full disclosure, I only buy SACDs so I feel like the value proposition is good.
I can understand some hesitancy in paying $29.00 for a file, especially if you don’t care for the music.
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And to my ears, streaming, which costs me about $125 per year, is every bit as good as other hi-res formats. Yeah, I know, I’m not listening hard enough or don’t have a good enough system. But I DO hear the quality of Octave recordings compared to most others, and I do like supporting that. And don’t get me wrong - I “care” for probably the widest range of music of anyone I know, so it’s not like any of the Octave recordings I’ve purchased stank in my opinion, just not too many that are in the top-100.
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Yeah, I saw that, being a Qobuzer myself. But as I was just telling @scotte1, I’ve gotten to where most times I can’t hear any difference between what I’d stream from Qobuz vs. download. Anything above 96/24 is lost on me. I guess I kind of suck as an audiophile .
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I’m likely considered a fool by some because 24/96 is typically my parameter for purchases.
I have a few HDTT albums and I didn’t get DSD files.
Part of the reason for this thread IS HDTT. They charge less for downloads as the res’s go down.
’m likely considered a fool by some because 24/96 is typically my parameter for purchases
Then I guess you and I are failures when it comes to sound. But I have to be honest that I can clearly tell the difference between recordings when it comes to things like presence and soundstage and realism. But if you were to blindfold me and play a 24/96 and an 18/44 with no volume change on my system, I probably couldn’t tell the difference. I listened to lossy formats for years on a good system. Now that I have a dedicated listening room and some better equipment, and a bit more listening experience and focus, I might be able to hear differences there, but still not entirely sure. My guess is that I’m not the only one around here who just goes for the higher res just in case there’s a difference.
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I only purchase DSD256 from Octave, and the price actually went down from before; I like that.
When I play Qobuz purchased files through internal SSD, they sounded better than from streaming now. In the past when I played the same files from external SSD, there was no difference from streaming. That caused me to buy more files🙁 Now QOBUZ offers DSD, I predict I will download more in future.
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Great to hear the feedback above. Also good to know i have a lot of company in the “failed audiophile club” hmmm. The FAC club. Good ring to it.
Anyway my first DSD may be my last but i guess i should go for a recommend 256 just to be sure.
However great to know streaming is really my end game.
Yes indeed, very proud to be a FAC-er.
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When I play Qobuz purchased files through internal SSD, they sounded better than from streaming now
I admitted earlier that I can’t tell the difference between downloaded files and streaming. But I have to admit that when I am really serious about something that I know I want to hear every detail possible, I download it and play it as a digital file. Probably more along the lines of “just making sure” than anything else, but why risk it? And at least I know if the US economy goes to hell in a handbasket - as everyone on both sides is sure will happen - as long as I have power, I can still play my digital files.
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$29 for a DSD512 or even a DSD256 is reasonable, but as resolution goes down so should the price. I recall the announcement that DSD256 was lowered in price, but I must have missed the increase in price for lower resolutions. In defense of PS Audio, all of these recordings are made at DSD256 (or is it DSD512? They keep upping the bar) so the lower resolutions actually require more work. That extra work, in my opinion, is minimal and it would be in Octave’s best interest to lower the price as resolution decreases as an entry point for those who don’t want to spend more or can’t play the higher resolution files. Maybe @Paul or @JessicaCarson will comment on this.
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Thanks for the comment. Again, I feel like I’m being cheap - I understand everything you say and that these recordings are not easy to make, and they probably deserve $29 and aren’t making a killing, etc… But I have my own pennies to watch, so it just means I’ll have to pick and choose a bit more than in the past.
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