Hyperion adds Studio Master as a download option

[DublinJimbo]

I'm not sure when this occurred, but when going to the Hyperion site just now the first thing that struck me was the availability of Studio Master downloads, a new initiative on their part.

Pricing is interesting. Uniquely to my knowledge, Hyperion have decided to differentiate between sampling frequencies, and have set a different price for 44.1, 88.2 and 96kHz. Unfortunately, they are pitching their 24/96 price point at more or less the same level as The Classical Shop, which I've always considered somewhat excessive. Both Qobuz and eClassical are more competitive, though they charge the same for all 24-bit downloads irrespective of sampling frequency.

Hyperion's Studio Master offerings are very limited to begin with and their reference to "a number of [their] newest albums" being available suggests that they do not intend to include older material, which would be a shame.

Incidentally, I notice that Hyperion's release plan for June includes volume three of Marc-André Hamelin's survey of Haydn's piano sonatas. I have the first two volumes, which are very fine, and will undoubtedly add the new set to my collection (most probably as a Studio Master download).

[PJPJ]

Hyperion made the final decision quite recently, and the files appeared last week, I think. Price apart, I think it's really good news.

[Stunsworth]

Linn have also added some more Decca studio master downloads to the Mahler 8 and Peter Grimes that were there the other week.

http://www.linnrecords.com/label-decca.aspx

[David-G]

This might be a naive question, apologies if that is the case.

If I had a Studio master download on my computer, what software would I need to play it without any compromise in quality?

[PJPJ]

This might be a naive question, apologies if that is the case.

If I had a Studio master download on my computer, what software would I need to play it without any compromise in quality?

Your computer would need a high-quality sound-card capable of 24/96 output, or you would need to connect a decent DAC which also outputs 24/96.

Foobar, for example, is a media player capable of dealing with 24 bit flac.



However, you may be better off, if you have a DVD or BD player which outputs 24/96 and is connected to a decent sound system, burning the files to a DVD using Circlinca's excellent software. The trial version of the software is only limited by time, that is, you can burn several discs to try out the software to see whether it's for you.

http://cirlinca.com/

[Bryn]

http://cirlinca.com/

Thanks for that link. Any idea what they charge for registration (too lazy to go searching). I have been using Audio DVD Creator for a couple of years but would welcome being able to write audio to Blu-ray, though long, or even medium, term reliability of Blu-ray recordable discs is a bit suspect, it seems.

[O.k., I have now taken a look at the price structure. About three time what I paid for Audio DVD Creator. I might wait a bit longer.]

[PJPJ]

I also used Audio DVD Creator; Circlinca has more useful features, one of which is burning to DVD-A, the other burning straight from flac. I haven't got the BD version.

However, Audio DVD Creator is simple and inexpensive and burns wave files to digital audio discs for DVD players up to 24/96. (Flacs need to be converted to wave - easy enough in foobar etc.)