Hello Guys,
I want to buy a digital download of The Division Bell by Pink Floyd. I found two versions on Quobuz, one is in 24bit 96khz and the other one is in 24bit 192khz.
The 96khz master was published on 30.03.94 and the 192khz one was published on 28.03.94, according to Quobuz.
I used the test listen feature but they are heavily compressed and unusable for testing
Which one is the original Master and which one sounds better? Or should I get a CD and rip it?
I can't buy on HDTracks because of copyright.
Those dates are irrelevant, that is for sure. 28. March was the first release date of the album itself (UK), and labels did not release high resolution files in the nineties.
https://www.discogs.com/release/9439992-Pink-Floyd-The-Division-Bell
https://www.discogs.com/release/25219549-Pink-Floyd-The-Division-Bell "based on 2011 Remastered Version"
I'd recommend to ignore remasters, there is nothing to remaster because it was just fine.
+IMHO not worth the time going too deep into comparing versions of 30 year old albums.
Usually a safe choice is a CD (or an exact rip of such).
Get the original CD. 😉
https://www.discogs.com/release/368616-Pink-Floyd-The-Division-Bell
Well I guess it's the original CD I will go for. I Listened to the 192khz master on Apple Music and the dynamic range is beyond terrible for such kind of music.
I also downloaded a copy of the album on the internet archive which was supposed to be a DSD128 rip if an SACD but it sunds more like a vinyl rip to me. That sounds much better than the version on Apple Music. I hope that the CD is somewhere in that direction. Thanks for your help.
Go for the 24bit 192khz version; it's likely the original master
It is not, and you could have checked that. Reply #1, last line.
On the subject of 24bits/192khz... Found this article yesterday through a link posted someplace in this forum (forgot to record where)
24/192 Music Downloads...and why they make no sense. (https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html)
Makes for an interesting read.
EDIT: There's a link halfway down the page in an italic section titled "added 2013-04-04" which has been entered incorrect and will lead to an error.
The link should be Digital Show & Tell (https://www.xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml)
Monty's old musing yes.
But different masterings do sound different (because what we call "mastering" amounts to more than just a digital copy), and if so happens that the (subjectively) best-sounding one is the one that is released in a bonkers-level wasteful bitrate - then hopefully you can identify it and get yourself the right one.
More than 48KHz doent's make any sense, but 24bit does (IMHO).