I bought all three in 192kHz/24bit. Using the Japanese SHM releases from a few years ago as a reference, I think 1999 shows the most improvement, followed by Purple Rain and finally Controversy.

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For 1999 they rolled off the high frequency tin that plagued it and it has a fuller, rounder low end. That Linn has never sounded better; ditto the fx processing he put on the Linn snares/claps. Purple Rain has a nice three dimensional clarity to it... the lead vox, drum machines and synths tend to stand out in a way I hadn't noticed before (I Would Die 4 U really sounds fantastic, ditto Baby I'm a Star and PR itself). I wouldn't say the overall improvement is massive - but it is there. Controversy sounds a bit better (Private Joy has a nice punch), but it is not in the same league as the 1999 upgrade as I am sure the source material was of lower fidelity to begin with.

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I run a home studio with studio reference monitors and a pro audio audio interface connected with studio-grade balanced speaker cables, so there is a clear difference on my setup. I don't mention that to sound like an some sort of audiophile (I do music production), just to let you know where I am coming from with my observations. If you don't have a hi-fi or studio setup your mileage may vary with these releases: I don't know if I would go for Controversy, but 1999... well, I have never heard it sound better. PR sounds great too, but that one may be a toss up on a standard home audio system.

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Note those formats won't play on an iPhone or iPod... you will have to down-convert them to an Aiff @ 48Khz/24bit if you want to play it on an "i" device. It will still sound better than a CD quality rip provided you have decent headphones.

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UPDATE 1: See below for details, but to sum it up there is an issue with "TBO" on PR - the first half of the first beat is cut off. First let HDTracks know about this issue directly here: https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=contact. Then post about it on their FB page here: https://www.facebook.com/...1499268029

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UPDATE 2: HDTracks support just informed me that they are working with Warners to get a new version of the track posted.

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UPDATE 3: Still no updated track. ATWIAD is now available.

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UPDATE 4: "TBO" has been fixed but the same distortion found on "The Hits" version of Raspberry Beret (Left Channel starting at 1:47 and lasting for about 1.5 seconds) is found on the HDTracks version. First let HDTracks know about this issue directly here: https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=contact. Then post about it on their FB page here: https://www.facebook.com/...1499268029

[Edited 7/18/13 10:54am]

These are the masters used for the 180g vinyls.

bluegangsta said:

These are the masters used for the 180g vinyls.

I thought that may be the case, but the 'nets are always full of conflicting information and I didn't want to spread anything other than my 2 cents on the sound. That said, I saw something on the Steve Hoffman forum (that linked back to the Org) that confirmed the vinyls were remastered, so I guess it is safe to assume that is what they are using on HDTracks: http://forums.stevehoffma...583/page-2

I wish this information wasn't so hidden from view... you think they would advertise the hell out of a remaster on HDTrack's site (or perhaps they did and I missed it). I guess that means the HD run ends with Dirty Mind, which is a shame, as I would dearly love to hear ATWIAD at this fidelity.

.

Regardless, the format is outstanding and I am quite happy to have spent the money on them. I picked up the Daft Punk release in HD audio as well... that album is a clinic on how to produce and master an album, but I digress...

[Edited 5/21/13 20:05pm]

Oh yeah, um, what the fuck is HDTacks? For us non-nerds and non-hipsters. What is it, how does one use it, and why do we care?

p.s. I realize I can google it, but if the OP can explain in laymans terms I won't have to.

BlackbeltJones said:

OK, I'm not a nerd, so I really really don't know, but....



These HD tracks--are they actually 'remasters' with higher bit rates?


Or is it that they are simply higher bit rate recordings, but the same

mastering of the original is there--and we simply benefit from

not having the degraded sound of 'transfering' the original mastering

to the medium of CD?


I'm really that confused.

imago said:

OK, I'm not a nerd, so I really really don't know, but....



These HD tracks--are they actually 'remasters' with higher bit rates?


Or is it that they are simply higher bit rate recordings, but the same

mastering of the original is there--and we simply benefit from

not having the degraded sound of 'transfering' the original mastering

to the medium of CD?


I'm really that confused.

EDIT - Found the Org Post that discusses the remastering on the vinyl: http://prince.org/msg/7/3...?&pg=1 We have electricberet to thank for getting to the heart of that matter. It would make sense that the new High Definition releases would use those 2011 vinyl masters, but it would be wonderful to get hard proof of that fact

[Edited 5/22/13 13:27pm]

isnt this all yet ANOTHER way to get people to pre-pay for remasters...buy this... rebuy the cd remasters ...etc

BlackbeltJones said:

imago said:

OK, I'm not a nerd, so I really really don't know, but....



These HD tracks--are they actually 'remasters' with higher bit rates?


Or is it that they are simply higher bit rate recordings, but the same

mastering of the original is there--and we simply benefit from

not having the degraded sound of 'transfering' the original mastering

to the medium of CD?


I'm really that confused.

.

Actually, it's a pretty confusing situation but you have the basics down.

.

What we all know to be true is that Controversy, 1999 and Purple Rain have been released in what they call a "High Definition" audio format - basically at a higher bit and sample rate than those albums have ever been released before (and that includes the CDs). So because the format supports more audio information, in theory it should sound better than the exact same material if it was released on CD. Basically a CD is to a DVD as a "High Definition" audio track is to Blu-Ray. The problem comes in that you a) need a playback system that supports a "High Definition" audio track (for instance a computer with iTunes installed will play "High Definition" audio, but a portable device like an iPhone will not) and b) you need good enough speakers to actually hear the difference. If you have both of those things, then in theory the "High Definition" audio will sound better... much like you only get the benefits of a Blu-Ray player if you have it connected via a digital HDMI cable to a High Defintion TV. If you have a Blu-Ray player connected via an analog composite cable to a Standard Definition TV, you really get no benefit of Blu-Ray.

.

So again, to deal in facts, those albums have all been released in a new "High Definition" audio format. That should mean that even if the SAME master was used for this new format, in theory they should sound better on a good audio system because of the extra audio information they contain.

.

Here is where I am going by what folks on the 'net have posted: a few years back Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999 and Purple Rain were all re-released on 180g vinyl and it was widely believed (and I think confirmed... but don't quote me on that!) that most if not all of those albums were remastered. That link to the Steve Hoffman forum (an audio-nerd forum) above has several posters that claim this is true; there are several at the org that say this is true as well. From what I have read, it likely is true that a new master was created for them... but again, someone please feel free to correct me.

.

Now here is where it gets muddy and where I don't have any hard proof. It is widely speculated that the new masters created for those 180g vinyls were used for the "High Definition" audio format on HDTracks. I have not seen any place that actually confirms this to be true, but it is what people seem to believe and it is a reasonable assumption to make.

.

So, it comes down to this: even if a new master was not used, this new "High Definition" audio format should make the albums sound better on a good audio system. It may not be a huge improvement, but it should sound better.

.

However, if the new 180g vinyl masters were used for these new "High Definition" releases, then you have an awesome one-two punch: a new master AND a new "High Definition" audio format should mean that these new releases should not only sound better than the old CDs, but considerably so.

.

So having written all that, I can confirm that... at least to my ears and in my home studio... all three albums sound better than both the original US Warner release CDs AND the Japanese Warner SHM CDs. Controversy is improved the least; some songs on PR really stand out (especially those that were recorded live); 1999 sounds the best... to my ears it really has new life. I don't know if a new master was used for some or all of these "High Definition" releases or if I am just hearing the results of the better "High Definition" audio format on my system, but 1999 sounds so much better that it is easy to believe that it has a new master; I am less positive about the other two.

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I hope that helps.

.

[Edited 5/22/13 5:48am]

Oh holy fucking shit.
I almost had an orgasm at how well you explain this to me.
I seriously was in the dark, and you explained every goddamned detail

like a fucking Jesus-on-pogo-stick professional!!!! THANK....YOU!!!!!


So......I'm not interested in the old masters in HD.

I would mostly be listening to his music on my iPod, so I'd rather

have the new masters to really care that much.

I want significant sound improvements--not just a higher bit rate

so that I'm screwed to listening to it on my computer (or higher end

system).

I'm still holding off on downloading these. I'm old school, so I'm hoping some actual remastered CDs with all the bells and whistles (outtakes, B-sides, live tracks) will eventually be released. I doube it, but the 30th Anniversary of Purple Rain is next year, so there is some hope.

runphilrun said:

I'm still holding off on downloading these. I'm old school, so I'm hoping some actual remastered CDs with all the bells and whistles (outtakes, B-sides, live tracks) will eventually be released. I doube it, but the 30th Anniversary of Purple Rain is next year, so there is some hope.

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Would I ever love something like that - and yeah, I get why folks would hold off and wait for the discs. But for me, 1999 is my favorite album of all time, so I couldn't pass it up. Besides I have the gear to hear the improvements, so I figured what the hell. I found I liked 1999 so much, I snapped up the others too. Don't regret my purchases, but these releases are not for everyone, that's for sure. But for those lurkers that run media servers or have PCs hooked up to decent speakers, you really owe it to yourself to try out 1999.

.

imago said:

Oh holy fucking shit.
I almost had an orgasm at how well you explain this to me.
I seriously was in the dark, and you explained every goddamned detail

like a fucking Jesus-on-pogo-stick professional!!!! THANK....YOU!!!!!


So......I'm not interested in the old masters in HD.

I would mostly be listening to his music on my iPod, so I'd rather

have the new masters to really care that much.

I want significant sound improvements--not just a higher bit rate

so that I'm screwed to listening to it on my computer (or higher end

system).

..

My pleasure and I am glad it helped! Hopefully others got something out of it as well.

.

I will update the thread if new releases drop, as I will likely buy them all (though I suspect Dirty Mind to be the last one as it was the only other one to get a current vinyl re-release and a supposed new master).

.

[Edited 5/22/13 10:56am]

Purchased the 96/24 and noticed that a portion of the first beat in The Beautiful Ones is missing. Anyone else notice this in the 96/24 or 192/24?

bfunk said:

Purchased the 96/24 and noticed that a portion of the first beat in The Beautiful Ones is missing. Anyone else notice this in the 96/24 or 192/24?

I have the 192/24 version and it's there on mine as well. Good catch. E-mail HDTracks about it today; I will do the same. Hopefully they can repost that track.

EDIT - Just e-mailed them - please do the same so they feel some pressure to get that fixed ASAP. Thanks again for catching that.

[Edited 5/24/13 5:23am]

BlackbeltJones said:

bfunk said:

Purchased the 96/24 and noticed that a portion of the first beat in The Beautiful Ones is missing. Anyone else notice this in the 96/24 or 192/24?

I have the 192/24 version and it's there on mine as well. Good catch. E-mail HDTracks about it today; I will do the same. Hopefully they can repost that track.

EDIT - Just e-mailed them - please do the same so they feel some pressure to get that fixed ASAP. Thanks again for catching that.

[Edited 5/24/13 5:23am]

I emailed them as well.

Okay, so if I buy this, what format should I choose? Normally I like flac files, but I'm not sure how they compare to aiff files.

Also, I read somewhere (forget where just now) that some people consider 96/24 to be superior sounding compared to 192/24. I don't really understand the difference, I'm sad to admit.

bfunk said:

Purchased the 96/24 and noticed that a portion of the first beat in The Beautiful Ones is missing. Anyone else notice this in the 96/24 or 192/24?

Has this problem been fixed yet?

Yeah. I'm pretty sure TBO is the track I would want most from this album. Any word?

^We both e-mailed them on a Friday and it is a holiday weekend in the US, so don't think either of us will hear back until Tuesday. As soon I get word back from their support I will update this thread.

.

theblueangel said:

Okay, so if I buy this, what format should I choose? Normally I like flac files, but I'm not sure how they compare to aiff files.

Also, I read somewhere (forget where just now) that some people consider 96/24 to be superior sounding compared to 192/24. I don't really understand the difference, I'm sad to admit.

192 is a higher sample rate so in theory it should sound better as it contains more audio information than 96 (they are bigger files and HDTracks charges more for them); you can read a lot of unproven theories about this or that as it relates to sample size, but in my experience recording and playing back digital audio, higher sample rates are at best better or at worst indistinguishable. In practice I doubt anyone can really hear a difference on all but the most high-end systems... all the same, I bought 192 because 1999 is my all time favorite Prince album, and I figured I would spring for the extra $5 to get it in the best possible format.

.

All the file formats @ HDTracks will sound the same - they are either uncompressed (WAV or AIFF) or lossless (FLAC, ALAC). Lossless files have the advantage of typically containing more metadata, they are smaller, and your media playback device can decode them on the fly (think of it as bit for bit the same as an uncompressed file but tightly packed in a smaller, fancier container) so they will sound the exact same as an uncompressed file. You can even use an app like dBpoweramp to covert FLAC or ALAC to an uncompressed file without loosing a single bit of audio information or degrading it in any way. FLAC is the standard, but I like ALAC because I use iTunes as my media server and ALAC is a native Apple format.

.

[Edited 5/26/13 19:41pm]

bfunk said:

Purchased the 96/24 and noticed that a portion of the first beat in The Beautiful Ones is missing. Anyone else notice this in the 96/24 or 192/24?

Same problem here. I emailed them last week and received this response...

"We have listened to track and are not hearing anything out of the ordinary. We receive the most up to date masters from our record label partners. Each record label has their own recording/mastering process when it comes to high res. Sometimes this remastering may present qualities that originally were unnoticeable when first released or in previous formats because of the clearer resolution. We only hope that our label partners have taken note of that."

I wrote back to tell them this isn't a case of bringing out "qualities that originally were unnoticeable," part of the song is just gone. Never got another reply. Hopefully more people will complain and they will actually fix it.

When WB releases these albums in this format in this order, what does this say about the albums before controvery? What is the matter with For You and Dirty Mind?

Still within control of WB but not commercially interesting?

Or?

December1984 said:

bfunk said:

Purchased the 96/24 and noticed that a portion of the first beat in The Beautiful Ones is missing. Anyone else notice this in the 96/24 or 192/24?

Same problem here. I emailed them last week and received this response...

"We have listened to track and are not hearing anything out of the ordinary. We receive the most up to date masters from our record label partners. Each record label has their own recording/mastering process when it comes to high res. Sometimes this remastering may present qualities that originally were unnoticeable when first released or in previous formats because of the clearer resolution. We only hope that our label partners have taken note of that."

I wrote back to tell them this isn't a case of bringing out "qualities that originally were unnoticeable," part of the song is just gone. Never got another reply. Hopefully more people will complain and they will actually fix it.

Disappointing. I'm certainly not going to buy it until that is fixed.

I emailed them just to be sure...

You all please do the same via their contact page.

wish we could get a "comment" on these from his people or himself

Post on thier facebook page as well: https://www.facebook.com/...1499268029 Perhaps if more people make public postings about it, they will have to take action.

[Edited 5/28/13 6:32am]

bfunk said:

Post on thier facebook page as well: https://www.facebook.com/...1499268029 Perhaps if more people make public postings about it, they will have to take action.

[Edited 5/28/13 6:32am]

Thanks. I updated the title and first post as well. ALSO: if you care about these high def releases, contact HDTracks directly here as well: .https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=contact. If you have a FB account, also hit them at the bfunk's link above. Hit them about this both ways - let's unleash the Prince army.

Maybe give them a call and explain the issue if they haven't seen the emails yet?

Hell I thought just the samples on the 1999 page sounded really good.

Here's my question for the OP though. If you can download the HDT album in AIFF,

couldn't you put that on your iPod? I have tons of AIFF's on mine.

Thanks!

steakfinger said:

Same problem with TBO as everyone else. Sent an email and got some automated response that they'll get back to me later. This was days ago and still no response.

What is "TBO"?