I thought about setting up a local Roon Library of my favourite bands In case qobuz and tidal stop working etc… But soon after that it hit me that I will probably never get the versions of the CDs that I want because they are either not available anymore or kinda expensive.
Spending 40-60€ on one CD/SACD really seems nuts.
Something that I will end up ripping to a SSD anyways.
Yesterday I tried for a few hours to find a shop that sells digital files of older masters (ryoku David Bowie for example) or SACD files in DSD (Rolling stones) and not even the mainstream stuff seems to be available for purchase.
Are we really stuck with purchasing some 30 year old OOP CDs or expensive Japanese SACD imports (shipping fees, import fees , tax)?
Boggles my mind that digital files are not available for easily through qobuz or another store where you just purchase the master that you prefer.
Marc being going through this myself with limited success, and eBay has been useful, for an occasional win with SACD purchases (as I recently bought an SACD player), but thankfully I already have a large collection of CD’s to listen too.
HDTracks have regular sales of 20% or even 30% off which I have made regular use of for buying 24/96 remasters as well.
If you go to to the Qobuz sublime level you get some good discounts as well so it depends on whether you want physical Media or not.
It’s definitely a fairly expensive hobby
Purchased already a couple of CDs on qobuz. That’s not the issue really. My issue is that you only get that master of a cd that is currently available.
But there are plenty of bands with multiple versions of a cd that are just out of print for decades.
Why is nobody making these old masters available for purchase?
Similar problem with SACD…there are DSD files sold online but nothing really expect classical music and maybe some jazz.
On top of all that there are regional license issues where you have to be in the U.S/Japan etc to be even able to purchase such digital files.
Marc that is where I meant eBay if your friend if you can find enough information out about the CD/SACD. I have purchased many older ones on there, when I have heard bad things about the latest versions.
Let’s say the SACD is available from Japan… that’s like 50-60 USD per disc before tax (19%).
Not to mention the sold out eBay stuff for 90 USD+ per disc.
Let’s not even go to some of the David Bowie Japanese CDs that I just looked up on eBay… the SACDs are just ridiculous.
My next problem would be I don’t even have anything with a cd drive anymore. And I don’t want to end up with a physical collection that I would just rip to a harddrive.
Really hoped there would be a store that sells at least the popular stuff as DSD files .
I’ve purchased a Japanese digital release from Japan before but had to use a VPN for that because it was “not available in my region”
No argument from me on that, at this point is is expensive and hard work.
I can’t imagine things improving in the short term though, as there are too many entrenched interests and rights holders. If we want it enough we pay the cost, it’s not fun but I think that is how it will continue to work.
It is… and you need to find someone that is from your country or shipping to it. But if you are importing there are international shipping fees and import fees.
And after that you still need to have the hardware to rip the damn thing.
And the artist, publisher don’t earn a cent in the whole process.
I don’t want to jump through hoops, but such a shame that one day these versions could be lost and replaced by something that is not even close anymore to what the artist intended it to sound.
I subscribe to Qobuz as a way to explore old and new music. But, 99.9% of the music I play is ripped from CDs and SCADs that are in storage containers kept in my home office.
I find the stevehoffman.tv forum to be invaluable in finding the best masterings of the albums I want to buy on CD, SACD, and from hires sites online. Qobuz rarely has the best masterings online nor do the sites that sell hires versions of albums. Odds are the best mastering are on long out of print CDs and SACDs.
I rather enjoy the hunt for the best masterings…but the cost can be a bummer! I had a moving catastrophe 8 years ago where my entire CD collection was lost. This was before I ripped them to titian files. So I had to build up my collection from scratch. I have a lot less CDs now than I did, but the quality of what I have now is incredible. I only have a 1000 or so albums now…but I like them all.
Being particular to specific masterings certainly is a frustrating characteristic, especially if access to stuff is challenging or the prices of the masterings you desire are priced out of your comfort range.
I find a lot of stuff locally and purchase online for select things, but a lot of it is just out of my realm, like the RCA Bowie CDs. I have only found one of them “in the wild” and don’t expect to find any more of them. Thankfully I am a patient person and keep looking. The hunt is a big part of the fun for me. Thankfully, in most cases, at least the music is available to be heard and isn’t completely out of access.
While most people (it seems) are out buying vinyl there are still some who seek out CD’s and it can be expensive at times. Simply supply v’s demand. I see many old releases still available on vinyl but the CD is long out of print.
But often you can buy a CD cheaper than the digital download for older releases so buying CD is the way to go IMO.
Collecting can be expensive (especially if you don’t have the patience to wait) and takes time. Discogs and ebay are essential as you can set up saved searches for items you want and then hope you see it before someone else does!
yeah , im still making up my mind if I want to start buying used CDs on eBay. Some are really super cheap. but since im located in Germany I don’t really want to look at importing CDs, even less SACD.
The EU removed the tax free limit for imports, makes things just more complicated and expensive.
the more challenging task seems to be finding out what master was used for the release in Germany and what is actually better than the stuff on Qobuz.
im glad I got most of the David Bowie Ryoko CDs as rips that I had for years already. The Bonus tracks are really worth it.
is there a better way than reading through the stevehoffman forum for every single release that could be interesting to me?
I figured I could start with the stuff that is not available as high-res anyway.
but it gets really confusing when I try to look for things like bob Dylan , Rolling Stones , Eric Clapton…
maybe some of you guys have a rough guideline that what you prefer on CD.
I just bought a 15 disc SACD set of Dylan published in 2003 from a seller on Discogs. Ripped them to DSF and they sound great. For me 12 of the 15 are wonderful, the others are lesser albums but have some interesting bits. Great bargain for under $300 US$ including shipping.
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