High Definition music downloads are part of the next big wave in the evolution/revolution that is computer audio. As with most things computer audio, there’s some confusion, disagreement and dissension regarding exactly what a High Definition audio file is.

Should we restrict the use of this term to only those records that were originally recorded using high definition equipment at greater than CD-quality resolution? Or is a FLAC download of a file that’s been re-mastered and in the process re-sampled to 24/96 worthy of inclusion? It’s no surprise that the people most closely involved with this issue, recording engineers and producers, have strong and differing opinions.

For the purposes of this overview we've included all websites that offer downloads of higher than CD-quality music regardless of the original recorded resolution. Before the flames begin (or continue), AudioStream will be reporting on and looking into this ongoing debate in the hopes that the industry can come up with some simple language to help consumers know relevant information about what they're buying before they buy it.

A good start might be something along the lines of differentiating between upsampled and native high definition recordings by calling them something like - Native or Upsampled.

[Updated: 1/5/2012]

Acousence

Website: www.acousence.de

Description: Jazz and Classical Recordings. FLAC downloads available from Acousence when purchasing DVD+FLAC192 or as direct downloads through Linn Records.

Resolution: up to 24 Bit/192kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: €23.00/album (including 19 % tax) 24 Bit/192kHz FLAC

Analekta Records

Website: www.analekta.com/en

Description: ANALEKTA is a Greek word which can be translated as "a collection of the finest works". Since the inception of the company in 1988, founder and President François Mario Labbé and his team of dedicated people have worked diligently to represent its corporate name.

ANALEKTA has become the largest independent classical record company in Canada. Being the recipient of many distinguished prizes, notably for the quality of its recordings and the rigorous musicianship of its artists, ANALEKTA has earned a reputation of excellence on the international music scene. The company is now considered a benchmark within the Canadian music industry and a true gem of Canadian culture..

Resolution: up to 24 Bit/88.2kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: $14.99/album 24 Bit/88.2kHz FLAC

Artist Connex

Website: www.artistconnex.com

Description: Beta

Resolution: up to 24 Bit/192kHz and DSD

File Formats: WAV, DSDIFF

Price: $40/album 24 Bit/192kHz WAV

Bleep

Website: www.bleep.com

Description: Bleep was started by independent film and record company Warp. This of course allows us to have a really great understanding of the processes of both artists, record labels, arts and film companies have to go through to reach its audience. We like to take this understanding and apply it to all of the record labels, distributors, and arts companies that we work with.

Bleep sells more music than just Warp artists. We work with over 300 labels and aim to provide you with the highest quality products available - regardless of where it comes from.

24 Bit WAV
Selected titles on the store are available in 24 Bit wav. We do not encode the 24 bit from a lower quality file the 24 bit WAV is produced in the Mastering of the release and is the highest quality we can provide. All 24 bit WAV are 24bit/44.1kHz. Please be aware the file size is considerably larger than the 16 bit version and there will be compatibility issues with some music players. (24 bit – 1.06gb / 16 bit – 720mb)

Resolution: up to 24 bit/44.1 kHz

File Formats: WAV

Price: $12.99/album WAV

Blue Coast Records

Website: www.bluecoastrecords.com

Description: Exceptional Acoustic Recordings

Resolution: DSD

File Formats: DSD DFF

Price: $50/album DSD DFF

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Website: www.bso.org

Description: Now in its 131st season, the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave its inaugural concert on October 22, 1881, and has continued to uphold the vision of its founder, the businessman, philanthropist, Civil War veteran, and amateur musician Henry Lee Higginson, for well over a century. The Boston Symphony Orchestra has performed throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, South America, and China; in addition, it reaches audiences numbering in the millions through its performances on radio, television, and recordings.

Resolution: not specified

File Formats: WMA

Price: $9.99/album WMA

Bowers & Wilkins Society of Sound

Website: www.bowers-wilkins.com

Description: Subscribe to Society of Sound to download high-quality albums from Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Resolution: Up to 24bit /192kHz

File Formats: Apple Lossless, FLAC

Price: Available as Subscription Service only. 6-month $39.95 (full access to catalogue of lossless audio downloads, and two new albums a month for 6 months), 12-month $59.95 (full access to catalogue of lossless audio downloads, and two new albums a month for 12 months)

Cedille Records

Website: www.cedillerecords.org

Description: Cedille Records is the label of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation — a foundation dedicated to preserving Chicago’s rich musical heritage by documenting the work of its finest musicians, ensembles, and composers.

Resolution: Up to 24bit /192kHz

File Formats: FLAC, MP3

Price: $12.00/album for 24bit /192kHz FLAC

Channel Classics

Website: www.channelclassics.com

Description: Channel Classics is selling physical hybrid SACDs/normal CDs of our complete catalogue and offering High Resolution Audio Downloads. All Channel Classics Hi-Res Downloads are taken from our DSD (SACD masters) that are all recorded in pure DSD.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/192kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: $16.00/album FLAC

Dacapo Records

Website: www.dacapo-records.dk/en

Description: Classical and New Music from the Danish National Label.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/192kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: $29.50/album FLAC

Downloads NOW!

Website: downloadsnow.net

Description: Your Music, Your Downloads, Your Way. The Artist or Label's MicroStore for selling DSD Audio, High Resolution 96khz 24bit Full Size WAV or CD Quality WAV Downloads.

Resolution: Up to 24bit /96kHz and full DSD

File Formats: WAV, DSDIFF

Price: $16.00/album 44kHz WAV, $30.00/album 24bit /192kHz WAV, $40.00/album DSDIFF

eClassical

Website: www.eclassical.com

Description: High Quality Classical download store.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/96kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: $13.76/album FLAC

Gimmel

Website: www.gimell.com

Description: The first Gimell recording was made on March 22nd and 23rd, 1980, in the Chapel of Merton College, Oxford. Single-artist labels have become commonplace in recent years: Gimell was the first, predicting the trend by at least a decade. This gave Peter Phillips and Steve Smith a head-start both in the technique of recording a cappella singing and in gaining irreplaceable experience with a single repertoire and one artist. This experience is unique and enduring, informing every one of the 50 discs and more which Gimell has produced.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/176kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: $29.99/album FLAC

Gubemusic

Website: www.gubemusic.com

Description: Welcome to Gubemusic! We are an eclectic Music Store for downloads of High Quality Music and Sound. We offer downloads in full CD and 24Bit sound Quality! Mp3 for free with any purchase.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/192kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: € 19.90/album FLAC

HD Tracks

Website: www.hdtracks.com

Description: HDtracks is the premiere online music store for audiophiles who demand the best sounding music. As consumers are left with few options to purchase high quality recordings, HDtracks was founded to fill the void. It is our purpose to allow our customers access to the largest online library of DRM-free CD and DVD-Audio quality downloads complete with liner notes in a PDF format.

Resolution: Up to 24bit /176.4kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: starts at $19.98/album 24bit /96kHz FLAC

hi fi track

Website: www.hifitrack.com

Description: HifiTrack.com is owned and operated by Music Powerhouse Limited to provide digital music download services for audiophiles. It is the first music download site for audiophiles in Greater China and is one of the few pioneers in the world. The digital music available on HifiTrack.com is in high resolution WAV format including "Direct studio master version"(DSMV), a music file that is made directly available on HifiTrack.com from the studio with no extraction or processing for the end users to buy and download, for the audiophiles’ pursuit of the ultimate hi-fidelity and music enjoyment. Among them are state-of-the-art 24 bit/96 kHz and 24 bit/48 kHz song files.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/96kHz

File Formats: WAV

Price: HK$192.00 (price in Hong Kong Dollars)/album WAV

High Definition Tape Transfers

Website: www.highdeftapetransfers.com

Description: High Definition Tape Transfers specializes in rare classical recordings mastered with the best mastering equipment available. They are available in Redbook CD, 24/96 DVD and HQCD. We also offer our releases in 24/96 and 24/192 (on select titles) Flac downloads for playback on a High End Computer Audio System.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/192 kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: starting at $16.00/album FLAC

HIGHRESAUDIO

Website: www.highresaudio.com

Description: Designed, edited and operated in Germany, HIGHRESAUDIO is the first commercial music download service for audiophiles worldwide offering only high-resolution 24-bit albums and songs at sampling rates from 88.2kHz up to 384kHz. HIGHRESAUDIO brings online music distribution to the next level – far beyond from existing heavily compressed audio download services; to include extensive editorial data, detailed album description, biographies, reviews and artist related content.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/192kHz

File Formats: FLAC, WAV, AIFF

Price: $28.13/album FLAC

iTrax

Website: www.itrax.com

Description: iTrax is a website for people that love music and appreciate that it deserves to be experienced at its very best...at the highest possible fidelity, with or without video.

Resolution: Up to 24bit /96kHz

File Formats: MP3, Dolby Digital, DTS, WMA PRO, WMA LOSSLESS, PCM 96/24

Price: $21.99/album PCM 24bit /96kHz

Linn Records

Website: www.linnrecords.com

Description: Classical and Jazz recordings from the same company as Linn audio products.

Resolution Up to 24bit /192kHz

File Formats: FLAC, WMA, and MP3

Price: $13.00/album CD Quality FLAC (44.1/16), $24.00/album Studio Master FLAC(192)/WMA

Melba Recordings

Website: www.melbarecordings.com.au

Description: The Melba Foundation is a charitable trust founded to promote Australia’s finest classical musicians and artists in the national and international music world.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/96kHz

File Formats: FLAC, WAV, AIFF

Price: $23.00/album FLAC

Naim Label

Website: www.naimlabel.com

Description: Naim Audio, the Salisbury-based creators of some of the worlds greatest sounding home entertainment systems, have channelled their uncompromising obsession for outstanding music through their record company for over fifteen years. This desire to champion the artistic and not just the technical is what makes Naim Label, now one of the biggest audiophile labels in the world, so special.

Resolution: Up to 24bit /96kHz

File Formats: MP3, FLAC and WAV

Price: $24.99/album WAV/FLAC 24bit /96kHz

2L

Website: www.2L.no

Description: Welcome to a voyage in an acoustic landscape – with the contours of classical, contemporary, jazz, pop and folk music.

Resolution Up to 24bit /192kHz

File Formats: FLAC and CD-quality WAV

Price Range: $31.85/album 24bit /192kHz FLAC

Pristine Classical

Website: www.pristineclassical.com

Description: 32-bit remasters at the world's leading historic recordings site.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/48kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: € 29.00/album FLAC

Qobuz

Website: www.qobuz.com

Description: Être fidèle à la musique, c'est l'esprit Qobuz ! Qobuz : un site de téléchargement haute-fidélité, d'écoute à la demande, d'information musicale et d'échanges comme vous n'en avez encore jamais "entendu" ! Un site où tous les styles se côtoient et se répondent, en pleine intelligence et en parfaite harmonie. Un site en haute fidélité, où la musique est plus belle. Un site fidèle à la musique.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/96kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: 14.99 € /album FLAC

The Classical Shop

Website: www.theclassicalshop.com

Description: The Classical Shop is one of the world’s premium DRM-free download stores dedicated to classical music. As a classical music devotee, you have access to 928762 tracks from the world’s leading independent labels, with free sampling of any track. Every classical genre is supported, from early music to contemporary, and everything in-between. The Classical Shop is committed to offering you access to collections and labels that are not widely available from either retail or other download stores. The Classical Shop currently features 119 labels, and adds more labels every month; as many as 80,000 new tracks are uploaded on a monthly basis.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/96kHz

File Formats: FLAC, WAV, AIFF

Price: £15.99/album FLAC

Unipheye Music

Website: www.unipheyemusic.com

Description: Releases from Unipheye Music are available for download in a selection of file formats and priced accordingly. Each are fully tagged and are accompanied by full cover-art and liner-notes. A transcendent digital music listening experience is available with our SMRD - Studio Master Reference Disc. These are Full Resolution, one-to-one duplicates of our studio master .wav files, beautifully packaged and delivered on data-only DVD-R discs. Upload them to a computer for playback through a sound system.

Resolution: up to 24 bit/192kHz

File Formats: FLAC

Price: $29.00/album FLAC