Canadian audiophiles will soon have another source of high-resolution music. Today, the Kansas-based online music store Acoustic Sounds, Inc. launched its Super HiRez service, which offers music in DSD and uncompressed high-bitrate PCM formats.

Initially, the service will be available only to residents of the U.S. "We aim to launch in Canada in about one month," said Marc Sheforgen, Chief Operating Officer of Acoustic Sounds (on the right in photo below). "We have some accounting and programming issues to straighten out first."

At launch, the American version of Super HiRez was offering 20 titles in DSD format from Analogue Productions, a reissue label owned by Acoustic Sounds, and another nine from the company's in-house original music label APO Records, which specializes in blues. APO titles are offered in DSD, as well as FLAC and Apple Lossless formats.

Analogue Production titles include albums by Patsy Cline, Holly Cole, Nat King Cole, John Coltrane, Counting Crows, Norah Jones, Rickie Lee Jones, Shelby Lynne, Muddy Waters, Phoebe Snow and Cat Stevens, all of them from the Universal Music catalog. Sheforgen told Marketnews that Acoustic Sounds already has an agreement with Universal Music Canada that will allow the same music to be offered north of the border.

All APO titles are recorded in analog, and virtually all of Analogue Productions' reissues are made from original analog master tapes, in a process overseen by the company's own mastering engineers. "We're an audiophile label, not a major label," said Chad Kassem, Founder and CEO of Acoustic Sounds (shown on the left in photo).

In addition to DSD, Super HiRez will offer titles in multi-bit PCM format, in Windows-friendly FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and Mac-friendly Apple Lossless versions. "We want to offer customers a choice," Kassem told Marketnews. "But most of our consumers have been asking for DSD. That's the void that hasn't been filled."

DSD (Direct Stream Digital) is a single-bit coding scheme with very high sampling rate (2.8224MHz). It's used for the Super Audio CD (SACD) disc format. "High-resolution PCM and DSD are both very good," Kassem said. "The difference is slight, but I find DSD a little warmer, a little easier on the ear."

DSD playback requires specialized hardware and software: the DAC (digital-to-analog converter) and music-player software must both support DSD. Super HiRez will offer hardware and software on its site, and will export to Canada.

A small number of download sites, such as 2L in Norway, Blue Coast Records in California, and Channel Classics in the Netherlands, already offer DSD downloads. But Super HiRez will offer more mainstream titles than these specialized labels.

Super HiRez will be easy to use, Sheforgen promised. Consumers choose the music they want and add it to a shopping cart. After completing the purchase, they click a link to launch a download of a ZIP archive containing their music.

Kassem told Marketnews that Super HiRez will be adding "a shitload more music," spanning every genre, including classical, jazz and blues. He expects the service to have "more than 500 titles" by year-end.

Acoustic Sounds sells "more audiophile LPs and SACDs than anyone in the world," Kassem noted. "You want high-quality vinyl? We buy a pressing plant. You want SACDs? We keep them in print. You want high-quality downloads? We start a download service.

"This service is really exciting for Canadians," he added, "because it's an opportunity to buy high-quality music free of add-on charges like duty and shipping."

Article Tags:  Acoustic Sounds, Super HiRez, download, music, DSD, PCM, FLAC, ALAC, Kassem, Sheforgen, Universal Music, Analogue Productions, Canada, APO, vinyl, LP, SACD