Free High-Res
Listed in alphabetical order. Some of the free offerings may expire and new files may be available. Some services require sign up and some do not. Here you find hi-res files from 24/48K to 24/192K, DSD and beyond.
- I try my best to make sure these are all legal downloads
- I continually update this list whenever I find new FREE content
What’s New:
07/14/15: Victor Studio HD Music (Japan)
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“Norway is blessed with many churches and cathedrals and most of 2L’s recordings are made in these wonderful spaces. The music captured by 2L features Norwegian composers and performers, and an international repertoire reflected in the Nordic atmosphere. Lindberg Lyd (2L) has been passionate about Super Audio CD and since the year 2000 has been making serious investment in the new format through advanced equipment and pioneering technology like DXD.”
“Bridge Over Troubled Waters” performed by Iver Kleive at the Bergen Cathedral (pipe organ) is a very nice track
A hires recording using their binaural microphone
Release: Brunette Models – Autarky -Single. Artist: Brunette Models. Album: Autarky – Single. Quality: Studio Master 24bit/96kHz High – Resolution audiophile FLAC version.
3 free tracks to test the-better-than-CD FLAC format and to compare with the MP3
AUDIO ASYLUM (user contribution)
User Ladan is contributing 24/96 tape tranfers:
“I have this exact recording on CD, it was released as part of a box set, The Original Jacket Collection, in 1999. Compared to that CD, your recording has more air and space around the instruments. It’s not warm (few Columbia recordings were)but it’s not “digital” either.”
“Nice clear recording; puts some commercial ‘transfers’ to shame”
Rachmaninoff, Kraft, Weber etc
Search for “24bit”. This site is not strictly free, but many tracks are sold as “name your price” with no minimum amount.
BLUE COAST RECORDS [Click “free downloads”]
“The recordings you hear on this page were made in front of a live audience without eq, compression or effects added to enhance the song. These are raw files as we heard played in the room.”
Through the KORG AudioGate webpage, you can access addional (one or more) DSD tracks. This would require registration even if you have already registered
5 Christmas tracks in 24bit/44.1K
“Our future album releases will be available as 24/192 hi res copies of the original master recordings. These downloads, however, are at 24/44.1. Because of our commitment to the highest quality audio, there is no digital limiting used in the mastering of these songs, or any Bravura Records releases for that matter. As a result, the level of these downloads may be as much as 6 db lower than most commercial CDs.”
“Christopher & Jason Tree, recorded November of 2010. Recorded to 96/24 WAV files, with a pair of Cardas Golden Ellipsoid microphones arranged in an X/Y pattern.”
File consisting of 3 versions of the same track, in 3 different sample rates. The current track is: Duo for violin and viola no. 1 in C major – Allegro. The recording has been awarded SA-CD.net: 5 StarsPerformance/ 5 Stars Sonics
The latest download bundle includes a DSD version of the track. Seems the free tracks change from time to time. The current download is: Lavinia Meijer – Harp/Philip Glass – Metamorphosis Three
Two samples available for download. Classical music from Chandos and other labels.
PCM and DSD high-res tracks.
Test files in different file formats. You will hear an excerpt of the second movement (Allegretto sostenuto) of P.E. Lange-Müller’s Violin Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in C major, op. 69 (1902) from our acclaimed 2009 release, Romantic Violin Concertos
dCS is providing a few superbly recorded, high resolution tracks free of charge. Click “Music” and then “Downloads”
One of the few sites with a 175KHz track…
Sample tracks from Kent Poon’s mastering work. There are 4 sample tracks available in a variety of high resolution PCM formats and DSD.
“Widely regarded as one of the top Asia audiophile producers and engineers, Kent started his research about audio production in North America since the year of 1993. He worked with wide range for music mastering productions; from classical, jazz, hip hop, electronic, country to dance; from pop artist Jay Chow to French Canadian Jazz singer Marcia.”
- Audiophile Jazz Prologue Part III: sample tracks in 2.8 MHz DSD, 24/96K, 24/192K and 24/384K formats: [link]
- Audiophile Jazz Prologue Part IV: sample track in 5.6 MHz DSD and 24/192K AIFF: [link]
- Chinese pop songs (in AIFF, WAV and DSD format): [link1] [link2].
Mastering demos in high resolution
4 sample tracks in DSD format
Free downloads which showcase “DSD Master”, and compare its output with equivalent files produced by two well-respected products which produce DSD-to-PCM conversions, Korg Audiogate and Weiss Saracon.
Apart from the DSF originals, all files are in AIFF format. All of the PCM versions were created using DSD Master, from the DSD original provided, with the exceptions of the comparison versions labelled “Saracon” and “Audiogate“.
“24-bit FLACs (studio quality) are the highest quality we can offer. They are substantially superior to CD quality, i.e. even closer to the live experience. You will find many recent albums (and many more to come!) in this format. The sample rate of these files varies, depending on the rate that was used for the recording in question. It ranges up to 96 kHz…”
There are 6 test files at the end of the page comparing MP3, 16-bit FLAC and 24-bit FLAC
Japanese hires store. Large catalog of HD music. The portal was launched 3 days after iTunes [link]. Since the site is in Japanese, it is kind of complex to navigate and purchase tracks. However, the sample tracks are free downloads without requiring registration. If you wish to purchase tracks, here is a link that might help: [link]
The sample 5.1 surround can be found here: http://music.e-onkyo.com/contents/surround.asp
Tracks available in DSD format (as well as PCM hires) [link]
The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. Freesound focusses only on sound, not songs.
Many of the tracks are recorded in high resolution. Search for “24bit” [link]
In addition to test files, there is also a free track from their collection. The first track is free in several high resolution formats including 5.1.
“For the second time in consecutive years Gimell and The Tallis Scholars have been nominated for a Grammy Award. The latest nomination is for the recording of Victoria’s Lamentations of Jeremiah – made to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the composer, Tomás Luis de Victoria, who died in August 1611.”
If the link above does not work, use http://www.gimell.com/recording-free-trial-downloads-1.aspx
7 Free Tracks in various HD formats, including DSD and Surround
Two Chinese Classical tracks performed in traditional GuZheng. Tracks are in 24/96KHz
[She is NOT the musician performing the pieces; just a nice pic :-)]
Sample Album (with PDF liner notes)
1 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: The Snow Maiden – Dance of the Tumblers
2 – Lucia
3 – Big Bad Girl
4 – Misery
5 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violin Concerto in G major (KV 216) – Allegro
My favorite is “Lucia” by Marta Gomez:
“Graduada con honores de la prestigiosa Berklee College of Music luego de recibir la beca “Best Achievement”, la canta-autora colombiana Marta Gómez, ha desarollado una carrera artística que la posiciona como una de las compositoras e intérpretes más destacadas de la actual escena musical internacional. Marta Fué nominada en el 2005 a los premios Billboard de la música latina en la categoría Jazz Latino junto a Paco De Lucía, Gonzalo Rubalcaba y Néstor Torres y ha sido calificada por la prensa como una cantante con una “voz exquisita”. El diario “Los Angeles Times” la describió recientemente como “un talento excepcional con una voz sublime”.”
Her CDs are in short supply and likely at full price no matter where you get it. The HD downloads are actually a good value!
There are 4 sample hires (24/96K) tracks available for download.
“High Definition Tape Transfers specializes in rare classical recordings mastered with the best mastering equipment available”.
According to a post in Stereophile, these files are also from HDTT
Many Jazz and Classical tracks. The Classical tracks are from “Pristine Classical” remastered in their XR technology. High res tracks are offered in different resolutions, for example, Paul Kuhn Trio Willow Weep For Me is in 24/48K whereas Kagerer/Nieberle/Darau Please Come Home For Christmas is in 24/192k.
D. Petrocca Trio feat. J. Kraus “Deborah‘s Theme” in 24 bit / 96 kHz Sounds real GOOD. Highly recommended.
This is one of 10 sample tracks recorded at the famous Birdland Jazz Club in Germany
The hosting server is really fast (I was able to download a 24/96 track in two minutes. Download speed is up to 1.1 MB/sec).
The download link is at the end of the multipage article which accompanies each artist/story
A free 24/96K track for registering. (This is the track I got for free)
“…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.”
At the end of the page there is a “Free Download” link (with registration)
Quad-Speed DSD256 sample tracks
The above link represents an advanced-search query containing the term “96KHz” and “FLAC” and omitting the terms “16bit” and “CDWav”. This results in about 100 files. The following link restricts to hires live music only (~50 files as of today). It is hard to filter out all the non-hi-res files. You’ll have to play with the query string or check every file. Download speed is also very fast, up to 1.1MB/sec; probably limited by my download bandwidth.
Try the 12 minute -track: “Eyes of the World” by Phil Lesh and Friends in 24bit/96KHz. It is really GOOD!
Also try “Soba” by The Benevento-Russo Duo also a 24/96K track.
“This audio archive is an online public library of live recordings available for royalty-free, no-cost public downloads. We only host material by trade-friendly artists: those who like the idea of noncommercial distribution of some or all of their live material. Live recordings are a part of our culture and might be lost in 100 years if they’re not archived. We think music matters and want to preserve it for future generations.”
“The LMA draws strength from the members of etree.org and other online communities of music fans devoted to providing public access to high-quality digital recordings of tradable performances. Typically, recordings are made by the fans themselves. Recordings are preserved in “Lossless” archival compression formats such as Shorten or FLAC (MP3 is not Lossless) for highest quality preservation.”
Ryan Adams Live at Das Haus on 2006-10-17 has become a very popular download.
Available in 24bit FLAC format [link]
The sample track (excerpt from The AIX Allstar Band – Moonlight Acoustica) is available in 24/96K in Stereo and 5.1. iTrax is the digital shop of AIX records.
“Mark Waldrep, Ph.D., the man behind the only all-HD Audio label AIX Records has announced the launch of iTrax.com, the world’s first digital music download service to offer REAL HD Audio in surround sound. iTrax.com will launch in June (2007) and include tracks from AIX Records and several other audiophile catalogs.”
“Jamendo is a community of free, legal and unlimited music published under Creative Commons licenses. Share your music, download your favorite artists!”
Some tracks are available in 24bit/88KHz resolution. (Available through legal P2P downloads). Search for “24bit”. As of this writing there were 24 albums available in high resolution. Other terms to search: “lossless”, “FLAC”
There is a lot of good music here…
A compilation of several tracks in native DSD and available in single speed, dual speed and quad speed DSD format
KOSTAS METAXAS Click “Recordings” for more files
“Kostas Metaxas is an artist producing state-of-the-art Hi-End Audio systems …He has been recording concerts since 1986 …and recorded over 200 concerts including legendary performers such as Charles Dutoit, Jean Yves Thibaudet, Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Konstantin Lifschitz, Takacs, Il Giardino Armonico, James Morrison, Mike Nock, ACO, ASQ, Jerusalem Trio, Yvonne Kenny and Fritz Hauser.”
“Taking high resolution recording to the topmost level, LessLoss is charting new waters in sound recording fidelity. These recordings, all available for download, are based on the old-school method of finding the best microphone position and then recording the real, live event, without the use of any subsequent processing to influence the original sound signal. Power supply is exclusively LessLoss Firewall Power Filter and LessLoss Dynamic Filtering Power Cables. Enjoy these true high fidelity sounds!“
25 free tracks during Christmas 2013: [link]
25 free tracks during Christmas 2012: [link]
Free test files: [link]
MASTERS FOR THEIR DAY (Discussion here)
“Benchmark has created this web series, ‘Masters From Their Day’. Each episode will document a cooperative team of highly-skilled ‘collaborators’ (artists, engineers, studios, etc) gathered for one day to execute a studio recording. The resultant mastered recordings from each day in the studio (the ‘Masters From Their Day’, as it were) are featured at the end of each episode and are available for you to download as uncompressed audio files.”
Bit-Perfect Test tracks
Perhaps one of the most useful features of the DAC IV is the bit-perfect test. A series of files can be downloaded here. They are .wav test files that when played, will be identified by the DAC IV and checked, and will be reported on the display if they are bit perfect. The message will stay on for about 6 seconds. If there is a problem with the test, the file will play and a loud burst of static like sound will be heard but the display will not indicate any change.
Available in 24 and 32 bit, 44.1KHz sample rate through 384KHz sample rate
- Two hi-res tracks: one 24/48 and another 24/88 from the Australian trio Trichotomy
- Search for “free download” for more free tracks
- 24/96K additional test files (excerpts) here
“…As a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album … the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options – all free”
The Open Goldberg Variations by Kimiko Ishizaka are free to download and share. They are governed by the Creative Commons Zero license, which means that they are a part of the public domain. (24/94K tracks available)
A Kickstarter funded project, the supporters were: “creating a new score and studio recording of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and we’re placing them in the public domain* for everyone to own and use without limitations on licensing. Bach wrote his seminal work over 270 years ago, yet public domain scores and recordings are hard or impossible to find. Until now!”
“David Elias is an independent musician who records in DSD, and he has made a number of demo tracks available for OPPO customers in a variety of formats, including native DSD and lossless PCM. The nice thing about owning a player that supports a wide variety of formats is that you are able to decide for yourself whether you prefer DSD or PCM audio (or if you hear a difference between the two at all!)”
“To celebrate our cooperation with hifistatement.net, we are pleased to offer the following: A free download in16/44.1, 24/192 and DSD of Michel Godard und Steve Swallows “A Trace of Grace”.
The .wav and DSD files are produced directly from the analogue mastertape of this sommelier du son-LP. The cover shows the monastery’s refectory where the recording was captured.”
These are NOT Hires, but remasters of classical/historical performance in XR technology:
“1- Best possible, neutral transfer. 2- Restoration of the flaws caused by the storage medium (disc, tape etc.). 3- Restoration of flaws caused by the recording equipment (microphones, amplifiers, disc cutters, disc mastering etc.).”
“Ambient Stereo” recreates the ambiance information from the mono masters through stereo reproduction.
Click the XR icon on the site’s webpage to download.
First ever High-Res download courtesy of Pop Pop Music
Dear Music Lovers and Audiophiles,
As a leading Chinese Jazz music label in this region, we are offering the first-ever high-res (96 KHz/24 bit) download of ONE song (Teresa Teng’s Cantonese hit, 忘記他, Forgetting Him) from our latest album: Winnie HO “The Jazzy Sounds of Teresa Teng”.
This is a free service extended to readers of this blog and we hope if you like it enough, you would buy the album!
REFERENCE RECORDINGS & COMPUTER AUDIOPHILE [and here]
“CA supporter and industry leader Reference Recordings has supplied two complimentary high resolution audio tracks for Computer Audiophile readers… these are from RR classics Thinking About Bix and Reveries. The tracks are offered in stunning HRx 24/176.4 quality”
This is a legal music sharing site. Some tracks are in high def. There is a search facility but I found it not very easy to find high resolution files. Some files can be downloaded.
Lee Barber Live is a contribution by SY (diyaudio). It is a live recording out of his living room. Discussion here: [link]
Samples from their four albums recorded live with a two-mic setpup
“Often, the high resolution version of a record is mastered at a different session, sometimes by a different engineer. At many so-called “format shootouts”, one hears level differences, EQ differences, etc., making a true comparison of the formats impossible. Astute listeners realize these are comparisons of different masterings and not of the formats themselves.”
“In an effort to provide some help, Soundkeeper Recordings is providing these samples from the same album, same mastering session, etc. A number of folks we know, who use upsampling devices to play back their CDs, have found these useful in illuminating the pluses as well as minuses of their up-conversion, as they can now compare the results with a true high res version.”
A: 96/24 WAV
B: 96/24 FLAC
C: 16/44 WAV (CD)
D: 320kbps MP3
02. Andre Heuvelman – After Silence*
PAID SITES
For the sake of completeness, I’ve added this section for vendors that do not have any free tracks or sample tracks to give away.
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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.
H i F i D U I N O 
Excellent compilation !, thank you
Great Work! Thanks for your time and dedication. I’m strating now to make experiments with Hi Res audio and I find that it is something much closer to Vinyl than CD’s. My advise to you all is to try. In my case, I I burn the files with Cirlinca DVD Audio Solo and play the DVD-Audio discs on a compatible player. There are not many but you can find for example some Cambridge Audio, Harman Kardon, Sherwood Newcastle, etc…
REFERENCE RECORDINGS & COMPUTER AUDIOPHILE Moved!
Thank you very much for sharing. Are these files licensed for commercial use?
You will have to ask the individual sites. I would guess that they will follow the same requirements as any music you buy.
Dear editor & visitors,
At Channel Classics, we now also provide music in DSD format, check out http://www.channelclassics.com/try-it-now for a free download.
Thanks for the info. I’ve updated the list.
What do you use as the source to play these files, my Squeezebox is not going to play 192:)
For PCM only up to 384K, I use iTunes and MusicBee with a Musiland interface. iTunes works but it is a pain (if you play a mixture of sample rates) because it does not support WASAPI exclusive.
For PCM and DSD, I am using foobar with the Amanero USB interface. The Amanero supports both PCM and DSD
only up to 384K!! those files are enormous as it is, let alone going higher, until I started reading this blog I didn’t even know higher existed.
Yeah, those files are only for bragging rights :-).
I found this recordings of Goldberg variations supported by kickstarter community http://www.opengoldbergvariations.org/
Thanks. I think this is the first track that has been “crowd-sourced” and then released into the public domain. I’ve added it to the list. Haven’t had the time to listen to it yet, but it has received good review both the performance and the sonics…
Thanks a lot pal!
Thanks for sharing
Free ambient music (various resolutions) here …. http://www.diatonis.com/surround_sound_music.html
awesome job for collecting these links
great compilation — here are free tracks from OPPO
http://oppodigital.com/hra/dsd-by-davidelias.aspx
also the big retailer online now (not free) is http://www.superhirez.com – from acousticsounds.com
thanks!
Thanks! added to the list.
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3 Free Hi-Res titles available until 27 Dec 2013 at http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-24-bits-of-christmas-2013.aspx
Two free live recordings in PCM(192)/DSD(5.6) http://www.e-onkyo.com/music/album/oto2013/
Very interesting free file format comparison examples here; http://www.soundliaison.com/
They have some free tracks as well. I think that they are making some of the best sounding recordings available today. Unfortunately only 4 free tracks in total but amazingly well recorded.
Great work man. Really commendable. Thanks from the bottom of my heart
I couldn’t refrain from commenting. Exceptionally well written!
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Impressive walkthrough! Like the tools mentioned above, I recommend AceThinker MP3Juice Downloader. I can download any tracks I wish to have without hassles and I don’t get any problems with the output quality.
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