Its currently looking to be number 1, double the number of copies sold of the album in 2nd place at

My copy from there was ordered today, how long did delivery take and what is a tote bag? I need a new turntable, so cant listen to this beast of an album on vinyl yet.

Well I don't want to get anyone mad at me here discussing lossless music...

But to answer your question, a CD maxes out at 16/44 (16 bit/44 khz), which is standard lossless.
24 bit is higher quality than a CD, it's considered HD lossless... the only physical format that you can print this type of quality on would be Blu-ray (which bands have been doing more often lately, such Underworld's "Dubnobasswithmyheadman" reissue and Nirvana's "Nevermind" and "In Utero" reissues)

The Prodigy hi-res release is 24/44 (24 bit/44 khz)

24 bit is closer to the original source file made in the studio after it was all mixed down and mastered since studio gear usually maxes out at 24/96... sometimes 24/192 (like the Virus TI2 Polar's interface), but that's a little bit overkill.
There's different variations of 24 bit, such as 24/44... 24/48... 24/88... 24/96... The Day Is My Enemy hi-res release is 24/44.

But 24 bit WAV is the closest you'll get to Liam getting the file back from the mastering studio and handing it over to you.
There's absolutely no downgrading or compression going on.

A program like Ableton will even let you render at 32 bit...
but if all of your gear maxes out at 24 bit, like most do, it's pointless to save at that quality.
But we'll be moving to 32 bit audio soon.

So yes, this is higher quality than a CD...
Highest possible quality in MP3 is 320kbps
Where as a 16 bit WAV is 1411kbps (16 bit FLAC is 800-1100kbps depending on the track)
And a 24 bit WAV is 2117kbps (24 bit is 1500-1800kbps depending on the track)

So the highest possible audio format is 24 bit WAV if you want absolutely ZERO compression.
FLAC has a way of compressing a file without losing any audio information, hence a smaller file size compared to uncompressed WAV.

So as a producer, if I rendered my final mix/mastered track... I would save it as a 24/96 WAV, which is usually the standard for music producers.

Hope this helps.

Its currently looking to be number 1, double the number of copies sold of the album in 2nd place at

I hope it gets the number 1 in the UK album charts just to keep the run going (all Prodigy albums except 'Experience' getting to number 1). These days someone like Ed Sheeran or whoever can perform a track on 'The X Factor' and all of a sudden an album they release 9 months ago is suddenly number 1 in the album charts again. One of the advantages/disadvantages of digital sales.

Has anyone who's downloaded the 24-bit version from Qobuz managed to get it working with iTunes Match?

I thought iTunes can't play FLAC at all... either need WAV or their own lossless format ALAC

Nope, it can't. I just convert the FLACs into ALAC before import.

Agreed.

I phoned my 3 local HMV stores today, 2 had sold out and the other said they had a memo from head office today stating that they are NOT allowed to sell the EP on its own anymore due to people buying 5 to 10 copies each.
They did have 3 left but they forced me to buy the album on CD or vinyl to get the EP, although if you do this the EP is free.

At least ive got a copy now, and i needed the CD as im still waiting for my order to arrive from the official store..........

With Qobuz, you don't have to convert at all...

When you purchase 24 bit, you have unlimited downloads in the format of your choice.
Qobuz has 24 bit audio in FLAC, WAV, AIFF, WMA, and ALAC... you can choose any of those formats when you download your purchase. Hell, you can download your purchase in ALL of the formats if you wanted to. There is no limit.

Just remember, in iTunes you must go to PREFERENCES... then PLAYBACK... toward the bottom, you will see that you can choose the Bitrate For Audio Playback and Bit Per Sample that you want it to play up to.

So make sure that you change it to 24 BIT and 192 KHZ and you will be able to play every type of 24 bit hi-res audio with iTunes as long it's WAV, AIFF, and ALAC.

Cheers man! Managed it in the end. And it works with iTunes Match too, which is ace. Yeah, configured 24-bit playback in Settings. Tracks like Invisible Sun legitimately sound more developed and deep than the 16-bit FLACs, which is kinda insane. Thanks for your help!!

What news? This thread is 99.9% opinions, personal reviews and arguments.