John Coltrane /My Favorite Things (1961) -- Summertime

Great song...needs no explanation.

Starting the day with Sony's UltraHD 32-Bit Mastering of Kind of Blue and JBC's Rock the House blend coffee. So, the question of the day is does the 32-bit UHD version sound better? Well, yes it does but there is still a very audible hiss and some distortion. So What still has the clearly audible distortion on the opening and closing moments of the song; however, I don't think it's quite as bad as my other CD. On a positive note, there is a significant amount of space in the recording. The instruments sound more lifelike than the standard CD. Sound is coming from all over the place from the sound stage.

Is this a reference recording? It would probably not be on my demo list for testing new equipment. Is it worth the purchase? Absolutely, KOB is still a classic and this version does sound better, just not as good as the musical performance deserves. I would still appreciate a lower noise floor, no distortion, and a bit more resolution: particularly from the bass. Going from Lee Morgan's Sidewinder on the Best of Bluenote to this is a stark contrast in SQ. after the SACD version arrives in 4-6 weeks, I'll stop searching and analyzing and just enjoy the album for what it is: a jazz masterpiece!

Cheers,

T Cobe

And a few from last weekend.

Dave Weckl / Master Plan -- Festival De Ritmo

T Cobe: not what I was wanting to hear. Think I'll skip the 32-bit UHD version, at least for now. I'll wait for your assessment of the SACD before making any final decisions.

Anthem,

Yeah, definitely better than my standard CD so a worthwhile purchase if you don't already own the album or if you love the album. I was hoping for a bit better, though. I'm holding out hope for the MoFi SACD. I'll keep you posted.

I'm also listening to the Living Stereo SACD version of Bolero today. It also arrived yesterday with KOB. After putting the disk in, I noticed I was only getting sound on out of my Triton Ones. After playing around with the settings between my AVM 60 and Oppo 103, I gave up and tried another SACD. That disk worked just fine. A few hours later, I'm now reading the CD cover and see that only tracks 7-11 are in 3-channel... I guess that'll teach you to read the fine manual first.

The 3-channel material sounds great! I wish the whole disc were reproduced this way. A bit more dynamic and involving than 2-channel. Quite a lot of depth and a rather large sound stage. It's also nice not having to sit dead center to hear the center locked in as with stereo music. While my 2-channel setup is definitely better on the same material, the AVM 60 has some serious audiophile chops and that's with cheap cabling.



Thanks for the reference to the Bolero SACD, Wayne, Art, and Eiffel62! The additional expense of buying a second copy was definitely worth it. The stereo version can go in the car.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Roman, your pics are REALLY AWESOME!!!!!

T Cobe, The music on Bolero is very accessible, nearly everybody loves it after the movie "10" (what is not to like???).
But you are right, there is not that much good 3 channel on that disc. You can go back and look, there are others that I would recommend much more highly. My favorite I guess, "Rhapsodies" by Stowkowski.

God Bless, Wayne