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Japanese 24-bit Toshiba/Blue Note reissues


J.A.W.

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What's the difference?

About ten dollars a cd. . . . ^_^

I was just hoping to see titles unreleased to cd. I would get excited about those. As I personally am happy with the RVG sound on my system and becoming disillusioned with the homogenized TOCJ sound, I'm not excited about buying Japanese copies of the same old Blue Notes, that's all.

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What's the difference?

About ten dollars a cd. . . . ^_^

I was just hoping to see titles unreleased to cd. I would get excited about those. As I personally am happy with the RVG sound on my system and becoming disillusioned with the homogenized TOCJ sound, I'm not excited about buying Japanese copies of the same old Blue Notes, that's all.

Ten dollars? The Japanese list price of a TOCJ24 is 1,500 yen or about $14.70 at the current exchange rate when imported directly from Japan (plus shipping, which is very reasonable if you order from Hiroshi Tanno). I'd never buy them from stores that are charging much higher prices. Anyway, these TOCJ24 CDs were intended for the Japanese market, not for export, and in Japan these prices are in the budget range. This series was and is being released in Japan to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Blue Note.

As for the sound, I'm satisfied with the TOCJ24s; the positives far outweigh the negatives on my system. Most (J)RVGs sounded awful on my system, while they did sound OK on the mid-fi gear I'm using in my kitchen.

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Hans, I can get BN US discs at 5.25 each. And I can't get the Japanese easily for less than 22 to 25 dollars. So it's only the unusual that I will seek out, not the latest version of titles out three or more times.

And the RVG thing. . . I agree that a lot of JRVGs from the first series don't sound that great without polarity inversion and on some systems never. The US RVGs of the last few years sound wonderful. Maybe not in systems that are prone to be bright, but in neutral or dark sounding systems they sound wonderful.

I've tailored my system not around the best sounding discs but around the average so that I get more enjoyable listening out of the collection I have. And I'm lucky in that I can tailor the sound of my speakers by changing some resistors at two sets of binding posts easily accessible, AND my latest player with very little digital filtering has made me change my preferrences in discs "signatures" and made it easy to enjoy a number of types of discs from early digital to dvd to SACD to recent Redbook releases.

So I'm in a different boat than you, and less excited about these new BNs. Shouldn't let it diminish your excitement in any way!

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Hans, I can get BN US discs at 5.25 each.  And I can't get the Japanese easily for less than 22 to 25 dollars.  So it's only the unusual that I will seek out, not the latest version of titles out three or more times.

And the RVG thing. . . I agree that a lot of JRVGs from the first series don't sound that great without polarity inversion and on some systems never.  The US RVGs of the last few years sound wonderful.  Maybe not in systems that are prone to be bright, but in neutral or dark sounding systems they sound wonderful.

I've tailored my system not around the best sounding discs but around the average so that I get more enjoyable listening out of the collection I have.  And I'm lucky in that I can tailor the sound of my speakers by changing some resistors at two sets of binding posts easily accessible, AND my latest player with very little digital filtering has made me change my preferrences in discs "signatures" and made it easy to enjoy a number of types of discs from early digital to dvd to SACD to recent Redbook releases.

So I'm in a different boat than you, and less excited about these new BNs.  Shouldn't let it diminish your excitement in any way!

Lon,

My system is not prone to be bright, and it measures flat in my room; it does, however, bring out the "bad" qualities of a recording in a way that is sometimes hard on the ears. In that way it's not tailored around the average discs as is yours. Fortunately, it does not prevent me from listening to my favorite music; if it did, there'd be something terribly wrong with me. (I realize I'm opening the door to various comments here ;))

Oh well, as long as we're able to enjoy our favorite music in our own, apparently very different ways and are able to talk about it without getting into a fight...

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Yes, I know whay you mean, my system in an early incarnation made over fifty percent of digital sound really bad (analog sounded wonderful). I've tailored with interconnects and cabling and power conditioning and isolation components to have a sound that is more enjoyable for ninety percent of cds I have (and I have about 10,000 so I need to want to listen to them!) It still measures well, and I can't wait to get home to listen every day and live for my weekend long sessions!

Perhaps the smartest thing I did was wait until PS Audio Statement interconnects and speaker cables were discounted enough for me to justify buying them; these really helped my system to be more enjoyable!

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I'm still stuck on the issue where buying a better stereo component will cause the listener to rebuy most of his collection so that it sounds well. Sure, there is a difference from buying from Best Buy and from a niche audiophile company, and tube vs solid state, and cd vs lp. But 24 bit TOCJs? Why not SACD TOCJs? We've become so used to upgrading that I think some of us has lost sight of what listening to music is all about.

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  • 1 month later...

Maybe Hans can confirm or deflate my suspicions: might these 24-bit issues be just J-RVG sourced without the marketing blurb and expensive card stock packaging? Any evidence that these are culled from master tapes or are they just re-conditioned (more compressed?) TOCJ masters that were most times taken from LPs?

And seriously, how much better are these issues sounding as I keep seeing the old incarnation of the 16 & 20s in the "offerings" forum ;) and are they as fatiguing as others in the higher rezz format?

Thanks

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Good comments and questions. The luxury/curse of being able to upgrade titles like this sounds confusing until you get it figured out.

Is their a decent consistancy to the sonic signature of the BN titles in their various forms? Are you guys able to predict or have a good idea of what they are going to sound like? Is there an individual engineer in Japan doing the TOJC's?

I know if I was more into BN digital titles I'd want to find the reissues I liked best, fast.

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I doubt these are taken from the JRVGs because these were remastered by Rudy in the US while these are probably just upgrades of what Japan did in the 90s. I have all of these in some form or another so I don't think I'll be buying any but if I didn't have them I would certainly jump on them. I'm really not sure, as Hans is, of the hostility unless it's because everybody has already seen these and wishes that others were issued in their place.

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Is their a decent consistancy to the sonic signature of the BN titles in their various forms?

Are you guys able to predict or have a good idea of what they are going to sound like? Is there an individual engineer in Japan doing the TOJC's?

-------------------

1. yes, in my experience there is a consistency to the sonic signature of this and the prior 'blue note works' series (often referred to as the 'tocj' series). mind you, i've only about 8 stereo titles from this latest '1500' series. i won't subject you to my poor description of the qualities and personality of this sound, but to my ears it's simply the standard (short of the original vinyl, which even then can be an occasional toss-up). i'll also be the first to admit a fondness for a bright high end, fair-to-partly-cloudy midrange, and a true low end with feeling/presence. these 1500's exceed on all counts. especially when understanding the masters they're working with.

2. there is an individual team of 2 toshiba staff engineers, rather young by engineer-age standards, who preside over the remastering. a recent swing journal article profiles the series and the engineers.

:rlol ,

-e-

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e- ... you can read the swing journals?! that's solid info!! 

always wished they would put out a rag like that here.

----

on a *good* day i can decipher about 65% - 70% of an article's content. enough so to understand what's going on...

and btw, these issues are defintely from the master tapes.

regards,

-e-

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