riverrat Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 (edited) Not sure if this has been mentioned here...some clips from an ongoing thread in the Steve Hoffman forum: Joe Harley : "Yes, I have started working with Alan Yoshida (who btw has the same great respect for our host) on a series of 50+ XRCDs of Blue Note. We just finished Hank Mobley's Soul Station and are about to go on next week for another four. Blakey's great Night In Tunisia is in the batting cage. The official announcement hasn't come yet but I can't think of a better way to do it than with Steve's very gracious words. Folk's there's kind of an inside fraternity of mastering engineers who know who is who from an inside respect point of view. Each has their own area of expertise. Steve, Kevin, Alan, Bernie....there are a few others. But these guys are the best of the best, the cream of the crop. To a man, they LOVE the music and desire to make it the best it can be, each in their own way. I'll have more to say about the XRCDs soon. (Here's a hint: All XRCD's are NOT the same!)… We are basically shadowing the Music Matters titles released and unreleased in the XRCD program. So there will be no overlap with the titles that Acoustic Sounds are doing on SACD. I'm excited about this program, for a couple of reasons. Alan Yoshida's test XRCD of Soul Station sounds remarkably good....I'm tempted to say shockingly good. Alan is a fanatic about set up. He spent nearly 3 hours just aligning the tape! Come to think of it Alan is a fanatic about all things sonic. The other reason I'm excited is that we have the opportunity to really bring these great titles to life, to make the best analog and digital versions ever released. To be able to help bring the loves of my musical life to market in both analog and digital versions of the highest order is just thrilling to me." Edited March 7, 2009 by riverrat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 This is exciting news, especially for anyone not enamored with the RVGs. On the other hand, I pretty much have all the BN albums I want in one version or another, so I can't imagine buying too many over again. On the other, other hand, I've only heard one of the new BN SACDs so far and it's pretty damn nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 What are xrcds, and where's Clifford Jordan's first album, also where's the Brookmeyer/Bill Evans one? First those, please, then later audiophilocrapola... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 (edited) Of course it's good to have CDs that sound better than the RVG or McMaster CDs, but why not go all the way and make hybrid SACDs, like Analogue Productions? XRCDs ("extended resolution CDs") are regular redbook CDs with a more sophisticated mastering/manufacturing method. The were "invented" by JVC long before SACD and DVD-A hit the market, but are now completely superfluous, especially since the name suggests a higher resolution than regular CDs, which is not correct. The name "XRCD" is pure marketing genius, although it also makes some people wonder if the discs are compatible with their CD player, which of course they are as the discs are just CDs with a funny name. After the SACD and DVD-A market failure, other companies recently jumped the audiophile CD bandwaggon with the "SHM-CD" and "Blu-spec CD" products. Edited March 8, 2009 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robviti Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 oh goody, goody. yet another reason for people to spend their money on recordings they already know and most probably already own. once again, people are being encouraged to buy sound rather than music. obviously, there's no need to create a demand for companies to support and release current works by artists when there's still vaults full of stuff that's 50 years old. if people see these projects as the future of jazz and other creative improvised music, then maybe they deserve the pitiful 3% of the pie they're now getting. for me, i'll enjoy the old but seek out the new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Ah Rob, there's no real competition in the market place I don't think . . . these XRCDs etc. are for people who have invested in expensive stereos and want to reap the rewards with extraordinary sounding recordings. A different market altogether from serious jazz fans, with a tiny bit of overlap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Basten II Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 How about concentrating on getting out what has not been out yet in current formats instead of creating technology that will be obsolete as soon as they start producing enough products to warrant buying this new technology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 but this isn't EMI releasing these, they're just responding to license requests and getting money from stuff (yet again) that are in demand for the audiophile market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riverrat Posted March 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 How about concentrating on getting out what has not been out yet in current formats instead of creating technology that will be obsolete as soon as they start producing enough products to warrant buying this new technology. XRCD is not new technology, its been out for years. As previously noted, it is simply redbook CD technology with some tweaks and better attention to detail in the manufacturing process. XRCDs play on any CD player and most of them sound really great. I look at it as a chance to hear another remaster of these titles that may more closely approximate high quality analog playback, which the RVG series rarely does. Will I go out an replace all my TOCJ jewel case versions? Nope. Will I replace some titles that I currently only have on RVG? Fairly likely, depending on how much these puppies cost... I passed this info along because I think there is interest here, especially for titles people do NOT already own, it may now be worth it to wait for some of these. Personally I try to strike a balance in my music buying between opportunistic upgrading and picking up new music. Those who think its a waste to spend money on them will certainly not be compelled to buy any, AFAIK. I'm all for releasing stuff that's been in the vaults or not available on CD but that is largely a separate issue. The audiophile labels responsible for these Blue Note SACD/CD hybrids and XRCDs are unlikely to risk the time and money to release obscure titles. I'm sure there are some gems here and there that haven't seen the light of day on CD yet, but I seriously doubt many of them would be cost effective to release on one of these audiophile formats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtSalt Posted November 10, 2013 Report Share Posted November 10, 2013 I must say, I am tempted by this XRCD malarkey, as I am with Blu Spec 2 and now SHM CD Platinum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted November 10, 2013 Report Share Posted November 10, 2013 (edited) The Blue Note XRCD24 that I own sound fantastic. I bought the first three Sade releases on Blu-Spec2 CD because the price was right and I wanted to check them out. They sound very very good, I've never heard these sessions sound this good in digital. These are unnecessary purchases if you have the material elsewhere and are not chasing great sound. But they can be rewarding if you can do them justice with playback and like comparisons, etc. Or (which is an additional reason for me) you wish to have definitive versions of favorite items. Edited November 10, 2013 by jazzbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erwbol Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 The series is not dead! Release date 21 Januari 2014 according to importcds.com. Elusivedisc.com already has it in stock and ready to ship. Audio Wave Music's website's front is updated with four new titles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 (edited) The series is not dead! Release date 21 Januari 2014 according to importcds.com. Elusivedisc.com already has it in stock and ready to ship. Audio Wave Music's website's front is updated with four new titles. They can be pre-ordered from ImportCDs at $21.50 each (current price): http://www.importcds.com/Search/Results?type=200&mt=2&pt=2&lbl=audio+wave I posted this because as far as I can see they're the cheapest around. Edited January 4, 2014 by J.A.W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 I doubt this can beat the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab gold CD by a whole lot. That's a pretty good sounding CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 I doubt this can beat the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab gold CD by a whole lot. That's a pretty good sounding CD.I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erwbol Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 I doubt this can beat the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab gold CD by a whole lot. That's a pretty good sounding CD. I agree. Which Blue Note titles were released by Mobile Fidelity on gold CD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 I doubt this can beat the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab gold CD by a whole lot. That's a pretty good sounding CD. I agree. Which Blue Note titles were released by Mobile Fidelity on gold CD? Apart from Art Blakey's A Night in Tunisia: Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else and John Coltrane's Blue Train (also his Atlantic album Giant Steps, which sounds good to me) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 They can be pre-ordered from ImportCDs at $21.50 each (current price): http://www.importcds.com/Search/Results?type=200&mt=2&pt=2&lbl=audio+waveTheir price just shot up to $28 plus change... [sigh] I hope it'll come down again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erwbol Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 They can be pre-ordered from ImportCDs at $21.50 each (current price): http://www.importcds.com/Search/Results?type=200&mt=2&pt=2&lbl=audio+wave Their price just shot up to $28 plus change... [sigh] I hope it'll come down again. They're all $21.50 again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 They can be pre-ordered from ImportCDs at $21.50 each (current price): http://www.importcds.com/Search/Results?type=200&mt=2&pt=2&lbl=audio+wave Their price just shot up to $28 plus change... [sigh] I hope it'll come down again. They're all $21.50 again. Maybe they are reading Hans' posts . Let's see if we can get them down to $19.50. I'll probably pop for a couple at the sale price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtSalt Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 My first two arrived yesterday, both Lee Morgan: Candy and Tom Cat. Without any doubt these are the definitive CD versions. Absolutely first rate, full on, Blue Note first pressing sonic bliss! Flawless. Well in saying that, on Candy, I picked-up the squeak on the master tapes on a number of tracks, generally I only hear this with headphones on. But clearly, that's on the master tape and not inherent in the CD itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Friedman Posted January 11, 2014 Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 I have the two that Art Salt just mentioned, as well as some others. What Art said is also my opinion. Beautiful music with truly outstanding sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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