Scott Dolan Posted December 28, 2016 Report Posted December 28, 2016 I mean are they simply transfers from previous digital masters, or remastered from original master tapes? Quote
Dmitry Posted December 28, 2016 Report Posted December 28, 2016 No idea. All i know if that all XRCDs I have sound remarkably good. However, the packaging of the US XRCDs from the late 1990s-early 2000s sucks ass. The Japanese ones are impeccable. Quote
jazzbo Posted December 28, 2016 Report Posted December 28, 2016 These are remastered by Alan Yoshida from great tapes, possibly transfers of the original tapes (there is some speculation that the tape sources are the 24/192 tapes that Bernie Grundman has been transferring for Blue Note and have been used for some US releases of late and hi-res files for sale). I have bought about fifteen over the last few years and each sounds excellent. Quote
Scott Dolan Posted December 28, 2016 Report Posted December 28, 2016 (edited) They are remastered from the original master tapes. It states it in the link you provided. And I'm sure they do sound good. Anything would be better than many of those "not very good" RVG editions, which were thoroughly underwhelming. Though, I have to admit the pricing is a bit outrageous. But hey, I've bought Pink Floyd "Immersion" sets, so I have no room to talk. Edited December 28, 2016 by Scott Dolan Quote
JohnBlutarski Posted December 28, 2016 Report Posted December 28, 2016 Couldn't resist the sale. Only 15$ each, plus another 15% off. Of course there is P&P to Europe. Never heard those XRCD's, so I ordered 7 of them. I have a normal CD Player, I'm curieus to hear the difference with other versions Quote
Dmitry Posted December 28, 2016 Report Posted December 28, 2016 4 hours ago, JohnBlutarski said: Couldn't resist the sale. Only 15$ each, plus another 15% off. Of course there is P&P to Europe. Never heard those XRCD's, so I ordered 7 of them. I have a normal CD Player, I'm curieus to hear the difference with other versions Good work, senator! Mine are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Quote
sidewinder Posted December 31, 2016 Report Posted December 31, 2016 On 28/12/2016 at 7:03 PM, jazzbo said: These are remastered by Alan Yoshida from great tapes, possibly transfers of the original tapes (there is some speculation that the tape sources are the 24/192 tapes that Bernie Grundman has been transferring for Blue Note and have been used for some US releases of late and hi-res files for sale). I have bought about fifteen over the last few years and each sounds excellent. Presumably the same source as the similar titles for the Music Matters 2x45rpms? - if so, they should be great. Quote
jazzbo Posted December 31, 2016 Report Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) I don't do digital files so not sure, but you'll be pleased. You know how audiophiles are, they are skeptical of talk of "master tapes" being used, and many believe that the recent Grundman transfers of the tapes are used for various releases now, hi-res, SHM-CD, US cds, audiophile LPs etc. Edited December 31, 2016 by jazzbo Quote
Scott Dolan Posted December 31, 2016 Report Posted December 31, 2016 The problem with master tapes is that the "originals" seem to be found every, what, 5-7 years? Quote
David Ayers Posted December 31, 2016 Report Posted December 31, 2016 And the master is any tape used to master an LP. It Is not the session tape. Quote
erwbol Posted December 31, 2016 Report Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) These outstanding releases are clearly straight from the best available tapes. Not from the also excellent Grundman transfers. Yoshida is even pictured with a Scotch tape box in his hands inside the booklet. The XRCD process is outlined in great detail in a schematic. The releases based on the Grundman transfers like the HD Tracks, SHM-CDs from Blue Note's 75th anniversary & the recent mono Platinum SHM-CDs have a similar sound signature, although the regular SHM-CDs had some limiting applied. The XRCD24s sound different, imo even better. Unfortunately some of the earliest titles like Cool Struttin' are long OOP. Back in 2012 when the Euro was stronger against the dollar you could order all of these through Importcds and have them delivered to Europe for about €21 or €22. Luckily I was able to get all the titles I fancied. Too bad the selection of albums was pretty conservative, even cowardly. Nothing approaching avant-garde. P.S. I have both the Yoshida XRCD24s and 75th anniversary SHM-CDs of Blakey's A Night In Tunisia, Brooks' Back To The Tracks, and Clark's Cool Struttin'. The XRCDs have an even wider stereo spread than the Grundman based SHMs. The sound differs in other respects as well. P.P.S. Yoshida did do the first five HD Tracks titles before Grundman took over. (Though I believe he was falsely credited for more titles on the old HD Tracks website.) Perhaps that is a source of confusion. None of those five titles were released on XRCD24. Edited January 5, 2017 by erwbol Quote
Dmitry Posted January 3, 2017 Report Posted January 3, 2017 (edited) Well, I got my first two XRCDs - Back to the Tracks and Bluesnik. Also I was lucky to buy the oop disc from the series - True Blue, which sounded so phenomenally good, that I turned around and ordered the 11 titles they have on sale at the Elusive Disc. Pretty much all of them I already have on other sources, but these sound so great, that I won't mind AB'ing them with my existing cds, because these XRCDs could just be the definitive edition. Edited January 3, 2017 by Dmitry Quote
Scott Dolan Posted January 3, 2017 Report Posted January 3, 2017 2 hours ago, Dmitry said: Well, I got my first two XRCDs - Back to the Tracks and Bluesnik. Also I was lucky to buy the oop disc from the series - True Blue, which sounded so phenomenally good, that I turned around and ordered the 11 titles they have on sale at the Elusive Disc. Pretty much all of them I already have on other sources, but these sound so great, that I won't mind AB'ing them with my existing cds, because these XRCDs could just be the definitive edition. Sounds like Mr. Yoshida must be an outstanding mastering engineer. He also mastered the latest Paul McCartney "best of", which I've heard rave reviews of. Quote
erwbol Posted January 5, 2017 Report Posted January 5, 2017 On 03/01/2017 at 4:53 PM, Scott Dolan said: Sounds like Mr. Yoshida must be an outstanding mastering engineer. He also mastered the latest Paul McCartney "best of", which I've heard rave reviews of. I believe it's also partly the XRCD process that makes these discs sound so good, but Yoshida's previous 20bit JVC XRCDs like the Art Tatum Ben Webster Pablo classic, Miles Davis' Walkin' and Kenny Dorham's Quiet Kenny all sound stellar. The guy definitely has mastering-chops! Quote
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted January 5, 2017 Report Posted January 5, 2017 well i way back got two: soul station and true blue, i did like SS very much (im just going to be talking about SQ here) but true blue i found to be too "loud". i should revisit im sure the clarity was good on both. back to the tracks, i should get that one Quote
David Posted January 6, 2017 Report Posted January 6, 2017 I have all the released Blue Note XRCDs (it seems unlikely they will finish the 25 CD run, unfortunately) and they are all my go-to editions. Quote
Dmitry Posted January 6, 2017 Report Posted January 6, 2017 11 BN xrcds on the USPS delivery truck now. Quote
Scott Dolan Posted January 6, 2017 Report Posted January 6, 2017 Holy moly! You be reading my obituary if I ever ordered that many CDs at once! Quote
JSngry Posted January 6, 2017 Report Posted January 6, 2017 Can I have your records when you die? Quote
Scott Dolan Posted January 6, 2017 Report Posted January 6, 2017 (edited) I reckon. But after my wife kills me, there are no guarantees on the condition of said records. They may be next. Or buried in the backyard with me... Edited January 6, 2017 by Scott Dolan Quote
Dmitry Posted January 7, 2017 Report Posted January 7, 2017 (edited) Don't mind spending this snowy day and night doing the side-by-side comparisons of these. Edited January 8, 2017 by Dmitry Quote
Dave Garrett Posted January 8, 2017 Report Posted January 8, 2017 On 1/6/2017 at 7:55 AM, Scott Dolan said: Holy moly! You be reading my obituary if I ever ordered that many CDs at once! You would be amazed (or possibly appalled) at the number of people on the Hoffman board who regularly admit to sneaking large music purchases into their houses. Such discussions often devolve to a comparison of specific strategies on how to do so. Quote
Scott Dolan Posted January 8, 2017 Report Posted January 8, 2017 (edited) 10 hours ago, Dave Garrett said: You would be amazed (or possibly appalled) at the number of people on the Hoffman board who regularly admit to sneaking large music purchases into their houses. Such discussions often devolve to a comparison of specific strategies on how to do so. Only problem being that my wife and I don't have seperate bank accounts. Ain't no strategy possible for getting around that! 15 hours ago, Dmitry said: Don't mind spending this snowy day and night doing the side-by-side comparisons of these. ? Why would you need to? Aren't they all different masters? Edited January 8, 2017 by Scott Dolan Quote
Dmitry Posted January 8, 2017 Report Posted January 8, 2017 4 hours ago, Scott Dolan said: Why would you need to? Aren't they all different masters? I don't need to, I want to. It's a fun way to spend time. Quote
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