Any recent MFSL, AP or AF, etc. hybrid SACD's that you do NOT recommend?*

All the Analogue Productions SACDs of the Verve reissues are done at 48/20 bit resolution. They are a whole lot better than ordinary CDs, mostly because of the very nice mastering. But that doesn't hide the lower resolution.
In general, anything done on SACD by George Marino at Sterling used that 48Khz./20 bit resolution.
This includes the SACDs of
"Elvis 24K hits" and "Elvis is back".
Plus probably a whole bunch of others.

That said, they are very nice sounding. I've got a bunch now and I like them a lot.
Doesn't hide or excuse the lower resolution. Put a Blue Note AP SACD on, then a Verve Marino reissue and you'll notice the difference. Not subtle.

 

Since Mr. Marino has been dead for so long, I really believe that many titles just use his name even though he had nothing to do with them.

 

AF:

Phil Collins' "No Jacket Required" and "Face Value" are really good, but the regular discs are also fine. Not worth the extra money, if you ask me. No remastering will put away the sterile 80s sound of "Jacket". ("But Seriously" and "Hello..." are different stories and well worth the money).

"Presto" and "Roll The Bones" by Rush are probably the best digital versions available, but the 2004 remasters come quite close, so I would recommend spending the extra money only for collectors. "Counterparts" maybe (depending on your taste) even inferior to the 1993 original.

I don't like the tape drag and some drop-outs on the AF "52nd Street".

 

It's easy to beat up on George Marino, considering he isn't here (or anywhere) to defend himself.

 

If they're very nice sounding, why doesn't that excuse the lower resolution?

 

Exactly. Night Beat, the BH albums he did, and Elvis and others, they have that analogue/tubey goodness. I don't like all of his work, but those I very much do.

 

Well for instance with "Songs For Distingue Lovers" I very much preferred the original Verve CD, which I believe is mastered by Dennis Drake.
http://www.discogs.com/Billie-Holiday-Songs-For-Distingue-Lovers/release/3030337

 

Cool, I'll have to check it out. Is it the mono or stereo mix?

 

It's in stereo. I don't think this album has a mono mix on CD, does it?

 

I prefer the original Verve CDs to the AP SACDs. Most of the George Marino mastered SACDs sound too bright to me.

 

I disagree on No Jacket Required. Yes, it's a very synthetic sounding record but the mastering on the AF is great. A good example of what can be done with mastering in the digital domain. Perfect tonal balance on every track, to my ears.

 

Very nice, I'll get it for sure then. They did use the mono mixes for these tracks on the 2005 box set The Complete Verve Studio Master Takes.

 

Oh? Interesting, I'll look into that.
By the way here's a sample from the CD if you're interested:
http://www21.zippyshare.com/v/42824529/file.html

 

Wow, I had no idea that he passed away.

 

I think it's kind of underwhelming, at least the way it sounds on that box set. Thanks for the sample; from what I heard I agree that the Verve AAD CD sounds better than the Marino SACD.

 

As I have written here at this forum in the past, I had some very bad experiences with the folks at Sterling Sound. Back in 2011 or so I was doing some research about the SACD of Cat Stevens. I talked to several folks at Sterling Sound and they were all very rude. I finally got the information that George really hadn't been to work in over a year, which means he probably hasn't mastered anything since sometime in 2010. It was hard for me to get that information because I really did talk to a lot of really rude people at Sterling Sound, and his private secretary was by far the rudest, but I finally did get a couple of folks to tell me that Mr. Marino had been on sick leave for about a year. Anything that was mastered after about the middle of 2010 that has George's name on it was probably just done by a house engineer at Sterling Sound. That being the case, we should not use Mr. Marino's name when we disparage a disc that was issued using Sterling Sound's name in the last 4 or 5 years. Why they continue to use his name on new product is beyond me, but because I don't think that it lives up to the quality of Mr. Marino then I feel that Sterling Sound should just tell us who has been the mastering engineer on all of these titles. Of course I have suggested this, but the folks at Sterling Sound are very, VERY, rude.

 

While the recent MOFI of Garcia/Grisman sounds very nice indeed, I am not finding it to be appreciably superior to the quite wonderful Acoustic Disc redbook release. Definitely a case of trying to gild a lily. IMO.

 

Neither did I.

 

How can we determine when a title was mastered, as opposed to the production date of the SACD?

For example, AP's "Ella and Louis" doesn't actually say it was mastered by George Marino, the booklet just quotes him, saying "This is why I got into this business." — George Marino, senior Mastering Engineer, Sterling Sound

On a different page, it says ℗ 2011.

That could be the mastering date, or the scheduled release date, or the date the booklet was printed, or...

One thing I love about the music industry, they're sticklers for historical accuracy, documentation and details

 

You are absolutely correct. A lot of discs just use that quote, and we have no real idea when and/or who mastered it.

 

Any disclosure issues, though, are issues for Analogue Productions, not their subcontractor Sterling Sound, particularly now that George Marino has passed on.

The Verve SACDs are APO commodities, and Chad's ultimately responsible for them.

 

same for the Mofi gang!

 

Why do you say that? I've read several polite email responses on these forums answering member's questions.

 

That was not my experience with them.

 

Despite being Mofis number 1 customer. Claus criticizes them every chance he gets.