Best Sounding Nightfly: Vinyl vs. DVD-Audio vs. Nightfly trilogy version vs. CD

Between the DVD-A, CD, and my 2 LP's, I probably like the DVD-A best. All sound great though.

 

I've never understood why people thought this was a good sounding LP (I have the the standard Quiex) I recently got a new cart that brings out the best in everything, so I'll have to listen to it soon, and see if my opinion changes.

An early digital LP I like far more sonically is Joe Jackson's Body and Soul. I just picked up an extra pristine copy of that for $3 this week, just in case it's a better pressing than mine. Man, talk about amazing recordings with natural reverb, that even a slight digital thinness at times can't kill.

 

The DVD-A is much much better than the old 'red book' CD.
The difference is like night and day.

 

It's a good sounding record, pressing wise, and Great music. But as you point out, it's early digital. And it sounds a bit thin.

I can only dream of what "Nightfly" would have sounded like if Fagen had recorded it the way they did "Gaucho" (24 track analog I believe). That's one the best recordngs I've ever heard.

 

The only version I don't like is the (first?) US cd. I remember it sounding very dull compared to the Japanese Target. I EAC'd both a Japanese Target and a German non-target pressing onto my computer a while back, and could not hear any difference between them. However, I recently found a German Target used, and now prefer that version for redbook playback, probably because it looks so cool, lol. The DVD-A is incredible of course. My used vinyl copy is just alright.

 

I bought the 'Nightfly' MVI box set a few weeks ago and the whole thing sounds great.

The dts tracks on the 'MVI's are awesome in surround and the CD's sound warm and non-maximized. I love having the CD's for the car.

A po' boy collection (I assume) compared to the DVD-A's, but all three titles are (to me) sonic treats in dts surround or on the CD's.

 

the Stupidity of Record companies is that they release these New things in Warners case MVI, and dont make them the best they can why not add an MLP track, ditch all the other c£*p on the discs (ringtones pah!!), add MLP and MVI would be brilliant. Value for money would be Full DVDA plus all the other C£*p

That said i am sure the trillogy box is the best way to get these in surround if you cant get hold of the DVDA. I was tempted at one point untill i got hold of a DVDA of Kamakiriad. those japanese online stores have provided me with some quite rare and good stuff.

 

Well put.

 

My favourite version of it, is the Japanese MASTERDISK RL version.

Very musical and foot tapping!

JG

 

Isn't the CD in the Trilogy box the same as the standard U.S. CD? Maybe the original poster was asking about the DTS tracks there.

Also, when speaking of the CD, we need to be careful. There was a secret remaster in the U.S. (I don't know whether it surfaced elsewhere). The standard targets, West German and Japanese non-targets, and my early U.S. DADC pressing sound better than a U.S. WEA pressing I bought new a couple of years ago.

Note in the previous paragraph that I said "standard targets". Recall that there is the very rare "02" West German target that was pulled and replaced with the common "03" West German target. The 02 target sound anemic to me. I keep it for the rarity and as a curiosity only.

My favorite version is the DVD-Audio disc. It's excellent.

 

The other option for those seeking the DVD-A of Nightfly but not wanting to pay the inflated price for it would be to track down the DualDisc version which has the same audio on the "high resolution" side as the DVD-A but can be had for much less.

 

The DVD-A as all of his DVD-A's is great.

 

Well this thread has caused me to pull out the Lp. Just listened to the Quiex version with my new phono cart - (a state of the art design) which I feel is pulling out the most this LP has to offer.

It's quite a bit more enjoyable than I had ever heard it previously, but things like cymbals and snare sound like digital hash. The quiter elements like cow bell sound nice though.

Incidentally in the past day I also listened to Thomas Dolby's Flat Earth and Laurie Anderson;s Mr. Heartbreak (which is amazing sounding). Both feature electronic instrumentation but recorded analog - and sound excellent.

I know this is a fantasy, but I wish Fagan would go back to the multi-track digital session tapes and remix Nightly on a modern digital system. (since true digital mixing wasn't available back in those days causing master to suffer extra (primitive) DtoA and A to D steps in the process of mixing)

48K protools studios are so cheap today, It wouldn't cost that much.

 

I agree with you about the digital hash which I was commenting on above, and lamenting.......
<< "I can only dream of what "Nightfly" would have sounded like if Fagen had recorded it the way they did "Gaucho" (24 track analog I believe). That's one the best recordngs I've ever heard". >>

Since that will never be, yes it would be a great candidate for a re-mix, being the great material that it is.

 

Hi John,

I have the German 'vinyl revival' LP as well as a Japanese MASTERDISL 'RL' copy as well, and when I play Walk Between Raindrops I feel the German pressing lacks the pace and foot-tapping qualities of the 'RL' copy. The 'RL' copy has a great bouce and swing that I feel the German pressing lacks.

JG

 

Isn't this what we get in the DVD-A (multichannel track, of course)?

 

Analog recording maybe, but my LP says "Mixed from analog to two track digital"

 

I have several copies of the original LP. which sound really good, and a MFSL LP which sounds even better. I'm pretty sure it's one of the better sounding MFSL's, with a brilliant top end AND a solid bottom as well. I was thrilled how good it sounded-it cost me a pretty penny ($60) but worth every bit considering how much I love that album.

 

The RL LP is my preference for this album.

 

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but I just came across this...

http://www.amazon.com/Nightfly-Dona...r_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1216097854&sr=8-12

Is anyone familar with NF as a DualDisc? While I've never been crazy about a two-sided disc, it's half the cost of the standard DVD-A on Amazon.

Thanks in advance for the info,
Dan

 

I've often wondered if that "warmer" advantage was because:
1. To many vinyl always has more warmth than CDs.
2. There is enough noticeable difference between the source's 50/16 sampling rate (preserved in the transfer to vinyl) and the CD's 44.1/16 rate.
3. Converting from 50/16 to 44.1/16 in the 1980s resulted in a colder sound than had the album been recorded/mixed at 44.1/16.

 

On a tangent...that's why I stopped shopping at Amoeba and have gone back strictly to Rasputin's.

That seems a bit steep to me.

 

They're all good. Haven't heard a bad one yet. Well, maybe the 8-track....

Seriously - is there a bad one? I mean really bad? This is just a great album recorded digitally and all releases shouldn't be that far off from the master. Maybe I'm being ignorant, but wouldn't the difference be minimal, at best?

Let the flaming begin....

 

Regarding Mr. Heartbreak - Mothership- right you are- I missed that. Thought Maybe the original multi track Analog recording helped vs. recording multi track digitally on those early digital machines.