SH Spotlight What sounds just like the analog master tape: CD, Vinyl, SACD or a 1:1 analog Reel tape copy?

I'm afraid there aren't any SACDs mastered by Steve Hoffman on the Grimm AD1 that are currently available, but I would love to be proved wrong on this...

 

Normally high resolution digital has more accurate tonality than low resolution digital - maybe the device was defective, personally I would return it to the store and ask for a replacement unit.

 

I want to know if Vinyl has the same sound as the master tapes? Both are analoge right? ...
If vinyl don get close enough to the master tapes? Which media can?




So... what was the veredict???
Which one sound like the master tapes???

 

Nat "King" Cole - The Very Thought of You
Nat "King" Cole - Love Is The Thing, St. Louis Blues
Nat "King" Cole - After Midnight, The Nat King Cole Story
Nat "King" Cole - Where Did Everyone Go?, Just One Of Those Things

 

I was listening to an all valve electrostat system this week
Top cart arm and table
Analogue throughout
Duke Ellington
The owner loved it
Intermod distortion jumped at me immediatley
Perhaps we have different ways of hearing ?

 

I like your new Spotlight series, Steve! keeps the focus on what we are here for, IMO.

 

Steve as it was a few years ago and there may have been some improvements in technology have you recently tried doing another test like this to see if anything has changed for you?

 

To my knowledge, the most recent evaluation of the capabilities of different audio formats has been done by Bruce Brown @ Puget Sound Studios.

"We master from tape and also archive to the digital domain. To fully capture the nuances of tape, I feel the only way to do that is into either DSD64fs via a Grimm AD1 or to DSD128fs. That is the closest I’ve heard digital to master tape. That is how good tape can be. It trumps everything else."
http://www.audiostream.com/content/qa-bruce-brown-puget-sound-studios

The digital captures of analog tapes produced at Puget Sound Studios were evaluated a month ago by Audiostream's Michael Lavorgna.
http://www.audiostream.com/content/dsd-v-pcm-file-comparison-16441-2496-24192-64x-dsd-128x-dsd

 

But what about the Grimm Audio AD1? Doesn't it tip the scales in SACD's favor?

 

I've said this before, but I'll repeat myself because it's pertinent to this discussion. The best thing about Compact Discs is the "compact" part. I can easily play them in my car, they sound pretty good, and if I take care of them they don't wear out.

That wasn't the industry goal, though. The goal was to kill the cassette. People made their own cassettes to play in the car or in a Walkman, they seldom bought factory-made tapes. Cassettes were easily copied. At the time, there was no way to copy a CD. The companies could also justify a huge increase in price and profit margin because CDs were "Perfect Sound Forever". So, that's what we got.

However, the recording industry, when they decided to go optical, could have used the analog Videodisc standard. The discs were 12" diameter, same as LPs, and had full-size cover art and liner notes. They would have fit perfectly on the LP shelves people already had. And they were analog.

Analog laserdiscs would have truly been perfect sound forever--a real opportunity was missed.

 

That's a really interesting point!

 

Like Kevin Gray said, the Grimm AD1 changes the whole complexion of the thing...

"I didn't like the sound of a lot of the convertors that people were using, but I've heard a couple of new ones that I really, really like, and that's what were using on the projects that's were doing. One is made by a company called Grimm Audio in Holland. And I think that's changing the whole complexion of the thing. " - Kevin Gray

 

It says that the invented process is a great one and that every technology needs time to mature.

 

I'm sure there are others who would say that working with analog is a pain in the butt as well, but what does it say about analog sound?

 

Besides, I think it's a bit of a stretch to say the Grimm converter is the only converter in the world that sounds right. The new Bob Dylan - Blood On the Tracks Mofi SACD or Black Sabbath - Master of Reality SHM-SACD for example are recognized on the forum as the best sounding digital versions of these titles despite being transferred to DSD with other non-Meitner DSD converters. Hence, IMHO at least, it would be fairer to say that the Grimm Audio DSD AD isn't the only one converter in the world that sounds right, but the hands down best sounding DSD converter so far.

 

Hmmm. Perhaps that is the reason why the EARLIEST CBS/Sony CDs (e.g., Michael Jackson Thriller) do NOT sound like the original vinyl. The mastering engineers obviously soon figured out this anomaly with CDs since later CDs (circa sometime in 1983?) start to sound more like the original vinyl. I know many folks here think that the very first CD pressings (whether Japan-for-Japan or Japan-for-US) of Thriller sound great, but they do not sound remotely close to the very first vinyl pressings of that album. The CBS/Sony manufactured CDs of that album with "DIDX-20022" as the matrix, however, sound almost identical to the very first vinyl pressings.

 

Was the standard much better than vinyl in terms of specs?

 

NO, Laserdisc analog audio is FM-based. It is not analogous to vinyl in any respect. LD soundtracks were awful until PCM digital tracks came along.

 

Judging from your description, it seems that the secret analog weapon was a misfire. Thanks for the info.

 

What's the catalog number for the one? I can't look at matrices before buying.