Audio Fidelity "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits" Gold CD SOUND QUALITY:

So I finally received the AF disk and played it alongside my 70's Columbia repress. No contest, is there? I immediately turned off the turntable for this one.

 

I just am listening to this for the first time. I cannot do any critical comparisons over here in the U.S. without my main stereo, but this disc sounds terrrific so far. Very nice work indeed.

DCC/AF compilations are always done so nicely with a lot of work to ensure the best possible source for each single track, an effort which is truly appreciated.

Besides the sound, this is the first time I own this specific compilation, and the flow of the songs is really nice. It is (relatively) short but very sweet.

Now if we could get "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" on AF, that would be cool. Maybe the good sales of Vol. 1 will make it possible.

 

The album does sound fantastic. However, I'm not a big fan of stereo Dylan, so it's usually not my general reference, but for Dylan in stereo - absolutely.

 

With regard to Dylan's harmonica, I think that if you tame it too much, it ceases to be Dylan. That's the way he plays the thing. Plus there's the rack to consider - it has it's function, but also limitations - at least from what I can tell. I'm no expert - not even close.

As one poster put it, when I know the harmonica is coming, my brain gets ready to wince & when it hits, it's not as piercing & painful as I remembered. Steve's mastering allows Dylan to sound like Dylan - but without making us wince when he hits the harp.

 

^ Has anyone considered that some of this — not all — is a result of the shortcomings of the playback equipment used?

 

I also considered that.

 

The harmonica always sounded good to me. Not sure what all the complaints are about.

 

Yeah, I always felt that the nature of the microphones and preamps used on these recordings were always a little on the bright side... and while that wasn't ideal for Dylan's voice it was never ideal for his harmonica. Such is the nature of recording two drastically different instruments with one microphone setup.

 

Got this today - just blown away by the sound. Can really pick out soooo much more music such as the beautiful piano in the left channel of Like A Rolling Stone.

His voice and harmonica are phenominal. Just didn't want this to end.

 

Yes, this is kind of what I figured, I could tell it was definitely attenuated, and so it was more authentic to make it sound as good as you can then let Dylan take the blame for over-puffing. Plus as I acknowledge my equipment is minor, my ears are old.

 

Indeed.

There appear to be two Great Subjective Truths @ SHF which no amount of good remastering seems able to refute:

1. Dylan's harmonica is "shrill and ovely-bright".
2. Phil Spector's recordings are "muddy".

Yet, in the first instance, Steve Hoffman's remastering of this album is near flawless to anyone with a functioning set of ears and halfway reasonable playback equipment.

As a test I played the damned thing as pure direct sound thru bright-ish speakers with no EQ and it still sounded fine. There's nothing wrong with the way it was recorded, there's no "static", the remastering's great.

If hearing tests and CBS (Chronic Bitching Syndrome) tests can't be legislated here then maybe an el cheapo equalizer from Goodwill might be the self-help way to go.

 

Can someone explain the "30% Columbia distortion" which SH refers to? What type of distortion is this, and is it on all the tracks?

Tim

 

Yup.

The CD sounds perfect on my modest but still pretty good system.

 

All playback systems are on equal footing. Isn't that a forum rule?

 

Calling Peter Aczel, calling Peter Aczel.

And what about individual hearing? Is that all the same too?

 

On 'Rainy Day Women' I can hear the smile in Bob's voice while he sings. Talk about removing a veil... The vocals came across so differently (in a good way) that my first thought was, "This must be an alternate vocal take."

 

Congratulations on a job well done, Steve.

 

Great CD Steve. The day I received it I played the disc three or four times in a row. BTW my nr.is 1136.

 

I played it twice straight through.

Did you master each title on the albums represented? I didn't know if the tapes would have every track or not. Figured you could master the seven(?) albums while you were at it.

 

I Want You from this disk is my current favorite song. Just love it.

 

A serious contender for top 5 Hoffman remasters

 

It's a beaut, Clark! I mean, Steve.

 

Has there been a recent thread on this subject?

Agreed, it's great; so is Elvis 24K.