Bill Evans - You Must Believe In Spring - Craft 45 rpm LP, and SoTA digital

Okay, I'll bite. I have had the 45 for a couple of weeks, and I like it better than I first did. No vinyl issues. Some small distortion issues with cymbal taps on second track of side 1, unfortunately not unusual on my system.

The 24/192 was around $15 on HDtracks, so I bought it to get the bonus tracks. I played it first on my computer system (Bifrost DAC, Magni 3 amp, HD 600), and it sounded very good. I actually enjoyed listening to the entire bonus track version more than the shorter LP.

I later did a limited A/B on my main system, with Oppo 205 as DAC, Asgard 3 , HD 6xx. Though I could tell the two versions apart, mainly via the drum sound and a little more air on the 45, they really weren't that different. In fact, I had a small preference for the piano sound on the digital. I will not say that the digital is more life-like, as Jamie hoped, but it's good.

 

I have had this album on CD for many years and loved it. I have a German first pressing (Warner Bros) and - despite it costing $50 and looking pristine - the vinyl is full of pops and crackles. The new Craft (Kevin Gray) has superior dynamics, a better soundstage, better timing and transients. Perhaps mastered a little loud.
I like the gatefold sleeve (the original is textured and the colors are different). I hate the cheap creased plastic inner sleeves - tossed them immediately and replaced with mofi style inners. I really really don’t like the Craft label and catalog number - it just cheapens the experience (maybe it is a licensing issue as originally on Warners - not a Concord label). Nevertheless - certainly for those of us in Europe who have to pay exorbitant prices for AP and Mofi 2 x 45rpm - a tremendous quality product at a reasonable (€40) price. Please Concord - do he same for Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby.

 

Of course he did

 

Is anyone having issues with distortion on cymbal passages on this record? Rest of the record sounds good, but this whole thing was cut very hot in my opinion. Maybe it's my system... but it's a bit distracting.

 

I don’t think it’s cut THAT hot. It’s a fairly quiet album with a few very dynamic peaks, so those peaks are somewhat hot by necessity. But even those aren’t “super” hot.

I did some quick comparisons between the vinyl and hi-rez digital - and tonally and dynamically they sound very similar to me. The cymbal passages I listened to sounded pretty much the same.

 

See my post three above yours. The answer is yes.

 

Was the distortion in SideA Cut2 present in your playback of the 192/24? As for them sounding similar, I know Paul and Kevin would likely honor Al's choices and the difference between the mastering of the digital vs the flat master are minimal.

 

I think the statistical likelihood is that he would. Same with those classic series releases. A lot of people are vocal about bad copies, but I bet it still makes up a minority of what people are receiving. I generally always get perfect copies of records people on here are consistently complaining about. It is very rare for me to get a noisy, warped, off center, non fill, etc. copy of any album pressed by the 5 or 6 main companies pressing audiophile records

 

It sounds fantastic to me

 

Has anyone compared the new SACD to the SHM-SACD? I have the SHM-SACD and would buy the new SACD if it's a better sounding version.

 

sacd isnt out until July 15

 

No. I have issues with a handful of LPs that are cut a bit hot for high-output MM cartridges like my 2M Black. 98%+ of my LPs have no such problems.

In this case, I think that Kevin maybe overdid it a little with all the room that he had available cutting at 45. I have plenty of jazz records that Kevin cut at 33 that don't have any of those issues.

 

He didn’t overdo it. The peaks are maybe a couple of dB hotter than the average record, but there a plenty of records cut even hotter. However it does have some very dynamic moments and those are apparently a challenge for some rigs.

If he had cut it any quieter, folks would complaining even more about surface noise - even on quieter copies.

 

Agreed. If he cut it lower it would have been a rice crispies fest.

 

There is an arpeggio ending on C above high C in "Gary's Theme" that's really really hot, but isn't limited at all, and it really kicks.

 

More and more taken with this record with each spin. It's beautiful.

 

sadly in the UK its more like £53 (US$65) puts this vinyl out of reach

 

He also didn't say anything about the distortion on Blues Walk BNC. In fact, I've never heard him say anything about defects in any of his videos.

 

I'm still waiting for a flat press. I'm on number 7.

 

Wow! I gave up

 

As long as it's on Amazon's dime, Ill return forevor or until they disable my account.

 

Impossible are all dished (concave on side and convex on the other).
This is how RTI work...

 

They got the idea from this:

 

All copies I have received have an edge warp on one or both disc's. It's not impossible

 

OK, the seventh copy from Amazon is acceptable. I had to clean it 4 times to get rid of the noise on disc one. It does sound good though so I guess it was worth it.