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

Got a perfectly flat copy from Paladin Vinyl. I'd agree with @Jcashfan -- maybe try a different place to order from if 4 amazon ones were all warped?

 

I couldn’t be happier than having had the opportunity to work on it. Seems fair to ask in one of the pre-eminent audio forums what the attributes are. If you couldn’t be happier, enjoy. Actually maybe you *could * be happier. but you don’t need to know. I kinda do. I love how it sounds.

Had a nice chat with the guy who cut it over the weekend, who just cut a Vince Guaraldi from our source and could find no fault with it. I asked him to collegially take a gander at the same tape, same company, mastered by Blakemore, that at THE had jaws dropping, so I know we’re close.

Funny he didn’t think it was a toxic suggestion.

 

Jamie I’d love to hear how you feel the vinyl compares to the Plangent transfer. You’re the only one who doesn’t have to buy both to have an opinion

 

I have both, but unfortunately haven’t had a chance to compare the two.

Nevertheless, it’s a perfectly valid question to ask - particularly given your involvement in the digital version - as long as you’re as willing to accept constructive criticism as easily as plaudits.

However, in the spirit of openness, the commentary on the life-likeness could be viewed as a leading comment, at best. Probably better left unsaid to get unbiased, uninfluenced opinions IMO.

 

7 posts to counter an attack on our efforts as toxic.

0 posts showing any open-mindedness.

EDIT - not 0 any more.

Kevin did a nice job. So did we, I don’t knock his, he would t knock ours. I think there are some real technical advantages to the tape playback remediation, particularly on piano recordings.

There are negative aspects of tape playback that can be neutralized, yielding higher fidelity to the performance. Those techniques are out of reach of a conventional playback. The question is whether the converter step is more disruptive.

Fair question, right place to ask it.

 

Thanks, i hear you, and sure. let the chips fall.

I presume that listeners are not easily led. I “suspect” but don’t dictate.

There are some valid phase compensation techniques built into the digital version that could potentially be achieved w analog filters. The goal of the wow and flutter and IM reduction is also valid.

“Lifelike” is always the goal.

Thanks for the consideration.

 

Mine had a weird ripple warp which caused some noise on side B. Vinyl Flat corrected it and now only a very light wooshing on lead in for a few rotations. Fantastic pressing, absolutely love it and I’ve listened fully through on headphones and on the towers. Masterpiece!!!

 

Comparison between the original US CD and the new SACD would be great.

 

Yeah, sometimes I think Amazon got a whole pallet of a bad batch

Yeah, it happens sometimes I've noticed with Amazon. I think they get a whole pallet with a bad batch of Vinyl records at the nearest warehouse to me, so I just keep getting sent records from the batch over and over. Amazon's return policy is just so easy that I use them if I can for new releases because I know a large percentage will be defective.

 

I've had the same issue except I don't have a vinyl flat.

I think RTI should be capable of pressing a good record. I will keep returning until I get a good copy.

 

It’d be cool to hear more about how much correction had to be applied to this recording.

 

3m m56 2 track mix recorder I should go ba k to grab a measurement rather than guess, and will pass it along. Nothing major, but definitely noticeable

 

Your lucky, more and more Spacezon customers are being asked for a physical return before replacement is sent now, which can add a week plus onto every return process (let alone run out of inventory, etc). My guess is there is some sort of analytic/threshold going on internally at specezon for vinyl returns now thats going to drive customers away. The return system was abused for a long time and during covid. I'm sure they could care less.

My Zon buys are WAY down and brick and mortar (local and mail order) are up. You have some good local brick and mortar options in Zia, 11th Street or mail order like Plaidroom, Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct, The In Groove, Paladin, etc. with people for the most part that care and are not robots.

Could be a RTI QC issue (though we been hearing more about dirty copies than warp issues), could be a Zon warehouse issue. Records sitting in a warehouse, truck, or delivery vehicle in Nevada heat are not generally going to do well.

Life is too short to argue about ana/dig. Love the music not the technology or social media gaga. I have versions of both now. Analog when I'm at home with my VPI, and digital when I'm mobile, traveling, or don't feel like playing records. I enjoy both for what they are.

Also worth a mention is the anticipated AS Evans Trio 65' release today. Enjoy!

 

I don’t get the fetish on this message board of trolling / scaring away the people who work on these projects. So we’re not allowed to discuss how two different masterings compare, in this case only, as opposed to the thousands of other threads just like it? As far as I can tell the only agenda he came here with was looking for honest feedback on his work, with what looks like carte blanche to praise it or tear it apart as the case may be. Instead it’s this word parsing and innuendo. SMH.

 

Amazon ships out the new one before you return the old one. If you don’t ship it back within 30 days they charge you for the new copy. I’m glad they are doing this now as so many people turned around and sold their “damaged” copies. Returns to Amazon are a pretty big reason why wholesale prices on records were raised 3 years ago.

for something like this album, last I checked the prices were similar between brick and mortar and Amazon and as you said lots of great brick and mortar shops out there!

to bring it back to the topic at hand, I’ll have to see how the digital compares. Haven’t bothered listening to the streaming/digital yet since I’ve really enjoyed the vinyl.

 

Mine is perfect. Got it from Music Direct.

 

It's always fascinating when a pro drops in here, aside from Steve's occasional input. Thanks for coming by.

I'll be getting the straight, boring CD version of this one. I can't really see the value in a 2x 45 LP version of an album that's only 35 minutes long. If the bonus tracks were on the vinyl, I'd be all over it.

I gave my original LP another chance just now. Cleaned it a second time, and it worked out very well. It's a wonderfully recorded album to begin with.

 

I agree, but I will keep ordering and returning until Amazon ships me a flat copy or they terminate my account. Can't say I feel bad about amazon. I'm on copy # 5...

 

I have flat LP 2 now, but my Vinyl Flat is having a hard time flattening the dish warp on
LP 1. Giving it another go as we speak. “Speak”

 

For you Mike, but not some others. Like I said some sort of algorithm is determining this by account now. What the parameters are who knows.

 

Uh...because the 45rpm sounds better than an original. It's never exclusively about how long a record is. It's about the potential sonic advantages to mastering and cutting at 45rpm. Have you ever heard, or heard about, the sonic advantages of recording to 15ips (inches per second) magnetic tape verses 7.5ips versus 3.75ips? Or that compact cassette tape was never a great format (although it could sound pretty good) due its narrow tape and slow recording/playback speed? The advantages of the higher speed have nothing to do with whether an album was 30 minutes or 45 minutes. Same with the sonic advantages of cutting records at 45 vs 33 1/3 vs 16 2/3.

 

Turns out to be a real rip off. These pressings are really noisy. Craft Records went for the cheap RTI pressing rather than the audiophile type pressing to save money. I played my second copy yesterday and it was still noisy. After that record I put on the MOFI The Young Rascals 45rpm, the pressing quality was quiet and the vinyl looks beautiful. The Craft record looks like they used melted down old tires that were dredged from the bottom of a river.

 

Is there a source that shows RTI has different pvc compound availability?

 

It is my understanding, after hearing an interview of the RTI owner, that RTI does indeed have different quality pressings, depending on what is ordered. Shane at Intervention records has said the same thing. IR records were always impeccable pressings. The Groovin' MOFI record is impeccable. Now, we get this noisy discolored pressing from Craft. I can only surmise that Craft Records went with the run of the mill pressings from RTI, and not the audiophile pressing package.

 

the audiophile pressing package just sounds like a load of bs to me, like the special undercoating ona car. Sounds like RTI just screwed the pooch like they did with Clapton one step.

i guess ill see for myself when i finally get my copy.