How can it be that some old recordings sound sublime?

^^^ Its been said that digital bits completed the job started by transistors ... the ruination of reproduced music in the home.

Some of my most enjoyable (and best sounding) recording were never release in stereo. Good examples are Miles Davis' "Round Midnight,"and Brubeck's "Jazz Impressions of The USA."  Glorious sound and performances.  

^^^ Agreed. Redbook CD's can sound wonderful if mastered properly ... as long at the hands are kept off of the reverb knob and the recording is EQed properly.  

On the early recordings from the mono era and the golden age of stereo ... I often wonder if the folks recording them really knew what they were archiving in those grooves. We have the high resolution systems to get the best out of the recordings, but did they? I know that many times after making an upgrade, I often wonder how much more information is contained in those grooves. We continue chasing it, don't we? 

The problem on the early CD's was not the fault of the digital domain. It was the fault of the, I won't call them recording engineers ... let's call them "sound processing people."  I'm fortunate to have plenty of CD's cut from  master tapes with no added reverb and little if no EQ ... just flat recordings right off of the master tape. These include recordings that were made in the 1940's, '50's and 60's.  They are simply amazing. Comparing commercial CD's to these is like comparing a Ugo to a Ferrari. No contest.