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Reference Recordings

Am I the only one who doesn’t like the sound of the highly touted Reference Recordings.  While there are some exceptions (e.g. Prokofiev “Alexander Nevsky,”) I find the orchestral perspective on most of their discs so distant that the sound is muddled and sound staging practically non existent.
Anyone else feel that way?
rvpiano

Showing 6 responses by rvpiano

rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,736 posts
 
I’m not talking about the RR LPs,  They’re Fantastic.
I’m referring to their CDs.
If you can hear soundstaging on them,  you have some unusual system.
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,736 posts
 
And yet, they’re held in such high regard.
I guess by the mid-fi crowd
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,736 posts
 
Tweak1,

I’ve had the same experience.  The better my system, the better they sounded.
BUT, sound staging has never been a strong point, as they prefer distant microphone placement.  Some like it that way.
I don’t.
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,736 posts
 
Minimalist miking doesn’t necessarily produce poor sound staging. The classic 1950’s RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence recordings were minimally miked but had wonderful sound staging.
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,736 posts
 
As for the ‘50’s RCA and Mercury reissues on CD, I find the latter to be consistently fine sounding, but the former to be of very uneven sound quality.
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,736 posts
 
An exception to the usual distant RR sound is a new recording of Beethoven’s 9th with Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Streaming on Idagio, the Reference immediate sound seems spectacularly suited to the piece.
(Does the exception prove the rule? NO, that’s a stupid expression.)
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