Hypoman nailed it. I once shared a house with an amateur recordist who recorded a local orchestra for his own personal library of master tapes. He used a Nakamichi Tri-mic setup with CP1 omni capsules, a Revox A77 and a DBX compander. Those tapes sounded amazing on my system then featuring Maggie MG3s and an array if DIY subs. No noise, no gain-riding, no overload during crescendos, fantastic string and brass tone. He was an early adopter of PCM too, switching to a Nak version of the Sony PCM-F1 and a portable Betamax.
No appreciable loss of quality with that rig. It’s all in the micing.
Why recordings made before 1965 sound better.
I’ve brought ht up this topic before, and I believe my point was misunderstood. so, I’m trying again.
Many A’goners have commented that recordings originating in the late 50’s and early 60’s which have been transferred to CDs sound particularly open with better soundstaging than those produced later.
Ray Dolby invented his noise reduction system in 1965 to eliminate what was considered annoying tape hiss transferred to records of the time. The principle was to manipulate the tonal structure so as to reduce this external noise:
“The Dolby B consumer noise-reduction system works by compressing and increasing the volume of low-level high-frequency sounds during recording and correspondingly reversing the process during playback. This high-frequency round turn reduces the audible level of tape hiss.”
‘Dolby A and C work similarly.
I maintain that recordings made prior to 1965 without Dolby sound freer and more open because the original tonal structure has not been altered and manipulated.