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Steely Dan UHQR

There is a great interview with audio engineer Bernie Grundman on the new UHQR album "Aja". At $150 it better be amazing. He talks about how they had to modify the sound of albums in the past so they would play on crappy turntables and how this album, at 45rpm, is designed for the best turntables and cartridges. He also speaks about how the "Dan" gang wanted to use their own speakers to listen to the master and not Bernie's. (Wish he had called out the speakers) But let me ask you this, can a sound engineer with 80 year old ears (born 16 December 1943), have the hearing to engineering a UHQR album to audiophile standards......I know my hearing is shot due to what I did in my 20's with Rock n Roll sound levels....At 70, no way could my ears be trusted for such a task.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGLFTm6jMrY

rbertalotto
czarivey
5,707 posts
 

The point of this post is that those $1 pressings were done with compromise to audio quality so they would play on a cheap turntable.

that is so delusional... 

AB 1006 stamper is sounding  PERFECT on both pricey and cheap equipment. The dynamic range I bet can even be larger than UHQR version. Paying $150 for pop music record released in tens of millions copies is definitely gullible. 

 

rbertalotto OP
137 posts
 

There is more to SD than Aja and...Gaucho.

Bite your tongue!!! 

tubegb's avatar
tubegb
188 posts
 

+1 tablejockey, recommending AB 1006 stamper.

jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
3,732 posts
 

I ordered the sacd and I preorder Gaucho uhqr.

bigtwin's avatar
bigtwin
1,130 posts
 

I listened to the entire interview, and while there was a reference to TT's, I don't believe he was saying they tuned down the quality due to poor quality equipment.  He said they didn't go to extremes and produce a groove that was only readable by the very top end of audiophile equipment.  I would think that philosophy would hold true on this latest re issue as well?  In fact, he seemed to be putting more emphasis on producing a master that sounded best on his speakers, compared to the bookshelf speakers being used by Fagen/Becker?  In the end, it's mining the archives to squeeze out every dollar possible.  My existing copies on vinyl and CD sound great.  If the latest and greatest version makes you happy, that's all that matters.  

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