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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
larsman's avatar
larsman
1,754 posts
 

@goodlistening64 - That's why I buy my new vinyl, if I can get the title I want through them, from Amazon. Returns are never a problem; I had to return my 'Who's Next' box set because there was so much surface noise on one side; I had a new one from them before I even sent back the first one, and the new one was fine. Unfortunately, I don't think I can get these 45rpm ones from Amazon.

I might also add that most of my 'legacy vinyl' from the 70's, even though the LPs themselves are a lot thinner than today's 180g ones, I find that they often (not always, of course) have less surface noise than new ones I get.

sokogear
1,053 posts
 

The only audiophile records I see on Amazon are from Speakers Corner and they are spotty at best. Mofi (Music Direct) and Acoustic Sounds don't sell to them, probably because they discount and are big competition to them.

qdrone
1,039 posts
 

Both Aja and Gaucho UHQR are not from original analog masters. They are lost. My MOFI Aja is from the Original Analog Master.

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,839 posts
 

I managed a very high end shop in the golden age of audio

 

Aja left a long deep scar

 

33.33333 rpm scar.

So did Dire Straits- Love over Gold so full of pyrotechnics, rain and thunder

Dark Side of the Moon was worse, an amputation maybe... cutting away at my love for Meddle, Animals and more...

All of these and more were Audiophile darlings worn thin in the Eighties...

We had at the peak eight showrooms of gear. Vinyl was king and the lifeblood of the store and  we shared our customer’s addiction.

Of course we tried to stock fresh copies but they ended life worn out like a rust belt Ford Pinto. Washed and prayed over with a VPI record cleaning machine  deemed “ witch doctor “

For it’s renowned ability to raise some of the dead

  • but not all.

So I tired of Peg, Deacon Blues and yes even Telegraph Road. Some thirty five years on they creep back slowly into my playlist, even LP ownership. And they make me smile....

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,839 posts
 

So i bought a UHQR of CBAT by The Dan…. nasty pressing punched off center with a big scuff…. but my friends say Aja is worth it…… maybe Santa….. maybe not…

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