As I've said many times before, the Shelly Manne Black Hawk CDs from the early '90s, for example, are among the best I've ever heard. Many of the early '90s Fantasy issues (as well as many from other labels) have a subtle resolution and presence not found on many "new and improved" 24-bit releases.
Couldn't agree more.
Those CD transfers sound fine, but it would be sad if these recordings would be preserved for posterity in CD quality only.
Imagine the tapes of important movie classics being destroyed or disappearing, and the only surviving copies being DVDs.
True--preserving the original sources would be best. Hans (if I can speak for him) and I were just agreeing with Ray's point that the latest 24-bit CD remasters aren't necessarily superior to early '90s CD issues, and often--to our ears--don't even sound as good.