Bigshot

High bitrates are wasted on LP transfers unless you plan to do a lot of manipulation of the sound in post. The main advantage of high bitrates is increased resolution in very low volume levels. This is useful if you are mixing and need to radically boost the volume of something, but with a straight transfer off a record, the only thing that will benefit from the added resolution is inaudible surface noise. Most LPs have dynamic ranges well within the capability of standard 16/44.1 CD quality. Recording higher is a waste of hard drive space.

Beatles boxes sold at low prices by third party sellers are likely to be bootlegs. Not that they sound different...

The closer to the stylus you strap to mono, the more out of phase noise will be reduced. A mono cartridge is best, but jumpers on the back of a stereo cart would be just as good. There are also coarse groove records from the earliest year of LPs on Columbia. Those require a slightly larger tip.

This song turned up in my random rotation today, and it had my jaw on the floor. I've never heard anything like it before

There are US releases that are not authorized for sale in other countries. If links to releases that are not authorized for sale in the US are forbidden, shouldn't releases that are not authorized for sale in Europe be forbidden too?

I've found that it's much better to put together a system intelligently, rather than just throw money at it. Great sound isn't necessarily expensive, andexpensive isn't necessarily great sound.

Fiedler is totally underrated. Gaite Parisienne is one of the best in the box. I've been going through the set myself, and I'm struck by the consistency of quality. There are an awful lot of excellent performances in here. I've got the Brilliant Classics Russian live box and the Hyperion complete Liszt on deck, so my evenings are booked for a long time!

I have a Mac Mini with over a year's worth of music on an external Drobo. Inexpensive, backed up, sounds great.

There is one recording that will always hold a special place for me. Cab Calloway's Some of These Days. I was in college and had gotten into "art rock" (which turned out to be neither). A radio station played Cab and my brain exploded. I wrote down the name of the track and ran straight to the record store. The song had everything- energy, skill, surprises, contrasts. I played it over and over and it eventually led to the entire world of music opening up to me. To he'll with prog rock when you can listen to jazz!

I wish someone would do a proper release and sound restoration on the Quintet sides. I have a few of the original 78s on the Master label and they sound great- explosive percussion, nice bass, a real sense of depth- then I put on the CD and it's all flattened out and opaque sounding. It would be great if there was a box set of all the Scott followers- Joe Daniels and his Hotshots in Drumnastics, John Kirby and Ambrose and his Orchestra.

My Peterson box arrived today in good shape. No number on it. Perhaps they went a little over 10k

Berkeshire Record Outlet has all four sets of Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune series. All 36 disks runs $150. Lots of interesting stuff on this set.

There are a few more... Copland Appalacian Spring Gould Heifetz Double Concertos Popular Classics for Spanish Guitar Spain Handel Messiah Beecham

I popped for the Russians too. Thanks!

The auction has the eBay buyer's protection icon, so there is no risk.

I jumped on that one too. Thanks!

There is one Living Stereo CD that should have been included in the 60 cd box but wasn't... Hovhaness' Mysterious Mountain. I ordered that one separately.

The mastering is not always the same on SACDs. I did an extensive A/B test of SACDs a year or two ago. It's very difficult to do because you need two disks and two decks. It isn't possible to switch between layers on a single machine without a large delay, making direct comparison impossible. A friend and I compared numerous SACDs on two line level matched decks and at first noticed differences in some, but it turned out that the differences were slight differences in mix. It appeared that the redbook layer had been deliberately hobbled on a couple of them. Finally, we used a hybrid SACD made from a high bitrate DSD master (Pentatone). The sound was phenomenal, and it was identical on both layers. The quality of the recording, mixing and mastering is what counts, not the bitrate. The sonic differences between SACD and CD are beyond the range of the audible in normal listening to music, both in dynamicsand frequency response.

I have a few of the SACDs, and I couldn't discern any real difference between the SACD layer and the standard rebook CD layer. The mastering is exactly the same.

For classical fans, 60 CD Living Stereo box set.... http://www.amazon.com/Living-Stereo-60-Collection-Box/dp/B003UCPEJ2/ref=dp_return_1?ie=UTF8&n=5174&s=music Classic Reiner and Munch. Uses the most recent SACD remasters.

As a 78 collector, I have noticed that although there are always exceptions, the sound quality of records changed every few years. Early electricals often have a kind of wooden boxy sound. In the beginning of the depression, sound quality dipped a bit and became a bit rougher on the lower priced records, probably because of declining sales and competition with radio. By 1933-34, sound was remarkably good. Around 1940, RCA Victor seems to have started polishing the metal parts, creating a smooth but upholstered sound. The early Ellington sides on the Mosaic box are perfectly in line with what records from the beginning of the depression sound like.

It's new mastering, but it's the same remixing. The problem is the remixing. The mix on the original LPs was much punchier and dynamic. The new mixes sound distant and weak. I think it's the use of digital reverbs as opposed to wire or acoustic reverbs and tape slaps. The new box will certainly sound cleaner, but noise wasn't the problem. The original mixes aren't available on cd so unless you go with vinyl, you don't have any choice.

From what I've heard, these are the same remixes that appeared on the 1993 release, just with higher resolution mastering. The 93 remixes were flat and distant sounding compared to the original LP release. If you already have these on cd there is no reason to upgrade. If you want the best sound, go vinyl on this.

Just got my Sonny Rollins Prestige box from Newberry. Along with the freelance box I got last week, I'm in Sonny Rollins hog heaven. Thanks for the tips.

I just got my Sonny Rllins freelance box. Thanks for the tips, everyone! I bought the Beatles mono box through Amazon used and one disk was scratched. The seller never responded to me or Amazon, so I got a full refund and could keep the box. The disk that was scratched was one of the past masters disks so it turned out well for me. I like Amazon.