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I still have not bought a SACD player. I thought I'd build a substantial library of audiophile hybrid SACDs first, but I think now I have enough of my favourite jazz albums on SACD to eventually invest in a good SACD player. And then there are the classical hybrid SACDs, of course.

If I had been able to preview both discs at home, I think I would have bought just the Ultra HD CD. But then I would have been tempted to get the MFSL for completeness' sake, of course.

The most exquisite Kind of Blue release in the physical digital domain: the Ultra HD CD mastered in 32-bit by Michael Bishop for Sony Hong Kong (limited edition of 1000).

Ronald Brautigam - Beethoven: The Complete Sonatas on BIS.

The Japanese SHM-CD has two bonus tracks.

Anthony Braxton: Willisau (Quartet) 1991 on Hat Hut Records, 4 CDs (2 studio, 2 live) of his quartet with Marylin Crispell, Marc Dresser & Gerry Hemingway. Besides the peak performances, the sound is also best of all the quartet's releases.

Frederic Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated! played by Igor Levit.

They do indeed.

If they had been more adventurous in their selection of albums I would have bought all of them. Instead there is not a hint of avant garde in their announced series of 25. A wasted opportunity.

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 30-32, Maurizio Pollini on Deutsche Grammophon (UCCG-51085).This is last year's SHM-CD with HR Cutting from the DSD mastering from 10/2011 by Emil Berliner Studios used previously for the SHM-SACD.Happily, this is considerably more pleasant on the ears than the 1987 double CD.

Ambootia Golden Pekoe Second Flush Darjeeling

Interesting thread and discussion. Jim Alfredson knows his stuff. Respect.

Do you suppose Trump is listening to Ride of the Valkyries now while watching all those stranded muslim airport passengers? A stylish black and white Hakenkreuz would not look out of place on that box.

Anna Högberg Attack on CD. I was lucky to find a sealed copy on Discogs that wasn't there when I checked earlier this month. The CD seemed to have sold out all over the internet with only vinyl still available. Why do people still tolerate such an inadequate medium? This Swedish seller, however, seems to have more sealed copies available. https://www.discogs.com/Anna-Högberg-Attack-Anna-Högberg-Attack/release/8175155?utm_campaign=order-confirmation-buyer&utm_medium=email&utm_source=transactional

I'm going to see Igor Levit play Beethoven (sonata no.14 "Moonlight" & Diabelli Variations) at the Concertgebouw next Friday.

It's my opinion. All you assholes seem to have one.

I thought I'd give volume 4 a chance through the internet after reading this discussion last night. Though I like volume 3 (I have it on CD), I thought Holding the Stage contains some pathetic stuff.

I believe it's also partly the XRCD process that makes these discs sound so good, but Yoshida's previous 20bit JVC XRCDs like the Art Tatum Ben Webster Pablo classic, Miles Davis' Walkin' and Kenny Dorham's Quiet Kenny all sound stellar. The guy definitely has mastering-chops!

My guess is it's the mastering from the US/EU Originals digipak. That was also used in 2011 on the second Crescent SHM-CD. The first SHM-CD from 2008 or so reproduced Japanese 24bit mastering from the early 2000s. That was the last time a new mastering of Crescent was released on CD exclusively for the Japanese market as far as I know. Better than the Originals digipak imo.

I have bought from Brian several times on eBay. He is very reliable in grading CDs. A seller to keep an eye on.

Your enthusiasm is what made me buy all three Tom Rainey Trio albums in 2016.

These outstanding releases are clearly straight from the best available tapes. Not from the also excellent Grundman transfers. Yoshida is even pictured with a Scotch tape box in his hands inside the booklet. The XRCD process is outlined in great detail in a schematic. The releases based on the Grundman transfers like the HD Tracks, SHM-CDs from Blue Note's 75th anniversary & the recent mono Platinum SHM-CDs have a similar sound signature, although the regular SHM-CDs had some limiting applied. The XRCD24s sound different, imo even better. Unfortunately some of the earliest titles like Cool Struttin' are long OOP. Back in 2012 when the Euro was stronger against the dollar you could order all of these through Importcds and have them delivered to Europe for about €21 or €22. Luckily I was able to get all the titles I fancied. Too bad the selection of albums was pretty conservative, even cowardly. Nothing approaching avant-garde. P.S. I have both the Yoshida XRCD24s and 75th anniversary SHM-CDs of Blakey's A Night In Tunisia, Brooks' Back To The Tracks, and Clark's Cool Struttin'. The XRCDs have an even wider stereo spread than the Grundman based SHMs. The sound differs in other respects as well. P.P.S. Yoshida did do the first five HD Tracks titles before Grundman took over. (Though I believe he was falsely credited for more titles on the old HD Tracks website.) Perhaps that is a source of confusion. None of those five titles were released on XRCD24.