Kevin Bresnahan

The sellers won't be "winning" much if they get reimbursed $14.00 for a CD that cost them $12.75 to ship. That's what the cost to ship a single CD to Europe from the US went up to. Add in the cost for that padded envelope and that $14 is pretty much gone.

But did he ever demonstrate this for you? In my experience, these black & white type of statements are rarely true unless there is something seriously wrong with one of the things being compared. My current "needle" on my Denon DP-500M is an Ortofon 3M Black. Before that, I had a relatively inexpensive Denon DL-160 on it (which I still have on my Pro-Ject Debut). Each cartridge has strengths and weaknesses but these don't result in a night & day difference. Tell me where the glass rattles and I'll play the records on my two turntables to see if I can hear them. FWIW, I once had a hi fi shop demo a high end (as in very expensive) AC power cord. As we switched back & forth, he pointed out these major differences he heard. I did not hear one of them. If you do - Bravo. I, for one, am very glad that I *don't* hear them. It saves me a bucket load of money that I can spend on more CDs/LPs or a nice bottle of wine.

Wayne Shorter - The Collector (BN/King).

Someone over on the Hoffman forums claims that every copy of this he's ever heard suffers from inner groove distortion. Do you hear it? Haven't noticed any. Sound pretty good to me. Me neither. Of course, it's rather impossible over there to tell someone that they're imagining it, so he'll keep on thinking that he needs a new vinyl reissue. His loss. Sonny Stitt - Blues For Duke (Muse). Other than the crappy, twangy bass sound, which even seems to affect the piano bass sound, Sonny was on for this date and the rhythm section is smokin'.

Someone over on the Hoffman forums claims that every copy of this he's ever heard suffers from inner groove distortion. Do you hear it?

My biggest concern about a lot of the vinyl proponents' arguments is when they (not talking Lon here) start spouting off something about a cost/benefit ratio. It's pretty rampant on some audiophile forums. Basically, the way it goes is if you prefer CD over LP, you've somehow cheaped-out on your stereo system. The implication is that if you haven't dropped a significant amount of money on your vinyl rig, you can't judge the difference. I find this attitude to be complete garbage. If you are playing a turntable and a CD player through the same preamp/amplification system, that's all that matters. There are many incrementally better CD players. There are many incrementally better turntables. There are very few *significantly* better CD players and turntables. I've listened to a lot of audio over the years. When comparing head to head, I have never been able to point to one CD player or turntable over another and stated with absolute certainty, "That's the one"! Subtle differences - sure - but absolute differences? Not really.

I've never been able to "fix" an over-compressed CD. How can EQ or level changes get back lost dynamic range? If the low level signals have been boosted up to be nearly as high as the levels that were already high, there's really no way to selectively lower them back. They're masked by the other signals. There is no tool out there that can do this as a post process. Hence, I don't believe it can't be done. Now, Lon, don't get me wrong and assume I'm calling you a liar here. There are things anyone can do to tweak their system to make anything sound better. All of the things you do are perfectly acceptable things to do and seem to help in your situation. However, the listening fatigue I get from listening to an over-compressed CD does not seem to be fixable on any of my many systems - it's always there and I hear it.

The reason I started buying vinyl in recent years is two-fold. First, for many Jazz recordings, it's still the easiest way to get some titles. There are quite a lot of them that never made it to CD or if they did, it is on some ultra-rare CD issued in Japan that will cost you big bucks to obtain. Second - and this was the killer - many of today's CDs sound like shit, particularly in the rock domain. Most of today's mastering engineers are squashing everything. I can' t even listen to some them for more than 10 minutes before I have to yank them off my system. A perfect example are all of the latest Jimi Hendrix CDs issued by his family. I get a headache after listening to them. So I'll continue to spin my old CDs but I'll continue to buy vinyl, particularly stuff I don't already own on CD.

Lester Young - Lester Young At Olivia Davis' Patio Lounge Washington, DC, 1956 (Pablo). Better recording than I thought it was going to be.

I've never been a fan of Mark West Pinot Noir. It's typically too light for me. When I want a nice Pinot Noir these days, I pick up a bottle of Meomi, which is a Caymus Family vineyard. Beautiful Pinot with a nice heavy mouth. More Burgundian than the Mark West Pinot. Yeah, it's double the price but you only live once. Life's too short to worry about an extra $10 for a nicer bottle. When you're laying on your death bed, you don't want to be thinking about all that great wine you could've had. Weird that your Rare Red bottle didn't have the grape varietals listed. This is what the label is supposed to look like:

Paul Desmond - Skylark (CTI). Typical original Van Gelder CTI pressing. Looks mint and plays with several spots of crackle. This one is actually one of the least crackly one yet. Other than the dated electric piano sound, which has never been one of my favorite sounds, this is a pretty, enjoyable date.

It's lawsuits like this that make me realize that Shakespeare had a very good idea.

I guess you missed my comments about this CD earlier in this thread? Sorry I should have been clearer. I was wondering if my old 1990 version was worth upgrading to either the RVG or the LT. AS it is it he LT is on the way with Infinity and Et cetera from CDjapan. - Oh. Well, when the RVG CD came out, I compared it to the original Ron McMaster CD and quite comfortably kept the RVG CD. It sounded a lot better than the old McMaster CD, which has to be noted has a pitch problem. I thought it sounded much better.

I guess you missed my comments about this CD earlier in this thread?

Herbie Hancock - The Prisoner (BN). Nice original blue & white label Van Gelder pressing. No matter how many times I hear this date, I still don't hear Tootie Heath, "rock drummer", in this music that much even thought the liner notes claim that it is there ("Duple meter, Shell! Serpentine!!"). There are times when I do wonder if a Bob Newhart Show trumpet solo might pop up. All joking aside, a thoroughly enjoyable late 60s Jazz LP.

That's a great 2 LP set Kevin. Never been on CD, at least in North America, as far as I know. I am very lucky. I "inherited" a Japanese pressing of this album years ago from a dear jazz friend who passed away. Will have to join you in giving it a listen very soon. Yeah, it is pretty intense. I particularly like the track "Kogun" with the traditional Japanese sounds added into the big band. Now playing: Pepper Adams/Frank Foster - Generations (Muse).

Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band - Road Time (RCA).

Hank Mobley Quartet/George Wallington And His Band (Japanese King K18P-9276)

Freddie Hubbard - Night Of The Cookers Vol. 1. I'm sorry for fans of this date, but it still doesn't do anything for me. The trumpet playing just seems sloppy. They sound like they're having fun though.

Gene Ammons - Jammin' In HiFi with Gene Ammons (OJC reissue). These OJC reissues sound pretty good to my ears.

Lucky Thompson - Illuminations (Groove Merchant). A two-fer of "I Offer You" & "Yesterday, Today"? But if it is, they goofed up the rhythm section for the first record.

Hampton Hawes - For Real!

Clifford Jordan - Dr. Chicago (Bee Hive). Looks like it was never played. Distant sound on Clifford's tenor and that bumblebee bass. Not one of the best sounding LPs in my stack.

Melvin Rhyne is one of those musicians that I kept waiting & waiting to see in the Boston area. I guess I'll have to keep his memory alive with his CDs. Great stuff, particularly the Tenor Triangle dates.

May never have shattered my earth, but I like that one a lot. Oh, it's good enough, but I just wasn't jumping to play it again. It will certainly make it into the rotation. Now playing Don Patterson (with Sonny Stitt) - The Boss Men (Prestige). Liking this one more than the Willis Jackson that just ended. It just be that I like the organ playing a bit more... or it's Stitt.