Kevin Bresnahan

As I understand it, unless you buy a high end CD player, the laser inside is for playing DVDs. For a mass market manufacturer, it makes no sense to make a CD-only laser transport when you can make a DVD laser that plays CDs fine. Personally, I don't think the laser transport has anything to do with the analog sound. All that transport is doing is pulling the 1's & 0's off the disc. It's what the player does with those 1's & 0's afterward that's important. Kevin

I wonder how they'll sound? The latest Blue Note CD reissues from Japan haven't sounded all that great, with more compression and a bright EQ. If they do a decent job with these, I might try a few of them. Kevin

Thanks everybody. The big 5-0 today. I don't feel 50 but does anyone? I do feel weird to say that I'm 50. Where has the time gone?

Cannonball Adderley - Jazz Workshop Revisited (Riverside). A decent sounding blue lable pressing for $4. Sounds OK. CD is probably better sounding but it cost a lot more than $4.

Warne Marsh & Lew Tabackin - tenor gladness (Inner City). Nice date. Quite the contrast between the two tenors. Night and day, as they say.

Gene Ammons - Blue Gene. A regular ol' Fantasy reissue from the 80s. Sounds fine too. These things are probably one of the best Jazz vinyl bargains out there. $3 for this one and worth every penny.

That's weird - I used to be credited on this page and now I've been excised. I guess someone had prior knowledge.

Dexter Gordon - The Jumpin' Blues. Nice green label Van Gelder pressing. Not the greatest recording quality but Wynton Kelly, in his usual rollicking manner, makes it a very worthwhile $6.

These days, I highly recommend Oppo Digital. Best bang for the buck. I have an older BDP-80 and it sounds great. It looks great for BluRay video, too. Depending on your budget, you could go for the BDP-93 ($499) or the BDP-95 ($999). Both come highly recommended by the majority of the hifi world. Outside of Oppo Digital, there are some fans of Cambridge Audio, but a lot of insiders are saying that it is just a re-badged Oppo Digital player. Denon has quite a line-up of players and they sound pretty good but I have had two out of three Denon DVD-2900 players die on me. I don't think I could recommend them any more. I still play the last one and it sounds great but I think their transport is weak. Marantz makes some players that seems to have a large following but they have the same parent company as Denon so they may use the same transports. If your budget allows, there are some high end models out there but I have not heard them.

Lon, say it isn't so! If you're looking at vinyl again, digital must be dying. :lol: He's just run out of things to buy. That is somewhat my reason for getting back into vinyl. I found that I hadn't bought any CDs for months and one day I was in Stereo Jacks and saw some Van Gelder Blue Note vinyl in the LP bin so I figured I'd give it a try. Yes, it is fun. However, all the reasons I left vinyl in the old days are still there. The mint LPs that play like shit. The crappy sound on some pressings (unrelated to the vinyl itself). The scratched "new" records. The having to get up every 20 minutes to flip the record. Having to figure out which pressing is the best (and then finding a clean copy). I am having fun, but this feeling may not last forever.

Lon, say it isn't so! If you're looking at vinyl again, digital must be dying. :lol:

Again? Didn't they change it just a few years ago? I actually liked the original website better than the last one. I'll have to see if this one is any better.

Tonight at Scullers in Boston - Eric Alexander & Vincent Herring with Harold Mabern on piano. Should be a good one!

You've obviously never compared a CD to mp3 files ripped using VBR, Q2. Do that and get back to us about how low quality our mp3s are.

Gene Ammons & Dexter Gordon - The Chase (Purple lable Van Gelder). As I put it on the turntable, I realized that I had never picked up the CD of this.

My new 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid has a CD player and a USB slot for mp3 playback. In 3 months, I've used the CD player two or three times. In those same 3 months, I've used the USB slot about 200 times. I have two 8 GB memory sticks. One loaded up with Jazz mp3s and the other loaded with Rock & Roll mp3s. I swap them as the mood hits and the car remembers where I was the last time I used the stick. Cool.

Dexter Gordon - Biting The Apple (Inner City). Like the Art Tatum Pablo LP that I played the other night, this is one where the CD kills the LP. I don't know if the Steeplechase LP is better, but this one isn't that great.

After Sweet Papa Lou, I switched over to a late reissue of a favoite of mine: The Tatum Group Masterpieces - Art Tatum, Ben Webster, Red Callender & Bill Douglas. Anyone that claims that vinyl is always better than CD just needs to plop this on their turntable. The CD versions blow this right out of the water. This recoed is pretty dull and lacking in any high end, Noise reduction? Kevin

Lou Donaldson - Lou Takes Off. A Classic Records stereo pressing. Bernie Grundman did a nice job on these.

Just finishing: Gene Ammons - The Soulful Moods Of Gene Ammons. Van Gelder in the deadwax. Nice date. Up next: Joe Zawinul - Money in the Pocket. Nice purple & red label mono pressing. I heard this at Stereo Jack's and bought it after it finished playing.

Were you able to figure out which tube was making the crackly noise? Does it come from both speakers? If so, check the pre-amp & driver tubes. If it comes from one speaker, check the output tubes on that side. If you wiggle a tube, can you hear the noise? Try to localize it. It may be a tube but it could be a bad socket. BTW, what kind of amp is it? What type of tubes does it use? Do you use NOS or new tubes? How old is the amp and/or tubes? Kevin

A Marley related story... I was in my skin doctor's office this week for my annual checkup and he had me take off my socks so he could check my feet. As he checked them, he said, "You know, Bob Marley died from skin cancer that started on the bottom of a foot". I told him that I thought it was his big toe.

Just finishing: Duke Ellinngton - Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins Up next: Joe Henderson - In 'N Out. Nice blue label Van Gelder pressing.

Horace Silver - The Jody Grind. A nice original Van Gelder pressing. Since the master is a needle drop, I guess I have a copy of the master tape.

Hank Mobley - Hi Voltage