Japanese Pressings

[mtemur]

I used to buy lots of second hand jazz records from Japan between 2006-2009. I quit buying Japanese pressings because I noticed I didn't like their sound signature. I gave away almost all of them but I always wonder why they sound bad (at least to me) other than being cut from later generation copies of the master tape. There is also the tape degradation regarding that '50s and '60s albums released in Japan at '70s. Besides being cut from a later generation copy maybe they were also cut from well used/worn out copies. I don't know but something else may also be responsible for the final sound of Japanese pressings.

I have U.S. and Japanese pressings for the same direct to disc album. Both were cut from same lacquer and probably from the same mother. Both have the same hand writing and "MASTERED BY CAPITOL" etched on the matrix area. So, there is no mastering differences here. Both are from same mastering chain, same lacquer, no tape, cause it's direct to disc recording. The only difference between the two is PVC material and pressing plant.



Sonically there is a big difference between two to my ears. Japanese vinyl is quieter but sounds very dull, dark. On the other hand U.S. pressing is noisier but sounds more lively and right. I ripped them and loaded them on FFT to better see what's going on. When two files are normalized (exactly same 8.1dB gain applied) Japanese looks 1.1dB quieter than U.S. It's strange that only pressing plant and PVC material can make a 1.1dB difference. BTW both examples are very clean visually.




Japanese one is quieter but doesn't sound better to me. I liked U.S. pressing much more. Below the files I ripped. You can listen without downloading them.

U.S. pressing
Japanese pressing

I did same kind of comparison for another direct to disc album. This time U.S. and German pressings. Both sourced from same lacquer and probably same mother but German pressing is slightly better than U.S. I still find it very strange that pressing can make a huge difference.

 

[tony22]

I think I hear a bit more information coming off the Japanese pressing, probably because of it being a bit quieter.

 

[NekoAudio]

The waveforms look pretty different, between the two.

 

[mtemur]

I think I hear a bit more information coming off the Japanese pressing, probably because of it being a bit quieter.

Which one did you like more, Japanese?

 

[mtemur]

The waveforms look pretty different, between the two.

Can explain the differences?

 

[tony22]

Hard to say just listening to it off an iPad. When I get a chance I’ll run it into my system.

 

[mtemur]

Hard to say just listening to it off an iPad. When I get a chance I’ll run it into my system.

To my ears instruments sound right on U.S. pressing but it's pressed on noisy vinyl. BTW hum is embedded in the recording, not produced by my vinyl setup.

 

[tony22]

To my ears instruments sound right on U.S. pressing

I have to agree. On the Japanese pressing the instruments sound a bit flat and somewhat toy-like.

And oh, nice tune! I found a NM (hopefully!) copy of the record on Discogs. Bought it.

 

[NekoAudio]

Can explain the differences?

This is a difference computation of the two waveforms. Anything that is not black indicates a difference. There should obviously be some difference at the edges, because you did two separate analog captures. And there's also just some noise. But the bottom edges in particular show significant differences, not negligible ones that could just be attributed to separate playback and recording sessions or the JPEG compression used in your original images.

Looking at the difference in the waveforms, the US pressing should sound more dynamic and lively, because it actually is.

 

[mtemur]

This is a difference computation of the two waveforms. Anything that is not black indicates a difference. There should obviously be some difference at the edges, because you did two separate analog captures. And there's also just some noise. But the bottom edges in particular show significant differences, not negligible ones that could just be attributed to separate playback and recording sessions or the JPEG compression used in your original images.

Looking at the difference in the waveforms, the US pressing should sound more dynamic and lively, because it actually is.

View attachment 126580

Thank you for doing the comparison. They're certainly from the same session and from the same lacquer. The difference is probably caused from the jpeg compression as you've already indicated. U.S. pressing sounds as if it's louder and better. You can see more details between two files over FFT.


There is noise on U.S. pressing. I will clean them then upload the files to make a better judgement.

 

[NekoAudio]

Perhaps I misinterpreted he blue portions of your first pictures, but I do not think the difference I was calling out is due to JPEG compression.

 

[mtemur]

I slightly cleaned both files IOT evaluate differences better. I set their gain equal. So, you should not hear any level differences. To do that I attenuated U.S. pressing 1.1dB. I still prefer U.S. pressing and Japanese pressing doesn't sound right to me. BTW I dithered U.S. pressing two times from 32bit down to 24bit. Otherwise I should have redo the cleaning. Japanese is dithered once.

LA4 Carinhoso U.S pressing cleaned
LA4 Carinhoso Japanese pressing cleaned

 

[Folsom]

I concur with your findings. They are the quietest but the sound is subdued a bit.

 

[cjfrbw]

I have a couple of Japanese JVC pressings that are generally amongst the best vinyl sound wise and production wise that I have. Others, like some Kitaro pressings, can sound digital and unremarkable.
Can one really generalize?

 

[mtemur]

I used to have many JVC pressings and I still have a couple. Vinyl compound used by JVC is almost identical to today’s SRX. When you hold them against a light source you can see that vinyl is translucent with amber color because of the black dye. JVC pressings are slightly better than other Japanese ones but still same sound signature for me.
I don’t want to generalize but how can you explain this situation? Both pressed from same father made from same lacquer but sound different.

 

[dcathro]

I know this topic is about Japanese vinyl pressings, but I find it interesting that the earliest Japanese CDs are usually much better sounding that later pressings from other countries, All my friends who play mainly vinyl avoid Japanese pressing because of the reasons mentioned here.

 

[jeromelang]

Music recorded by US label/artistes sound better on vinyl pressings manufactured in the label/artistes' home country/continent - most people agree.

What about doing the reverse?

Get hold of music recorded by Japanese label/artistes on vinyl pressings manufactured in Japan and compare them against vinyl pressings from other country/continent outside of Japan.