Octave Records

[Ron Resnick]

Paul McGowan, Founder of PS Audio, is very justifiably proud of his Octave Records recording company. He has studiously adopted the most stringent audiophile techniques available, using the best-sounding vintage and contemporary recording equipment available.

Octave Records sells vinyl, SACDs and downloads.

Audiophile Masters Volume II

Our best compilation yet, Audiophile Masters II is a sonic treasure filled with reference quality recordings captured in pure DSD and available as a SACD containing the direct master recording, playable on any CD or DVD player, plus a bonus DVD data disc containing all the master files for you...

www.psaudio.com

Has anyone purchased any of the Octave Records recordings?

How have you found the musical performances to be?

How have you found the sound quality to be?

 

[Paret]

I downloaded the Audiophile Masters Volume 5 in 192/24 to my Server a couple of weeks ago.

Very pleased with the recording. Musical, detailed and enjoyable.

I stream Tidal and Qobuz but always feel the downloaded files sound better in most cases.

I’m glad Paul is doing this and looking forward to more enjoyable music.

 

[microstrip]

I have listened at a friend system to some of his fine recordings - unfortunately most of his albums are Audiophile compilations, something I am not very fond of. Very enjoyable sound quality.

As far as I saw their recordings, including vinyl, are pure DSD recordings, carried in the Sonoma™ DSD recording, mixing, and mastering system. Their site is clear on this aspect.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you, gentlemen.

Paul is very proud of his DSD256 recording process.

 

[microstrip]

Thank you, gentlemen.

Paul is very proud of his DSD256 recording process.

Are you sure it is DSD256? Last time I read about it Sodoma could only handle DSD64 and in his SACD's it is said " Gold SACD with DSD Direct Mastered CD layer" , as far as I know the SACD layer is DSD64. And they only sell DSD64 or 24 bit files .

 

[Ron Resnick]

Are you sure it is DSD256? Last time I read about it Sodoma could only handle DSD64 and in his SACD's it is said " Gold SACD with DSD Direct Mastered CD layer" , as far as I know the SACD layer is DSD64. And they only sell DSD64 or 24 bit files .

No, I am not sure. Paul seems not to use Sonoma anymore:

Octave’s new Pyramix DSD system has raised the bar yet again.

Comparing the sound quality output of both methods—the original 1XDSD->DAC->analog->A/D->1XDSD to the new 4XDSD->DXD->4XDSD chain—the new all-digital Pyramix recordings are “light years” better. I can’t wait for people to make their own judgments.

Paul definitely believes that his current recording process is absolutely state-of-the-art. And he is using Neumann microphones.

Pyramix Workflow Guide:

https://merging.com/uploads/assets/Merging_pdfs/Merging_Technologies_DSD-DXD_Production_Guide.pdf

 

[microstrip]

No, I am not sure. Paul seems not to use Sodoma anymore:

Octave’s new Pyramix DSD system has raised the bar yet again.

Comparing the sound quality output of both methods—the original 1XDSD->DAC->analog->A/D->1XDSD to the new 4XDSD->DXD->4XDSD chain—the new all-digital Pyramix recordings are “light years” better. I can’t wait for people to make their own judgments.

Paul definitely believes that his current recording process is absolutely state-of-the-art. And he is using Neumann microphones.

Yes, but most of his recordings were carried with the old Sodoma system, at less those I listened to. I could not see any reference to DSD256 is those listed in their shop.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Yes, but most of his recordings were carried with the old Sonoma system, at less those I listened to. I could not see any reference to DSD256 is those listed in their shop.

So? What are you arguing about? I simply tried to research an answer to your question.

 

[microstrip]

So? What are you arguing about? I simply tried to research an answer to your question.

IMHO people should know that probably most Octave Records vinyl, SACDs and downloads, that you referred in the first post, were not carried in DSD256.

BTW, I am an armchair enthusiast of the Merging Pyramix system - I have posted on it before several times.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Sonoma, not Sodoma.

 

[ddk]

Sonoma, not Sodoma.

Maybe that’s how he felt about them !
david

 

[Lakegolf]

I bought an SACD, Audiophile Masters - Volume 1, and it sounds very good. All of the music has been well recorded and very enjoyable even for a compilation. There are very few disc that I enjoy every song and this is no different

 

[st-audio]

Hi, and thanks for membership.

In my heart I hate to post this, as I see a lot of Paul Gowans videoes, and admire his efforts to emphasize the gift of high-end audio. And I has been thrilled to follow the developments of Octave Records. You can listen to sampels of their recordings before buying, which I have done over the time. I did not buy, as I found the music lacking energy and enjoyment. Then very recently I was exposed to one of their latest recordings Bill Kopper's Ancient Rythms, which I found a bit interesting. As I can't handle DSD, I bought the 88kHz, 24 Bit version. A resolution I find acceptable, and sufficient for rythmic music. For classic music I prefer higher resolutions, but honestly the differences are smaller than a good miking and editing shows, especially for rytmic music.

But, I did not listen to this album though until the end in the first listen - I was simply not sufficiently enjoyed, but bored.The music style is one I do like, but here not only the excitement of the musicians sounded to be very low, but also the recordings has in my ears a tendency to sound dull and dead, and the recording room sounded as to be in a anechoic chamber, damped to much, so the ambience was very low. It sounds as to "let's not move the listener, but let the listener hear some details". This is a personal statement, but my system is very natural, high resoluting, and my listening room has the same acoustic performance as the control room at a high performing recording studio.

As a reference for me in this style of music, this recording has much more high-end sounding and musical power: "Anything Goes" with Lani Hall & Herb Albert.

I would like to hear comment as I might lack something in my system, or - yeah I don't know.

 

[Another Johnson]

I’ve bought several in the “CD” format.

The one I enjoyed most and would recommend is Carmen Sandim’s “Mini Brazilian Beasts.”

When I first played it, I was pleased with the music …. But I was breaking in a new tube amp, and I thought the sound was just “good.”

I liked the music well enough to play it again , and then one day it just jumped off the canvas and into 3D space. The promise of the technology was finally realized. I like Carmen Sandim’s composition and performance. She is a cut above the crowd.

I have not been inspired to gush over the other five or six that I’ve bought. One play was enough in every case. The music or performance (or both) were what I’d expect from regionally well thought of artists, which of course is what they are. This is not to say that they are bad, or that you will not like them. If I’d heard any of them live, I would probably play the disks as souvenirs of the performance.

 

[Another Johnson]

FWIW, I’ve listened to Mini Brazilian Beasts (a reference to Carmen’s children) SACD on a Marantz SA-KI Ruby, a Levinson 5101, and a McIntosh MCT500 + MDA200, and I’ve listened to the other disk in the package on a Sony multi format disk player. They all sound good to me.

 

[st-audio]

I have listen to it again, and will modify my criticism in #13. The musicians seems a bit more engaged to play music, than I expressed before.
I think actually it's the recording that bothers me most. Some instruments are recorded at very narrow distance, unnatural distance as you cannot listen to instruments as a listener close-up, so the layout of the musicians are not as if you were sitting in front and pretty close the the stage. And the ambience is weak, as if the musicians and walls are packed and sealed in cotton, and they can't move naturally when they play (except the drummers). It's a very controlled performance, lacking live. So to me, it's not a high-end recording which I expected.