Zero Distortion: Tango Time

[kodomo]

I am starting this week well. I received 4 records and it is a win four out of four. I bought this Oistrakh Devil's Trills one day before General posted. I saw it while surfing youtube. Most of my good findings are actually from youtube. I don't remember what pressing General showed but this one is not that. Mine is a Melodiya CM029312 costed €40. Excellent sound. You see my dog is sleeping in the video. This is a good sign. He walks around when the sound is shit. View attachment 53395

I have this on 1/4" 15ips tape!

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Took me a while to find a mint box set of Quatuor Végh 's recordings of Beethoven string quartets - but it was worth the search.

10 LPs on the Valois label (CMB 83). I listened to op. 130 in B? major last night - the Grosse Fuge. What a sheer delight! Top notch performances from each member on every movement. B gave everyone interesting parts throughout the entire work - no boring ostinatos for the rhythm section. little showboating for the first violin. Cello and viola together were gorgeous. As fresh in the 21st C. as it was in 1825 (though few heard it then.)

The sound quality is superb, very transparent, open and clear.

Thank you dcc, very much, for this recommendation!

View attachment 53448

Great taste. Fantastic performances and recording. I have also.

 

[Tango]

This Bloch Violin Concerto by Menuhin is excellent. The orchestra is so deep, airy, clean, bright and spacious. My TAD tweeters really play to their strength here.

 

[Folsom]

This one is good, too.

It sound like the mastering wasn't as stellar as something like EMIC but it's a great expressive album I think.

 

[montesquieu]

Took me a while to find a mint box set of Quatuor Végh 's recordings of Beethoven string quartets - but it was worth the search.

10 LPs on the Valois label (CMB 83). I listened to op. 130 in B? major last night - the Grosse Fuge. What a sheer delight! Top notch performances from each member on every movement. B gave everyone interesting parts throughout the entire work - no boring ostinatos for the rhythm section. little showboating for the first violin. Cello and viola together were gorgeous. As fresh in the 21st C. as it was in 1825 (though few heard it then.)

The sound quality is superb, very transparent, open and clear.

Thank you dcc, very much, for this recommendation!

View attachment 53448

I have to agree with this the Vegh quartet are far and away my favourite Beethoven. I have the original Valois set and a reissue on Teldec. Both good.

 

[Tango]

I recently bought an AP45 Legendary of Son House. I have the 33 of same label and already like the album very much. Frankly I bought the 45 because the kid reviewer in Analog Planet gives a really high score rating on this 45. And I want to get a glimps of how he listens. Straight to the point. I like the 33 more and probably will not play the 45 again. The main differences are as follow:

- The presentation of 45 is more zoom in. I hear Son House like he is a giant. To me too up front presentation of a man with a guitar does not give a fool you real sensation. With the 33, I could feel the presence of him in life size.
- The closer hearing of a guitar and vocal feel as if the sound engineer tried to make you impress with enlarged details of strings vibrating, the hollow body of guitar and texture of vocal. In a revealing system you can hear all these more "naturally" without the need of zooming in.
- The 33 has more tail end tingling high of strings and more defined shape of sound. The tone of 33 is also more smooth, more shade and natural nuance to the ears. I think when you enhance sound more you have more chance of losing contrast. Tonal and dynamic contrast are among key attributes to natural sound imo.

I am sure many people will like or prefer the 45. It is a recording that is remastered to impress people. All that quietness is put into this pressing to win the quietness war too. Nonetheless I find the 45 has insignificant more quiet back ground than the 33. I am writing this as I am seeing more and more remastered vinyls with this approach of creating "impressive" sound.



33rpm.

45 rpm.

 

[Folsom]

Even on my laptop the 33 sounds more natural.

 

[tima]

I recently bought an AP45 Legendary of Son House. I have the 33 of same label and already like the album very much. Frankly I bought the 45 because the kid reviewer in Analog Planet gives a really high score rating on this 45. And I want to get a glimps of how he listens. Straight to the point. I like the 33 more and probably will not play the 45 again. The main differences are as follow:

- The presentation of 45 is more zoom in. I hear Son House like he is a giant. To me too up front presentation of a man with a guitar does not give a fool you real sensation. With the 33, I could feel the presence of him in life size.
- The closer hearing of a guitar and vocal feel as if the sound engineer tried to make you impress with enlarged details of strings vibrating, the hollow body of guitar and texture of vocal. In a revealing system you can hear all these more "naturally" without the need of zooming in.
- The 33 has more tail end tingling high of strings and more defined shape of sound. The tone of 33 is also more smooth, more shade and natural nuance to the ears. I think when you enhance sound more you have more chance of losing contrast. Tonal and dynamic contrast are among key attributes to natural sound imo.

I am sure many people will like or prefer the 45. It is a recording that is remastered to impress people. All that quietness is put into this pressing to win the quietness war too. Nonetheless I find the 45 has insignificant more quiet back ground than the 33. I am writing this as I am seeing more and more remastered vinyls with this approach of creating "impressive" sound.

View attachment 53920

33rpm.

45 rpm.

Maybe the 45 was meant to be an "audiophile record."

Some people don't go to hear live music because their stereo sounds better.

 

[ALF]

Maybe the 45 was meant to be an "audiophile record."

Some people don't go to hear live music because their stereo sounds better.

 

[Tango]

The first Gyorgy Cziffra I encountered was the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody I posted a few weeks ago. After that I tried five more albums of his because i like the way he played. He was a Hungarian and then turned French citizen. This record is a french EMI His Master's Voice (I won't pretend to type in French.) C 061-11302. With my limited experience I find the French His Master's Voice on various albums that I have not as good as the English ones. However It is easier to find Cziffra in French and cheaper. This one I got was €20.



I recorded this video with both Opus1 and Master Sig. Since I de-tweaked my system and changed my amplification to Lamm to match my speakers better, my system has become further more revealing and transparent to source. Anything change within the chain is quite easy to detect. You can hear the difference between the Opus and Matersig a lot easier even on Youtube. If you go back to listen to my old videos of these two carts or any carts, it would be more difficult to identify the difference. This is pretty much apple to apple a/b. Only different variable is when I recorded the Master Sig my air con was on therefore more background noise. It was off during Opus. I have a feeling you guys like me talking more about gears than showing good sounding albums.

Opus1

Master Sig.

*** Sorry for mistakenly putting up two videos of Opus1 earlier.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I recently bought an AP45 Legendary of Son House. I have the 33 of same label and already like the album very much. Frankly I bought the 45 because the kid reviewer in Analog Planet gives a really high score rating on this 45. And I want to get a glimps of how he listens. Straight to the point. I like the 33 more and probably will not play the 45 again. The main differences are as follow:

- The presentation of 45 is more zoom in. I hear Son House like he is a giant. To me too up front presentation of a man with a guitar does not give a fool you real sensation. With the 33, I could feel the presence of him in life size.
- The closer hearing of a guitar and vocal feel as if the sound engineer tried to make you impress with enlarged details of strings vibrating, the hollow body of guitar and texture of vocal. In a revealing system you can hear all these more "naturally" without the need of zooming in.
- The 33 has more tail end tingling high of strings and more defined shape of sound. The tone of 33 is also more smooth, more shade and natural nuance to the ears. I think when you enhance sound more you have more chance of losing contrast. Tonal and dynamic contrast are among key attributes to natural sound imo.

I am sure many people will like or prefer the 45. It is a recording that is remastered to impress people. All that quietness is put into this pressing to win the quietness war too. Nonetheless I find the 45 has insignificant more quiet back ground than the 33. I am writing this as I am seeing more and more remastered vinyls with this approach of creating "impressive" sound.

Dear Tang,

this morning i listened to one cut on the 33 and the same cut on the 45. i then ran out of time, and went to work. i need to go back and do that again.

however; my preliminary conclusion is a bit different than yours. and i wonder how this comparison 'travels'? in other words, would a different turntable or arm, or a different system give a somewhat different conclusion? i recall how the Lamm ML3's would bring some music elements forward in my system, and add some energy and other aspects would retreat and energy of those things would be somewhat relatively recessed.

with my dart 458's in my system with my 'single play' of both these pressings i felt more presence of Son House the man, and his guitar. i heard more of the ambiance, not less. yes; agree that each listener might interpret the additional information differently.

tonight i want to re-visit this question when i have more time to see if that first blush impression holds.

best regards,

Mike

 

[Tango]

This morning I saw Mike's comment and went back to see what I posted earlier. I found I posted a wrong video showing the difference between Opus1 and Colibri Master Signature. There were two Opus1 videos instead of having the other one on Master Sig. Sorry about that. I now put on the Master Sig video playing Cziffra.

Dear Tang,

this morning i listened to one cut on the 33 and the same cut on the 45. i then ran out of time, and went to work. i need to go back and do that again.

however; my preliminary conclusion is a bit different than yours. and i wonder how this comparison 'travels'? in other words, would a different turntable or arm, or a different system give a somewhat different conclusion? i recall how the Lamm ML3's would bring some music elements forward in my system, and add some energy and other aspects would retreat and energy of those things would be somewhat relatively recessed.

with my dart 458's in my system with my 'single play' of both these pressings i felt more presence of Son House the man, and his guitar. i heard more of the ambiance, not less. yes; agree that each listener might interpret the additional information differently.

tonight i want to re-visit this question when i have more time to see if that first blush impression holds.

best regards,

Mike

Hi Mike. Thank you for putting up your comment. I learn most of a system and gears when a music medium is constant while equipments in the chain are different. Our systems are two opposite poles likely reaching different listening experience. I would be very interested to hear what you hear on these two different pressings of the same title. These actual experiences sure will remind us and friends to not be so definite on things in audio.

There is no right or wrong. Only truth of a system. I encourage other people to buy the 45 and 33 of this album to share experience. The forum can have an activity for members to join and have fun together.

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[sujay]

To me, the VDH sounds livlier than the Opus 1, limitations of reproduction over iPad notwithstanding!

 

[Tango]

To me, the VDH sounds livlier than the Opus 1, limitations of reproduction over iPad notwithstanding!

Livliest with greatest clarity I have.

Tang

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you very much for posting this, Tang.

This video comparison makes at least some sense to me, because both videos reflect the same system, at the same volume, with the same track, and with only one single component changing.

I think I, too, hear the VdH as a bit livelier.

I think I hear the Opus as a touch warmer or as having a very slightly “weightier” tonal balance. Is this my expectation bias, or do you hear this too?

 

[kodomo]

Tang, the more vidoes you upload the more excited I become. Nowadays, I am waiting for my retuned vdh, he already has it. My search for pre continues, wish I had a emt too

 

[Tango]

I think I hear the Opus as a touch warmer or as having a very slightly “weightier” tonal balance. Is this my expectation bias, or do you hear this too?

Opus with more mid bass can feel a tad warmer and fuller sounding in comparison to the Master Sig. I don't know if this is what you mean by weightier. The piano obviously has more bass resonating in the housing so it fills up space between notes more. If you only have the Opus1 you would think it has excellent drive and attack. But only when you put the Master Sig next to it you realize the attack, the energy in the high down to mid just draw you in further more to the music.

Tang, the more vidoes you upload the more excited I become. Nowadays, I am waiting for my retuned vdh, he already has it. My search for pre continues, wish I had a emt too

Kodomo San. I heard a youtube of your system playing tape on piano. The sound of bass resonating in piano housing from your system is very very attractive. I think if you can match your Master Sig with phono well, you will have energetic high and mid completing the whole package.


Kind regards,
Tang

 

[kodomo]

Kodomo San. I heard a youtube of your system playing tape on piano. The sound of bass resonating in piano housing from your system is very very attractive. I think if you can match your Master Sig with phono well, you will have energetic high and mid completing the whole package.


Kind regards,
Tang

Thank you Tang Kun. That is the type of sound I am hoping to achieve overall. Also please note that, one of my preferred tubes is broken (psvane we replica 845). The lowest model of Shuguang 845 tubes are on and they have much lower bias than needed as they are also at the end of their life. I am out of matched pairs of 845s nowadays... Low model Shuguang 845s plus the bias problem ends up as not great sounding. They make me loose the top end clarity, openness, texture and the overall spatial magic. I am still enjoying my system listening to music but I know what I am missing. My acme 845s are on their way and hopefully will be here next week. I will record the same tape from the same location with the same phone after the acmes have around 50hours on them.

ps. As the first infantry, I ordered the Duke Ellington-Johnny Hodges tape from clef and note

 

[Tango]

I saw some good sounding Perlman videos in other thread. Bonzo likes to say I am a flasher. So Here I am showing off my Perlman/Previn Goldmark/Sarasate record. This one is a safe bet to buy. Good music. Good sound from this record. EMI HMV ASD3408. With records I showed, you won't get shitty sound for sure. I did the screening. No risk to you guys. The video is on Goldmark first movement. The ending of this 1st movement is such a grand attack. I did not record all the way. The Sarasate Zigeunerweisen on the side B is also superb.




Some people question if horns are only good for chambers and simpler music. I say they can also sound pretty good on big orchestra and more complex music. But imo tendency of both horns and cones on big complex music are pretty much as Kedar's commented somewhere before.

@bonzo75 . Does this sound more like Wigmore Hall?

 

[Folsom]

EMI isn’t perfect, but if it’s a good performance I won’t hesitate.

I started collecting Zigeunerweisen performances after one of your earlier postings.