[Steven Sullivan]

Scott wrote:
On Feb 4, 6:47?pm, bob wrote:
On Feb 4, 2:11=A0pm, Audio Empire wrote:



Many of these "classic" analog recordings from the 'golden era' of stereo
(before recording got so complicated with multt-miking and multi-track an=
d
ruined the sound) HAVE be digitized but with varying success. For instanc=
e,
many of the RCA Red Seal Shaded Dogs have been digitized several times by
BMG/RCA with varying success. Certainly, the most ambitious project was w=
hen
RCA/BMG released more than 100 titles as hybrid SACDs. None sound as good=
?as
the LPs released by Classics records

And is that because of better mastering, or the euphonic distortions
that the vinyl offers? The former maybe, the latter definitely.

and, in fact, the SACDs don't even sound
as good as the JVC XRCD releases of the same titles,

Not surprising. There quite a bit of evidence that the 2-channel
layers are often treated as an afterthought.

and XRCD is Red Book,
not SACD or DVD-A or Blu-Ray or any other high-resolution digital release
format.

Which, as we know, wouldn't make an audible difference anyway.



So, what it comes down to is what I said before. These LP titles have
a reputation for being good sounding LPs and it's what the dyed-in-the-wo=
ol
vinyl-phile wants. So that's what gets remastered (perhaps at 45 RPM) and
pressed on heavy 180 or 200 gram virgin vinyl sometimes as single -sided
records. =A0

I guess another way of asking the question I've been raising is, why
are there so many died-in-the-wool vinylphiles today?

You've pretty much answered the question for yourself. " And is that
because of better mastering, and the euphonic distortions.

that could be an 'or' rather than an 'and'


Why would that make a difference? The results are what they are
regardless of why. Better sound is better sound regardless of how you
get there.


If the judgement of 'better sound' is significantly influenced by knowledge of,
and bias for or against, the format being listened to, is it really better *sound*?



--
-S
We have it in our power to begin the world over again - Thomas Paine