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Oh, You Had to Get Me Started.....

I had a similar "Walkman moment" about five years prior to that.... My most-referenced post ever on AA (link).....

This past Sunday, I had Don Allen upgrade his incredible phono stage and step-up transformer unit. (The BRB phono stage finally dethroned.) To the next level And since I was in Phoenix, and had to return to California the next day, I just had to give it a whirl.

First played the Chopin Scherzi 1 and 2.... I just got tired of the ones on YouTube, had to hear the Master, Antonio Barbosa, and then it hit me. I'm starting to forget what analog **really** sounds like. It may have been the upgrade, but it may have been the performance. Or lack of exposure to a recent concert or good analog.....

(Remember, back before digital, reviewers oft mentioned the term "intertransient silence?" Nobody talks about that anymore because we no longer hear it.)

Then I did it.... Grabbed the Smuckers/Cleveland Orchestra vinyl of the final movement to the Dohnanyi Schumann 2..... That one in 1984 with the Cleveland Orchestra. And for the first time, thanks to the improvements in linearity, I heard that Cleveland brass break through the inner grooves on the vinyl.

The 3-D soundstage, the "heft" of the physical presence, the seemingly-infinite "information density".....

Amidst the inner groove distortion, I heard, for the first time since on broadcast, the sense of the string choirs, the wind choirs, then the low brass, playing as one. The wind choirs return, then again, the low brass, playing that tight, soft, and exquisite tone, then the repeat, this time with Bernard Adelstein's trumpet on top.

Goosebumps.

The very end of the great Cleveland era, a year before Adelstein's retirement..... (No way was Bud Herseth better..... No f'n way....)

How much I try, I like what I have, but still, the essence of the magic just cannot be captured on digital recording.

It may be that we're forgetting how music is supposed to sound like.

By the way, if you can, try to get a DAC or CD player with a balanced output if the system also has vinyl. Where the ground is not tied to the line stage- Your analog will love it. And you will love your analog.



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