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Munch: Saint-Saens Organ Symphony shoot-out--SACD vs. LP vs. open-reel tape

Posted by bublitchki (A) on October 8, 2004 at 04:26:37

I won't belabor this. (OTOH, maybe I will.) The comparison was informal and not one of those A-B-type affairs. I shifted at will from segment to segment, from format to format, mostly in extended sessions of a movement at a time on each platform. The contestants: the new RCA SACD, the newly-arrived but superbly well-preserved 40-year-old RCA open-reel tape, and the recently-purchased Classic Records 33-1/3 rpm LP reissue.

The tape sounded "nice," but truth be told, it was exceedingly short in the high frequency department. This emphasized the reverberant acoustic of Symphony Hall, as every instrument and section, thanks to the lack of definition, sank into the murk. It was not an unpleasant effect, but it by no means represented what was truly inscribed on the master tapes, as we know by hearing the other formats. This I will say: in movement four, where the huge orchestral/organ peroration occurs, the massed sound was impactful, and the bass was round and deep. Unfortunately, at peaks, there was also evidence of overmodulation, a.k.a. overload distortion. Not nice. In the olden days, this tape would've been a lovely format in which to own the recording; given the level of performance of most of the record playing equipment of the day, this at least had the merits of quiet backgrounds and extended low frequencies. Not unpleasant, but not possibly a winner in this 2004 competition by any stretch. See how honest?

The SACD, for all its newness and greatness, is inescapably digital, and when pushed beyond a certain volume level it is possessed of a touch of what we insiders [;-)] call "digititis." Nowhere near the extent of a typical CD, mind you. Still, it can go only so far before it reaches its limit, beyond which it can go no further. It's almost as if it has an automatic volume limiter attached. You can turn it up so far and then it kind of stays that way, regardless of how you try to push it. Is this a limitation of my power amp and speakers? No, because it doesn't do it with the LP.

Speaking of the LP...

The orchestra is playing in what is discernibly a real space with a volume of air in it; on the SACD, the orchestra is a lovely piece of artwork, but it's painted-on nonetheless. The LP is a sculpture: a three-dimensional object that exists in all dimensions including space. (Enter Rod Serling...) The LP has more loud-to-soft (dynamic range). The sections of the orchestra are less congealed and better differentiated. A certain plastic coloration present in the SACD is largely (but not completely--I believe Symphony Hall contributes) absent in the LP. The LP has an abundance of fine detail and is super-extended in the highs.

Is it a rout? Well, let's just say that on my stereo system, it's audible in a musically significant way. Were we not doing a comparison with the LP, the SACD would've soundly trounced the open-reel tape, and we all would've lived happily ever after. Not that the big black record has no black marks: though new, it has fairly noisy surfaces. "Quiex" my ass. Well, at least it's heavy and has a nice big pretty picture of Maestro Munch (sounds like a character from "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory") on the cover.

Caveat: I've got an excellent SACD player that nonetheless represents something like seven-year-old technology in a field in which there are constant innovations. I've got a relatively new and really good record player that's been tweaked to the hilt. Your mileage and that of the more certifiably sane segment of humanity may vary.

Is the SACD of this performance still one of the best little discs I've ever heard? You betcha. Hear the Mercury Living Presence SACDs. They're closer yet--not to the sound of the LPs, which, like the RCAs, they don't particularly resemble, but to the sounds, no doubt, of the master tapes.

I'm tempted to suggest that the LP may be contributing some of the things that cause me to choose it over and above the SACD, and that they aren't part and parcel of the master tapes, but rather "euphonic colorations." Still, doesn't it seem a strange coincidence that all these factors are highly musical in nature? Since I don't have the luxury of comparing these formats directly to the masters, I'll have to accept the verdict of my own ears, and assume that if it sounds good, it *is* good. In several ways, the SACDs are more "tapelike"--lack of surface noise, lack of "inner groove" distortion, optimum channel separation; but in the things that make music sound like music, LP still wins.

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