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In Reply to: Pentatone SACDs posted by Robert C. Lang on February 28, 2007 at 18:56:13:
It could well be that my less-than-stellar sound experience is entirely or largely confined to the RQR reissues. I'll have to go back and check. The Bach Sonatas with Fischer is DSD. I thought the sound on that was quite good, and I did compare the CD layer, which wasn't as good. I have heard more compelling or engaging sounding violins on other records than this, though.I mentioned the Rossini Overtures because it received very high praise for its sound in reviews. I found the MCH version had the poorest sound, the two channel better, and the RBCD the best sound on that disc. In fact, I thought the MCH sound put it among the poorer SACD recordings that I have. I was quite disappointed. I bought it at the same time I bought the Fischer Dvorak 9th, and the contrast in sound quality was striking.
Follow Ups:
Actually the Philips Dvorak you refer to was recorded by the same people who record the PentaTone DSD recordings ....and with the same Polyhymnia equipment. Read on the last page (before the inside rear cover):"Recording, mastering and editing facilities by Polyhymnia International BV on behalf of Emil Berliner Studios."
The recording engineer in this instance was Roger de Schot whom you may notice is the same engineer that did the Strauss Waltzes with Kreizburg and the Vienna Symphony for PentaTone.
PentaTone RQR recordings depend on the quality of the original Philips Tapes and on the quality of their preservation.
The new DSD recordings have all (so far) been done by Polyhymnia International. The best Philips SACDs were also done by Polyhymnia! Its a shame Universal employed Emil Berliner for their subsequent recordings because they are all drastically inferior to any of Polyhymnia's products.
Although I don't have a simple explanation for it (I can make up some hypotheses, though), it could be that some discs/labels sound better on some systems than on others. i am not doubting that Pentatone RQRs can sound great on some systems or to some people, but on average on my system they don't. On the other hand, most Telarcs (but not all), Philips, and Harmoni Mundi sound superb on my system. RCAs are a mixed bag.Do you have the Rossini Overtures? I only keep bringing it up because the reviews I saw just raved about the sound.
HowdyI used to wonder if it was my taste or lack of a resolving system, but I've taken to asking people which discs they don't like on their systems and playing them for them on mine and now I believe that tho there are many paths to audio bliss, not everyone strives for a system that plays many things well. Here's a post from Christine Tham after she visited me: http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/hirez/messages/218252.html
Here's a post from Christine Tham after she visited me: http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/hirez/messages/218252.htmlThis is certainly a sterling testamonial, but then you have to realize it comes from Christine "There Are No Bad Recordings" Tham! :-)
And I have many of them. In fact, there are times I wonder if the best sound on SACD is actually analog sourced, the second best DSD, followed by PCM sources.
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