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This is pressed on black vinyl that is translucent . Is this supposed to intrinsically have better sound than the usual vinyl we see. This was pressed in Japan, Were all their LPs pressed in Japan. There was a reference to ortofon in the dead wax. Does this refer to the cutter head? Just curious. Thanks Norm
Follow Ups:
I just found a rounder album on translucent black vinyl. Produced by Ry cooder with Terry evans . Norm
BTW, as to which Aja pressing I prefer, I will figure it out this weekend when I move some speakers out I have been working on so I can listen again. Thank you all again. Norm
Ry Cooder, Terry Evans and Rounder, sounds like a winning combination.
"Music is love"
Teresa
MoFi stopped issuing LPs around 1990 or so when JVC, who produced the proprietary Super Vinyl, ceased making the vinyl. JVC refused to sell the Super Vinyl formula to anyone. This vinyl when held up to a light is a translucent amber color. When MoFi began producing LPs again in the early 1990s, they were pressed on vinyl sourced elsewhere and all of their LPs produced with this were on 200-gram vinyl. If it's not 200-gram vinyl, you know it was pressed in Japan.
Asking for impartial opinions about LP pressings is like asking for a non-politcal opinion in Washington DC. It's possible but not likely. If I were you I'd take the opinions around here with a grain of salt.I own both an original Aja pressing and the MFSL. The original pressing is a fine LP without a doubt but I believe it is a bit more processed than the MFSL. Maybe compression, peak limiting or equalization that is not on the MFSL. All things being equal you like what you like but the quietness of the MFSL pressing allows details to show a bit better.
MFSL's are not without their faults and a few have been outright dissapointments but all of them that I own (and that's quite a few) are all great pressings. I wonder if Classic (or RTI to be accurate) could ever manage to get it as right as MoFi (OK...JVC) got it back in the day.
I don't mind paying a premium price for a quality LP but the warps, scratches and other various QC issues present on modern re-issues are ridiculous and beyond explanation. For the money that they're asking the LPs should be perfect.
Ed
We don't shush around here!
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof
I stopped buying them when I realized that, more often than not, the originals were clearly superior. There is one set that is rather special though - the "Sinatra" boxed set.
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain
I have have had many 1S/1S Shaded Dogs, Postage Stamp UK EMI's, London/Decca Bluebacks and six-eyed Columbias!Every single EMI, Decca/London, RCA and Columbia is vastly superior in their MFSL versions. Check out the Elgar/Sir Adrian Boult 2 LP MFSL set. The Solti Planets, the Fiedler Grofe Grand Canyon Suite. Not only is the bass and treble NOT rolled off the midrange is smooth and the HUGE soundstanging is some of the best I've ever heard. The MFSL orchestral shell in the original JVC pressing Super Vinyl sounds so real, and thrilling! The Classic Records Living Stereo LPs are better but not by that much.
Same thing with Verve and Blue Note Jazz MFSL LPs I have never heard a Verve or Blue Note to equal the MFSL LPs, the closest are 7 1/2 IPS pre-recorded Reel to Reel. The original LPs sound puny to either by comparison!
Now Rock is harder because Rock was never recorded to sound realistic and it is hard to make to sound so but the are many Rock MFSL successes. But Rock is really too processed to be hi-fi and to try to make it hi-fi usually just revels its flaws. MFSL can only do so much.
Geez, I'd say it was more like MFSL generally did too much...
That is a real chore as most Rock recordings are NOT made to sound natural. Even Classic Records cannot make most Rock recordings sound natural. There are exception’s such as David Crosby’s “If I Could Only Remember My Name, but they are very rare. Usually Classical, Jazz and Blues are recorded in real spaces and attempt to retain the natural sound of the musical instruments.MoFi did a miracle with the Grateful Dead's American Beauty and Gerry Rafferty's City to City. But MoFi's real forte is with Classical, Jazz and Blues.
"Music is love"
Teresa
I'm not necessarily concerned with natural, but rather balanced. Regardless, I happen to believe that even many "artifical" recordings can be made to sound fairly natural from a tonal standpoint.However, if you try to deviate too far from what's on the original tape, something has to give somewhere else. MFSL tended to deviate too much on the top and bottom (to give the impression of big bass and greater detail) at the expense of a sucked out middle. IMO, this was true of many of their pressings regardless of the artifical nature (or lack thereof) of the original recording. It was especially true of Aja, IMO.
took greater care with those.
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain
I've also got the MFSL Aja,plus the original US/ABC pressing.The MFSL sucks(that's all one can say).
The original ABC is everything you'd expect from an audiophile edition,but it's not an audiophile edition!
Another MFSL to avoid is the Supertramp 'Crime of the Century'.
...and about that Supertramp,the Canadian A&M Audiophile Series "Crime of the Century" is one killer pressing. It makes the MoFi seem absolutely lifeless by comparison.
Me, I'm just a lawnmower, you can tell me by the way I walk....
-Ray
The original is definitely the best of the lot. Betw the JPN & MFSL, I'd keep the JPN pressing. Not one of MFSL's better efforts, IMO; OTOH, the original set the bar pretty doggone high in the first place. My 2cents.
I have several copies of this album, as it is one of my favorite all-time albums -- one that I know very well. I prefer the original pressing over the MFSL version. I was lucky enough to find a sealed early pressing on ebay recently and did a comparison with the MFSL version and the original sounds much better -- more dynamic, more open. For me the MFSL version sounds veiled and artificially enhanced. You should know that the Japanese are reissuing the album on 180 gram vinyl mastered from the analog tapes. This should sound magnificent. Check Acoustic Sounds or Music Direct. They are taking pre-orders.Cheers,
I agree that the MFSL Aja is not one of their better efforts (among many not so hot efforts).However what makes you think that the new Japanese issue should sound "magnificent"? It's doubtful they'll be from the orginal masters -- in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they simply used digital masters. And, frankly, my experience is that Japanese mastering tends to be on the bright, thin side.
I would recommend an original ABC pressing. However this LP was cut about a billion times in 70s, so there is going to be some variablity in even early pressings.
i am not sure how early my pressing is but I got it when it came out, when i was in, uh 7th grade or something? anyway, I think it;s clean and I hate the record in case anybody really craves a copy of this easy to find record.
Hate's a strong word, but I'm with you on Aja--and I like some Steely Dan.I hear it at soundcheck sometimes. Clean, okay, I guess. But I find it to be lifeless. No soul or heart. I gave away a case of 25 when it was released, in a radio giveaway. Didn't keep one for myself. Never missed it.
Steve Gadd's drumming on the fade out of the title track is awsome.
I don't hate it, but I have it on CD and that's enough for my occassional listening.In the mid-1980s I had a girlfriend from Paramus named Peg, though, so there's something.
I also have both and the original is a better sounding recording. Not by a lot but enough to make me reach for it and not the MFSL copy when I want to listen.
Were done by JVC in Japan and they were mastered using the Ortofon cutting system. The vinyl used was referred as Supervinyl and is an offshoot of the research done by JVC for CD-4 pressings. The vinyl used on MFSL pressings is supposedly immune to stress cracks so the old 24hr rule does not apply to their pressings. As a result the quality of the pressing is supposedly not subject to the same wear factors that other vinyl compounds are. In other words it shouldn't wear like other pressings.Ed
We don't shush around here!
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof
SuperVinyl was approximately 5X harder than standard vinyl stock.
The Aja in question was one of MFSL's better efforts, although IMO, the original pressing was better balanced.
I have both and prefer the original by a small margin.
Henry
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