SACD and DVD-A dead, but K2HD is HERE!!!?!!?!?

[Woochifer]

Not sure if anyone could've said it any better. As I thought, this is just a mastering process for a plain RBCD. Then now I wonder why it was stated that no special equipment is needed to play these K2HD... Maybe just to clear any confusion for some potiential consumers like myself.

I got some CDs that walk all over certain SACDs. Art Blakey "Caravan" is absolutely horrible on SACD. I image that it was just a terrible recording to begin with. I'm sure some magical processing can resolve some fidelity but not sure if it';s worth the effort.


My Fam is out on a vacation so no recommendation for K2HD at this point. But what I can, most certainely,m recommend is:

Stella by Starlight: The Great Jazz Trio, Hank Jones.
they should have series of this stuff, and this SACD is just perfect. Anyone who can stand Jazz and owns a SACD player should at least own one album from the series.

JRA

I think a lot of it boils down to the philosophy of the record company and/or mastering engineer. On my Classic Records/Mobile Fidelity example, the difference between the CD/SACD and 96/24 PCM discs very clearly illustrated those respective companies' fundamental approach to their releases.

Classic Records is all about preserving the "vintage" sound as closely as possible. Their mastering playback rig consists of restored vintage tape players and mixers, and they use a first generation vault copy of the original LP issue as a playback reference. The ultimate goal is to replicate the sound of that original LP issue as closely as possible, even with a high res digital transfer. Their production staff is top notch (as a vinyl cutter, Bernie Grundman is as good there is in the industry), and to that end they do a great job.

Mobile Fidelity OTOH takes a lot more artistic license to tinker with the sound. Their playback rig is highly customized with a purported analog frequency range that exceeds what DVD-A and SACD are capable of. Their goal is to produce something that subjectively sounds better than the original LP or CD issue. To that end, I think they have generally succeeded, and explains why I would prefer Mobile Fidelity's CD version over Classic's higher resolution version of the same recording.

Fantasy/Prestige Records (which I believe is the company that issued that Art Blakey SACD) is particular about preservation. (Their tape vault in Berkeley stores the masters for some of the most treasured recordings in jazz and rock history, and the fanatical attention to detail in how that vault operates seems to indicate that they take this task very seriously) The LP and CD comparisons that I've done seem to indicate that, like Classic Records, they have a particular analog reference that they aim for. BTW, Fantasy/Prestige also uses the K2 mastering system for some limited edition releases, and they price these titles very reasonably. Concurrently, they have also licensed many of those same titles for release as XRCDs, which are NOT reasonably priced, and lead me to wonder what differences might exist between Fantasy/Prestige's regular CDs and these megapriced XRCDs, considering that both of them use that K2 mastering setup.

Like you mention, with that Art Blakey SACD, it might simply be that no good references exist, and Fantasy/Prestige to me doesn't seem like they're into "colorizing" their recordings. Then again, you do have a live human being working the boards during these transfers. The Rudy Van Gelder remasters have made all kinds of editorial changes to classic Blue Note titles, some of which have worked, other that have not.