Consequently, I spent much of my review listening focused on Redbook CDs, but also hit the SACD trail, with some happy results, as will be seen. So, let’s move forward with my listening notes:
Listening (Redbook)
Bill Evans Trio, “Waltz for Debby” (Riverside) XRCD
This is an XRCD from the relatively early days, but a pleasant listen. It’s a cliche, but with the DA2i a veil has been lifted. The voicing (tonality) – seems the same as before the change to the DA2i, but there is a larger and more realistic space around the piano and the bass; more significant is the evenness of the warm tone up and down the frequency range. Previously, some notes seem favored. Whatever that was about, there is less of that with the new unit.
The drums, mostly played with brushes, could sound somewhat vague in their detail before, just a swishing in the background. Now I can tell with a new sense of precision almost what Paul Motion is doing with those brushes. Also, Motion and Scott LaFaro (bass) are positioned together far to the left in the recording, which sometimes led to some aural confusion in the past. That is not happening here.
In the middle is mostly the audience and club space. I used to find the audience noise annoying, even more so than I do in jazz clubs in real life (hard as they are to find). Perhaps because the separation and detail are so much improved, I don’t care as much now. It is all of an integrated piece, one space.
Munch, Debussy “Images”, Boston Symphony, RCA, XRCD.
This early XRCD has never had quite the same warmth in the strings as the original RCA vinyl but has very good detail. It certainly does with the DA2(i). The soundstage is very wide with excellent space between and around the instruments, such that you can hear the full tonality of the instruments. There is no sense of strain with strings or anything else. I think I am missing some of the micro detail I can hear on the LP, and the warmth. As below, this may be more an artifact of the mastering than the DA2i.
Munch, “Images”, RCA CD (original RCA CD issue, not an XRCD)
Although this is mastered from the same recording as above, this sounds more like the record: warmer, more ambient information. Strings sound very nice; more like a section of different instruments playing together. The soundstage is very wide. There is still a hint of digital edge, not surprising for a CD of this age. This was, I believe, RCA’s first attempt at mastering this recording for digital.
Bill Frisell, “Good Dog Happy Man” (Nonesuch)
The soundstage in this recording is very wide and detailed with excellent tonality. The guitar sounds as sexy as guitars can sound at their best. The bass is huge, and the sound is very warm.
Sometimes, as in the second tune, Frisell creates a virtual soup of guitar sounds, from clean acoustics to overdriven electrics, blues slides and including his odd guitar loops, bits and pieces of all of which emerge from the glorious miasma to face each other, then fade into the distance. The DA2i carries it all forward in a wide blend that fully captures the detail but delivers the warm blend as well. The bass underlining the whole glorious mess is solid and warm.
David Sylvian, “Everything and Nothing”. CD (Virgin America)
I’ve listened to this material many times on many combinations of gear. Everything comes together with the DA2i. Detail, and especially space is very open and very wide. Sylvian invested the sonic landscape with so many cues, big and small: female voices singing or speaking, sampled voices reciting, guitars, keyboards, electronic percussion, floating in and out. All are captured in their different entrances and disappearances with warmth and integrity. Indeed, the warmth of the voices, particularly Sylvian’s, seems analog like.
Steely Dan, “Everything Must Go”
I’m rather fond of Side 2 of Steely Dan’s last album, beginning with “Green Book”. As usual, the production is excellent and these last four tunes are terrific, among the snappier of the later Steely Dan work.
This Redbook CD sounds very good. I expected the DA2i to give me a strong showing, and it did. The bass was very present, clean and clear. The bass drum and the snare were punchy, with the snare having some of the best whip-crack-snap sound I’ve heard. Fagen’s voice is somewhat less in the background than it often is, and the background voices are so visceral and sexy I can almost see their mouths up at the microphones.
This is the best I’ve heard this CD. The only thing I feel I’m missing is the last bit of air and space. Of course, “space” is relative in a studio recording like this. And it’s Redbook. I think this is the best we’re likely to get. (I don’t recall the LP being much different in this respect.)
Traincha, with the Metropole Orchestra, “The Look of Love”, Bluenote
Traincha is a Dutch singer much underappreciated in the States. This Blue Note disc is a terrific compilation of Bacharach tunes with the Dutch big band, the Metropole Orchestra, doing Pat Williams and Vince Mendoza arrangements. The sound is as good as Redbook digital gets…indeed, almost as good as it gets, period. The band is spread widely across the stage and it’s big including strings. When Traincha does ‘The Look of Love’, is it Dusty Springfield? Well, no, but it’s easy enough to forget that and enjoy. Her voice is up front, though not quite as present as Dusty in her version. Traincha has a slightly husky head-voice that is quite appealing, which you can hear at its best in the somewhat sparer ballads like ‘A House is Not a Home’.
The DA2i gets as much as can be gotten out of this Redbook CD. As with the Steely Dan mentioned earlier, I could do with just a bit more air in the top, but I suspect that this is an artifact of the medium.
Haitink, Ravel, “Orchestra Music”, Phillips, Duo edition
This recording of ‘Le Tombeau de Couperin’, with Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra comes from a 2-CD budget compilation of Haitink’s recordings of Ravel made mostly in the early 70’s. It is from relatively early in the CD era and seems to me to have too many strikes against it for one to hope for good sound. Yet, it is as relaxed and pleasant as about any Redbook classical CD of which I can recall.
The instruments are clearly set out in space. The strings have a certain warmth I certainly do not associate with early analog-to-digital transfers. The winds sound round and full, if placed back somewhat. The brass is also warm, yet brassy. And I hear some of the air of the hall – perhaps not quite what I hear on the related LP (which I have) but helping to better establish the illusion of real music in a real room.
Julia Hulsmann Trio, “Sooner and Later”, ECM
This Julia Hulsmann CD is one of a crop of more recent CDs from ECM that are so good that I find that I forget about the listening format, and just fall into the music.
This is a piano-bass-drums trio. The piano itself is first rate and sounds it. The drums are present, but never overdone, never harsh. The reproduction of the cymbals is great – the sound is rounded, not only about the attack and the top-end, but the rich underbelly as well. The double bass is warm and present, setting a floor to the proceedings. And there is air at the top, which helps my ears put together the ensemble sound.
The whole is put together with a strong sense of musicality. In other words, it just sounds good; it sounds attractive. Even though the tunes are unfamiliar, and even peculiar at times, I want to keep listening just to experience the sounds. I do not get fatigued.
I think this is about as good as Redbook gets. The DA2i gets an A+ on this one.
Von Karajan Richard Strauss, “Ein Heldenleben” Deutsche Grammophon
Von Karajan recorded a good deal of Strauss over his time with DG and EMI. This is one of his earlier 1951 DG Strauss recordings. His reputation for overdone, overly processed late career digital recordings has caused some of us, me included, to overlook some of these earlier gems. This comes from a CD transferred from analog via DG’s “Original Bit Processing” method. I’ve no clue what that is, but I have usually liked the results, and this is no exception. The DA2i takes to the result with great alacrity. When I put the disc on, the system was fairly cranked up. My first thought was to turn it down, but the sound grabbed me, and I stayed with it.
There was almost no irritating edge. Instead, the orchestra sounded big and happy to be big. The violin was sawing away with great gusto; I felt like I could walk on them. After a bit, the cello soloist came in for the solo cello part. He was right there, very full, very lyrical. The Berlin Philharmonic is right there with him, superbly controlled, but not overly so. And rich, and big. This is a really pleasant CD. I am a little surprised. I could write more about it, but I’d rather sit back and listen.
Steely Dan “Gaucho” early Mobile Fidelity
Steely Dan “Gaucho” early Mobile Fidelity
This is one of my favorite recordings. I’ve listened to a variety of versions, LP and CD. I like this particular issue as digital goes. On “Hey Nineteen” the voices are full of air and delicacy. The instruments are spread across the soundstage and generally well-separated. The bells in “Babylon Sisters” that glisten back and forth across the stage in the early moments of the tune seem right there.
But coming late in the listening game, after having listened to a group of SACDs, I’m aware that this isn’t one of them, nor is it the best vinyl. It’s easy to say, well, it’s not “relaxed.” It’s not enough “analog” sounding. Of course, what does all that mean? It means that, although I like it, my ears keep saying, there’s something missing. Something about the air, or lack of it. Something about the moments during which the instruments seem just a bit squeezed together. Something about the slight ringing in the acoustic piano solo. (Isn’t that on the LP? I don’t know, but I know I don’t recall it.)
But it’s still a good listen, as good as I’ve heard it. It’s not really fair to compare it to SACD.
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