9/18/2023 0 Comments Qobuz legitSo thus now that we can hear this music on LP - with all its inherent quirks and innefficiencies - maybe, just maybe, this is the way Rudy might have envisioned this music being played back someday. That is - and I’m purely speculating here, folks - it might stand to reason that the high end of the analog master might be a little brighter to accommodate for inevitable reigning in of frequencies in the disc mastering process. To my preference for the vinyl presentation of Blue World… I do wonder… given the nature of who recorded this music - the legendary Rudy Van Gelder - and when he did so (in 1964, 20 years pre-digital) whether he mixed this with vinyl pressing ultimately in mind. In general, however, I like the sound of how the music is processed via the download and especially the vinyl better. Ultimately we’re splitting hairs here and both streaming versions are basically fine from my spot checks (I have not yet listened to them fully) but they sound a bit brighter to my ear, perhaps a result of the compression formats used for streaming… I am just guessing here, there could be any number of variables at play. The 192/24 bit download is my second favorite as it sounds a bit more pure. Of the four versions, I think I am leaning toward the vinyl for my preferred playback option for a number of reasons I will go into in a moment. It is available in HiRes up to 192/24 on Qobuz ( click here). You can also now find Blue World streaming on Tidal in 192/24 MQA format ( click here). The dark black medium weight vinyl pressing is quiet, well centered and generally sounding excellent. While this is not a fancy 180- or 200-gram disc, my copy sounds quite nice and I’m not hearing / seeing any of the nasty common 21st Century vinyl pressing problems gracing this issue. The advance 192 kHz, 24-bit download I received certainly sounds very nice and warm and round when played through my Mytek Brooklyn DAC. With lacquers cut by Ron McMaster at Capitol Studios and remastering by Kevin Reeves at Universal Mastering all done off the original 1/4-inch analog tapes, the source material for creating this new LP is no doubt excellent (despite it being in Mono, with some inevitable anomalies on the master tapes due to aging). My review copy of the new vinyl edition of Blue World finally arrived and I have to say I’m very pleased. The back story on this is quite interesting and if you haven’t read Part 1 of my review, please click here to jump to it as I explain the album’s genesis. In short, this music recorded for a rarely seen French Canadian film was recently re-discovered and is now being issued for the first time. Hopefully by now you have seen part one of my review of the new John Coltrane album called Blue World. Twitter Facebook Email Print LinkedIn Pinterest SMS WhatsApp
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