Looking for thoughtful recording company - no HD

**muralman1** · 10-12-2010, 11:05 AM

Reference Recordings have run off with a new lover, HD. My system cannot read HD, and that is alright with me. I am interested in exquisite recordings. Chesky I know about. Even so, if any of you have certain CDs made by Chesky please note them here. I would like to know if there are other recording companies you would like me to look into.

Thank you,

Vince

**Steve Williams** · 10-12-2010, 11:33 AM

Definitely any and all of Winson Ma's First impression Music and Lasting Impression Music

www.fimpression.com

BTW, thank Bruce Brown, fellow member here for mastering those wonderful albums

**muralman1** · 10-12-2010, 12:12 PM

Hi Steve,

You are always so thoughtful. I went right to fim. The selections look so inviting. The price is high, but if they are as good as they are presented, this should be a fine source, with one misgiving.

This is another HD mastering site. I have no need for, or interest in HD. My transport will not process it, and I am not sorry for that. If I can be convinced the HD encoding will not alter or hinder the music when not read, that would be comforting.

**garylkoh** · 10-12-2010, 12:46 PM

Muralman, FIM recordings are mastered in HD, but they are all Redbook CDs so they will play in any CD player. Check out especially their Ultimate Discs if you are interested in exquisite recordings.

**RBFC** · 10-12-2010, 12:49 PM

The FIM recordings play on regular redbook CD players. Whether they are mastered at higher sampling rates or not, the CDs are all released to play on 16/44.1 machines. Unless marked SACD or high-resolution files/DVD-R media, they're just normal CDs that have been produced carefully. Same for XRCD, XRCD-24, etc..... all play on regular CD playback equipment.

Lee

**Steve Williams** · 10-12-2010, 12:55 PM

Gary

I so agree about his Ultimate Discs

I also have his special release of Jazz At The Pawn Shop. You needn't enjoy the album but the sound is kick ass terrific

**garylkoh** · 10-12-2010, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by RBFC

The FIM recordings play on regular redbook CD players. Whether they are mastered at higher sampling rates or not, the CDs are all released to play on 16/44.1 machines. Unless marked SACD or high-resolution files/DVD-R media, they're just normal CDs that have been produced carefully. Same for XRCD, XRCD-24, etc..... all play on regular CD playback equipment.

Lee

Even those marked as SACD (unless I'm wrong) all have a Redbook CD layer. On some of these SACDs, the CD layer has HDCD encoding, so if you have a DAC with a HDCD decoder (or a music server which can do the same) you'll get even better sound.

Winston is extremely passionate about what he does, and you can be sure that everything that he releases will be top notch. He just threw over $100k of CDs into the dumpster because the pressing plant made a mistake and he felt that the sound was not up to his usual high standards.

**garylkoh** · 10-12-2010, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by Steve Williams

Gary

I so agree about his Ultimate Discs

I also have his special release of Jazz At The Pawn Shop. You needn't enjoy the album but the sound is kick ass terrific

If you ever get a chance to get his Ultimate Disc Master, don't hesitate. A couple of CES's ago, I helped Winston create a special set of discs - he called them Producer's Choice. We picked two CD's worth of tracks from his vast catalog and made about 10 sets direct from his digital masters. Then I hand-delivered them to a number of his friends who were demo-ing at the show.

On the final day of the show, I had to go and collect them all back to return to Winston. There were a lot of very sad faces to see them go. Those were the first prototypes of the UDM - and if redbook standard allows for 220 BLER (block error rate per second), typical audiophile CDs had less than 50 errors, and his current UDCs have less than 1.5 errors - that batch averaged less than 0.5 errors per second. Winston and I kept the two best for ourselves.

**muralman1** · 10-12-2010, 04:47 PM

Hi Gary,

If you have read what I wrote how my system sounds on redbook CDs using a NOS DAD, you would know I would never get a DAC that has HD, or up/over samples the CD. This system is very clear of defects. I have had multiple chip players here that don't cut the mustard. I will have more here hopefully this month.

Thanks anyway

Vince

**garylkoh** · 10-12-2010, 05:16 PM

Hi Vince,

I've read your strong opinions about using a NOS DAC.

Upsampling produces new samples of data derived from the samples that are already there. I am not a fan of upsampling either. HDCD increases data density from 16bits to "nearly" 20bit using patented technology (now owned by Microsoft).

I don't know if there is a lot of digital recording done at 44.1kHz (Bruce Brown will know better), so there will already be a lot of down-sampling done in the music you are listening to if the recording is done at 48kHz, 96kHz or 192kHz.