User Details - fausto K

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Name:
  fausto k
Details:
  I possess over 450 SACDs, mainly classical, out of a total collection of more than 5000 compact discs. Also because I listen to a lot of experimental music not normally available in hi-res, I'm not loath to listening to RBCD, which sometimes are beyond decent soundwise (e.g. the Beatles mono-remasters, the Kraftwerk remasters, the Brian Eno 2004 DSD transfers or the Zappa 2012 DSD remasters). Although I'm not an orthodox vinyl-fetishist, I have a fair amount of vinyl (700+), also recent releases. In most cases, SACD is definitely better, but certainly not in all: e.g. Cisco's analogue remaster for vinyl of Steely Dan's "Aja" trumps the recent Japanese SHM-SACD version. Most often, vinyl is at any rate much preferable to RBCD, just because a lot of late 90s and 00s rock and pop cds tend to have heavily compressed DRs, which makes them near unlistenable. The vinyl counterparts are often (but not always) much better.
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HiFi:
  SONY SACD XA5400ES
Audio Analogue Puccini Settanta rev 2.0 Integr. Amp
Opera Seconda loudspeakers MK I
Nordost Blue Heaven Interconnects
Nordost Flat cables
Nottingham Analogue Ace Spacedeck Turntable + Ace Space Tonearm
Ortofon 2M Bronze MM
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  704

 
 
Reviews
Found: 6 show all

Schubert: Schwanengesang - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau      (11 of 14 found this review helpful)
  February 17, 2015

It has repeatedly been claimed by some on this site that it's pointless to release analogue-tape era stereo music on SACD, remastered via DSD flat transfer, since all the content on those tapes could easily be contained on a redbook CD without loss. Buying the often not-cheap SACDs is just to fall ... more
Steely Dan: Aja      (12 of 12 found this review helpful)
  February 4, 2015

I have been listening to this version of Aja since it was released in 2010, and so far hesitated writing something about it here. But the many contradicting reviews posted here made me decide to put my two cents worth in, and it goes without saying, this review remains wholly my subjective point of ... more
  January 30, 2015

Shostakovich's last two string quartets, written at short intervals, with the 15th written a year and a half before he died, are clearly also late works in the aesthetic sense; they might not be as radically modernist as his 12th, but they are challenging works nonetheless, both thematically as well ... more
The Plastic People of the Universe: Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned        (5 of 5 found this review helpful)
  January 18, 2015

I'm sure this is one of the most outré albums issued on SACD, at least it is the most underground SACD I have in possession. The Czech branch of EMI should be applauded for issuing this disc of relatively obscure music at all (although in the Czech Republic, it probably isn't that obscure, certainly ... more
Pixies: Trompe Le Monde        (2 of 2 found this review helpful)
  November 10, 2013

While certainly not one of the defining albums of the early 90s American guitar indie scene (in my view, that honour should go to either Polvo's "Today's Active Lifestyles", Trumans Water's "Spasm Smash XXXOXOX Ox and Ass", Drive Like Jehu's "Yank Crime" or Pavement's "Slanted & Enchanted", all ... more

 
 
Latest Posts

Discussion: Ives: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 - Davis
November 26, 2015
Good news for the Ives aficionado: volume 2 in Andrew Davis's cycle of orchestral works for Chandos will be released at the tail end of the year. Works on vol. 2: A Symphony "New England Holidays" Three Places in NEw England Central Park in the Dark The Unanswered Question That leaves at least Symphonies 3 & 4, & the stupendous Robert Browning ... more
PENTATONE THREAD
November 8, 2015
The Schubert Quartets will most likely be the Quartetto Italiano (above), which would be great (as I haven't got the Rosamunde on SACD and what better than the QT Italiano ?--there is a conspicuous lack of new hi-res recordings of Schubert's quartets!) ... more
Discussion: Mozart, Verdi, Ives: Quartets - Schumann Quartett
September 29, 2015
Especially for Lute: The new Hagen Qt Mozart disc is now out exclusively in Japan, prior to international release (Germany & Austria in November, ROW in January). Unfortunately, the labelling on the back cover is wrong, they conflated the titles for the two works (will be corrected for the international release). Anyway, this disc should be ... more
The Rock Thread
September 11, 2015
that must then have been very very recently, as not even two months ago I bought Kuniko's latest (absolutely exhilarating) http://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=10549 which has been out since only this summer. ... more
Simple Minds: Once Upon A Time
September 10, 2015
New Gold Dream indeed! But on SACD please. ... more