Thread: Rubinstein and Chopin

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Post by PaulSACD24/192 July 8, 2015 (1 of 15)
I own all of the Living Stereo albums with Arthur Rubinstein (SACD and HD downloads). Sound is good, but not great. Does anybody own the Nocturnes on SACD. What the opinion on the sound quality and whether the upgrade to SACD is worthwhile (sofar only in Japan and HD download)

Post by Iain July 8, 2015 (2 of 15)
PaulSACD24/192 said:

I own all of the Living Stereo albums with Arthur Rubinstein (SACD and HD downloads). Sound is good, but not great. Does anybody own the Nocturnes on SACD. What the opinion on the sound quality and whether the upgrade to SACD is worthwhile (sofar only in Japan and HD download)

The impetus to get:
Chopin: Ballades & Scherzos - Rubinstein

... came from when I had a pristine LP of it in the 1990's. I purchased the SA-CD in 2009 (one of my first) and was not disappointed. Sound quality is significantly better that the LP.

Extrapolate from that what you will, for the Nocturnes. You won't be disappointed.

Post by Claude July 8, 2015 (3 of 15)
Paul is referring to these new SACDs, released by Sony Hong Kong in June:

Chopin: Nocturnes, Vol. 1 - Rubinstein
Chopin: Nocturnes, Vol. 2 - Rubinstein

I don't think it's possible to extrapolate from the other Living Stereo SACDs, because these "local" releases could have been mastered from inferior sources.

Post by PaulSACD24/192 July 8, 2015 (4 of 15)
Claude said:

Paul is referring to these new SACDs, released by Sony Hong Kong:

Chopin: Nocturnes, Vol. 1 - Rubinstein
Chopin: Nocturnes, Vol. 2 - Rubinstein

I don't think it's possible to extrapolate from the other Living Stereo SACDs, because these "local" releases could have been mastered from inferior sources

Has anyone bought these SACD's and has an informed opinion about the sound quality. . Given that QOBUZ sells the HD downloads of the same album, suggests that album has been remastered by Sony for global release.

Post by Claude July 8, 2015 (5 of 15)
PaulSACD24/192 said:

Given that QOBUZ sells the HD downloads of the same album, suggests that album has been remastered by Sony for global release.

True. I've just seen that the Nocturnes have been released as 24/96 downloads a few months ago. It's probably the same transfer, which could have been done in PCM, while the Living Stereo SACDs were made from DSD transfers.

Post by Ubertrout July 8, 2015 (6 of 15)
Claude said:

True. I've just seen that the Nocturnes have been released as 24/96 downloads a few months ago. It's probably the same transfer, which could have been done in PCM, while the Living Stereo SACDs were made from DSD transfers.

I've noticed that recent Sony re-releases of 50s and 60s material have indicated a 24/96 transfer, in contrast to the DSD transfer advertised on discs through about 2012. Has Sony moved away from DSD?

Post by Claude July 8, 2015 (7 of 15)
Many hi-rez downloads (reissues of analogue recordings) from Sony are 24/96, and use a different transfer than previous SACD reissues.

I thought Sony had archived their analogue vault in DSD (some mid-2000's CD-only reissues mention DSD mastering), but they seem to do new PCM transfers for the hi-rez downloads

Post by Ubertrout July 8, 2015 (8 of 15)
Claude said:

True. I've just seen that the Nocturnes have been released as 24/96 downloads a few months ago. It's probably the same transfer, which could have been done in PCM, while the Living Stereo SACDs were made from DSD transfers.

Yup, the Nocturnes are in 24/96 - and they're in one package for a fraction of the cost: http://www.qobuz.com/ie-en/album/chopin-nocturnes-arthur-rubinstein/0886443706675

There's so much else there too in 24/96, including Gould's 1955 Goldbergs, in what looks like a new 24/96 transfer.

Interestingly, everything that was previously released on SACD is only available in 24/44.1. The Bernstein Sibelius cycle is also at 24/44.1 - perhaps converted from a DSD remaster.

I can't imagine the SACDs sound better than the PCM source.

Post by PaulSACD24/192 July 9, 2015 (9 of 15)
How can we be sure that the Living Stereo SACD were DSD masters. A lot of SACD's are the result of PCM copies from Analogue; manipulated/edited in the PCM domain (hopefully in DXD, but usually in lower Hz) and then converted to DSD. I am all for more transparency in the process from source to endfiles.

Post by lennyw July 9, 2015 (10 of 15)
They're simply waiting until they've sold enough 24/96 and then will suddenly declare the DSD market worth pursuing, and release them all again...

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