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From: greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: Magnavox 2041 (actually CD sound in general)
Message-ID: <482@olivee.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Feb-86 13:52:15 EST
Article-I.D.: olivee.482
Posted: Wed Feb  5 13:52:15 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 8-Feb-86 05:15:55 EST
References: <5@qvax2.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Olivetti ATC; Cupertino, Ca
Lines: 84

from Roy Gordon:

> 
> On the negative side, I don't in general like the quality of the sound.
> I listen mostly to classical music and opera in particular.  The
> soprano voice seems quite thin when played, as do some other passages
> in the music.
> 
> Sometimes when the orchestra "revs" up the passage sounds quite
> indistinct and muddy and as it is a little sluggish and slow 
> getting started, as if there werelike they were a little out of sync.
> I'm sorry I can't describe thisatter any better.  Overall to me the
> sound lacks the depth and richness that I hear on records.
> 
...
> 
> Yet, I remain disappointed.  Are the problems that I have encountered
> common?  Are they due in whole or part to my other equipment?
> Are they due to me?  I would be truly interested in others'
> experiences and comments.
> 

This is, in a nutshell, what the whole analogue vs. digital controversy
has been about from the start.  The phenomenon described is not at all
uncommon, and I don't think it reflects on any one particular CD player
currently out on the market.

Similar experience with digital sound (and CD in particular) led me to
dismiss it at first as totally unsatisfactory.  I changed my mind, only
after a great deal of careful listening and comparison to both recorded
material and live performance.  

I'm now convinced that a good CD (and there are plenty of bad ones) can
more accurately reproduce what I hear at a live concert than even the
best analogue LP's.  That doesn't mean that it is more "satisfying".
Many analogue recordings do have an extra "fullness" and "richness" which
I feel exaggerate and distort what is actually heard in a live performance,
but which, heard on home equipment, paradoxically produce a more
"musical" and satisfying sound, since these qualities compensate for the
lack of the visual element which is an important part of the live concert
experience.  Many operatic voices, in particular, are given an extra
bloom and amplitude in analogue recordings, so that a more accurate
recording that does not add these qualities can sound thin and disappointing
by direct comparison.  Massed strings in good analogue recordings have a
"sweetness" that I find does not correspond with what is generally heard
live, but which nonetheless can sound more pleasing and attractive to the
ear when compared to the more accurate, but also "hard", sound of actual
string playing.

Certainly, I could be wrong, but I'd be willing to bet that if you continue
listening over a period of time, the digital sound will become more
satisfying.

Discussions of miking techniques and their relevance to the quality of
digital recordings is old history on the net.  Nonetheless, it may be
worth mentioning again that there are a number of CD's available 
(particularly from DGG) whose use of close miking causes a distortion of
spatial and dynamic perspectives, as well as an unpleasant edge and
stridency, that appear to be magnified on CD.

I'd like to mention a few CD's that I find particularly satisfying
reproductions of the operatic voice (as well as excellent performances):

	Mozart: The Magic Flute  PHILIPS (w/Margaret Price, Peter
		Schreier, Luciana Serra, Kurt Moll, Colin Davis, cond.)
		Recorded in Dresden using the superb Dresdener
		Staatskapelle orchestra - a German magazine joked that
		recordings from East Germany sound all the better because
		they can't afford the hundred mikes and elaborate mixers
		used in the west.

	Janacek: Jenufa LONDON (w/Elisabeth Soederstrom, Eva Randova
		Peter Dvorsky, Wieslaw Ochmann, Vienna Philharmonic
		conducted by Charles Mackerras)

	Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro LONDON (w/Kiri Te Kanawa, 
		Thomas Allen, Lucia Popp, Samuel Ramey, Frederica 
		von Stade, London Philharmonic conducted by Georg Solti)

I've also been very happy with the CD versions of the originally
analogue recordings of R. Strauss "Salome" and Wagner's "Ring" on
London.

	- Greg Paley/Olivetti ATC