could master tape be the only solution. CD versus Vinyl

H

hi-fi evangelis

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I make reference to the post of the vinyl nail in cds coffin thread.
Why not bring back master tape, clearly this was a far better medium than cd sacd dvd or vinyl. Realistic reproduction. Any ones opinion on this debate or shall we kill this post dead.
Keep on Rocking
The Evangelist
 
Listen to bootleg CD's copied directly from studio masters and you'll soon realise there's little wrong with the medium - it's just that what your buy only contains a tiny percentage of the bits that were recorded.
 
I have a CD copied from a live gig recorded on an old Brenell Mk V. 1 microphone mono recording. Its one of the best CD's I own. (CD's are the spawn of the Devil anyway)

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Precious little is done in the way of AAA-vinyl or not these days.
Peoples issues with cd are down to poor recording, poor mastering or just poor kit.
IMHO cd's can and often do sound excellent-in fact when done properly can be to all intents and purposes a clone of the master-the nature of vinyl mastering/replay precludes this ever being the case and yet it can sound stunningly master-like.
It's swings n roundabouts to my ears, both formats have they good points.
Funnily enough some cd's copied over to my Revox B77 at 15 ips sound a lot like vinyl.
 
The quality of the conversion used when the song is printed and then played back is also a big factor in how well the CD will compare the analog counterpart. In most cases with the right DA converter the CD is able to sound the same as the Vinyl. Many people do not get to hear this however as there are very few DA converters that are actually that good.
 
For anyone interested in listening to tapes, the Analog Audio association in Germany has recently started selling copies of mastertapes form the Quinton catalogue, Quinto being an Austrian label that does mostly jazz and light classical.

I believe this is the first such offering in decades.
 
The problem with tape is that the wear factor is so much higher as with vinyl.

I also believe that the correct term is 1/4" Analogue Tape and NOT master tape.

Master tape refer to the actual tape used for the final mix of the album.

If your vinyl setup is good then the sound will be good. I get brilliant sound with my 30+ year Thorens t/table. Got Diana Krall's Greatest Hits copy on 180 grm vinyl last week and my reaction is "WOW!! Can this be vinyl playing??"

GD
 
the probs ith tape are/were: Noise floor levels in very quiet passages of recorded live music especially / tape wear and storage sensitivity (temp/humidity and magnetic fields especialy) frequent head cleaning and re-alignement) and the size and weight of the machinery!
Otherwise its tape every time!
(well....what DID the romans do for us?)
 

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