Definitive Audiophile pressings

MikeH said:
Depends on the release. $40 for In A Silent Way seems more than fair. I agree not all their releases are worth the price though. I’d say they are more hit than miss. Agree too that KW is maybe 5th best engineer? I take KG, CB, RKS and Bernie over him.
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Joe Nino-Hernes at Sterling and Levi Seitz of Black Belt would go on that list for me ahead of KW as well.
 
MikeH said:
Depends on the release. $40 for In A Silent Way seems more than fair. I agree not all their releases are worth the price though. I’d say they are more hit than miss. Agree too that KW is maybe 5th best engineer? I take KG, CB, RKS and Bernie over him.
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I think a lot of it depends on the genre of music. And sometimes even the artist. I would not choose any of them with something that’s maybe recorded a little rough around the edges or that wants to rock a bit harder. Actually maybe bellers, he can rock a bit when he wants to.
 
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Russ I said:
This is the kind of discussion that forces me to remember how many variables are in play besides the particular pressing in question. Gear (which is exponential in it's impact once each piece and their interactions are considered), listening environment, our ears, our preferences/biases....it's endless. Lends itself easily to comparisons between pressings on the same system, but beyond that, it's almost like we're tasked with trying to make sense out of ongoing conversations where each of us is speaking a slightly different language. Amazing that it works as well as it does! (So keep those opinions coming!)
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This. If 10 of us were in the same room listening on the same system to a/b comparisons of heavy hitters, there’s a decent likelihood of 50/50 splits (or close to that) on preferences between the a and b. That said, for the modern jazz reissues, give me RKS or give me death. His work w/ Verve AS and the VMP mono Shape of Jazz to Come are — to my ears and subjective preferences — the cream of the crop.
 
Portland Sheriff said:
This. If 10 of us were in the same room listening on the same system to a/b comparisons of heavy hitters, there’s a decent likelihood of 50/50 splits (or close to that) on preferences between the a and b. That said, for the modern jazz reissues, give me RKS or give me death. His work w/ Verve AS and the VMP mono Shape of Jazz to Come are — to my ears and subjective preferences — the cream of the crop.
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Better than the Music Matters or Tone Poets??
 
Joe Mac said:
I have the 13 of debut, 17 of Cobat Rock and 19 anniversary of London Calling. They’re all very good and all use the mastering done by the remaining band members and Tim Young back in 2013 when they redid the catalogue.

I need to pick up Give Em Enough Rope and Sandanista at some point. Have an OG of Cut The Crap that I got as a PIF on here. Oh, and an OG of The Story of the Clash which is one my all time favourite best of albums.
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Excellent. Combat Rock and the debut are the two I'm missing. I picked up Hits Back back then so there was no rush, but if I know there's little risk, I'll throw them into an order when I need to make price for free shipping.
 
MikeH said:
Better than the Music Matters or Tone Poets??
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I feel like RKS’s cuts have a warmth or mid/low presence that fills out the overall sound in a way that I prefer over Kevin Grey. Of course, KG is also great, and I have plenty of TPs and MMs that are amazing. But if I was forced to pick one over the others, that’d be my preference.

Perhaps it’s my system, but that’s been true with two TTs (and two carts on 2nd TT) and with/without Elac phono preamp.
 
MikeH said:
Better than the Music Matters or Tone Poets??
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I think the Tone Poets are a little better sounding than the RKS acoustic sounds series records….but they might just be better sounding recordings to begin with. Probs a lot of copy tapes for those Impulse reissues. All original masters for the blue notes
 
keylime_5 said:
I think the Tone Poets are a little better sounding than the RKS acoustic sounds series records….but they might just be better sounding recordings to begin with. Probs a lot of copy tapes for those Impulse reissues. All original masters for the blue notes
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Trio 65 is the only RKS mastering I can remember sounding below par.

The Coltrane Impulse sounds really good. I would be surprised if those were copies.
 
Jbraswell said:
Trio 65 is the only RKS mastering I can remember sounding below par.

The Coltrane Impulse sounds really good. I would be surprised if those were copies.
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I really dislike the hard panning on the Coltranes so i never find myself reaching for them. I know that's not RKS' fault really though. And they are definitely from copies. Chad got mad and defensive when people asked him what tapes they were from and he refused to answer.
 
MikeH said:
I really dislike the hard panning on the Coltranes so i never find myself reaching for them. I know that's not RKS' fault really though. And they are definitely from copies. Chad got mad and defensive when people asked him what tapes they were from and he refused to answer.
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I thought Love Supreme was the only copy, at least according to the AS site.
 
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