don@oakhill.UUCP (Don Weiss) (01/05/85)
A LP-vs.-CD comparison of two recordings
The following is a (reasonably) detailed comparison of the CD versus the
LP versions of two orchestral recordings.
First, the equipment used:
Technics SLP-7 CD player
Philips GA-212 turntable + Shure V-15 III cartridge
Sanyo C55 preamp + P55 power amp
Koss ESP-9 headphones
The recordings compared will be discussed in order of vintage.
The first recording was an RCA recording of Arthur Rubinstein performing
Rachmaninov's second piano concerto with Fritz Reiner conducting the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It dates from 1956 and is, of course, from
an analog master.
---For those interested, I have a plug for Fritz Reiner's recordings at
the end of this article.
The first impression was that of a noticeably lower noise level on the
CD; I'm not sure whether this was due to magic noise-reduction tech-
niques applied to the master tapes during transfer to the CD, or whether
the LP mastering itself was somehow noisier than necessary. At any
rate, despite obvious tape noise from the original master, the CD was
significantly quieter than the LP in my possession.
The second impression was that the LP was brighter in tonal balance than
the CD. After careful listening, however, I think this impression was
the well-known sonic illusion of high-frequency content caused by the
presence of wide-band noise, occurring in greater quantity on the LP
than on the CD. In fact when listened to very critically, the upper
harmonics on the LP seemed dulled by comparison to the CD; this, I
suspect was also due to the higher hiss level on the LP masking those
harmonics, which may actually be present but unhearable. In other
words, the hiss level seems to have two contradictory effects; on one
hand, it makes the (LP) recording sound brighter in the mid-upper fre-
quency range, while it seems to suppress (mask) the very top end.
Bearing in mind the distracting influence of the substantial difference
in noise levels, other aspects of the recording, namely the distortion
and dynamic range, could scarcely be distinguished between CD and LP.
The second recording was of more recent vintage, namely selections of
Richard Wagner performed by George Solti and the CSO on London/Decca.
The recording sessions were from between 1972 and 1977, and produced
analog master tapes with very nearly unnoticeable hiss; in fact, I am
uncertain whether the hiss that was present was due to the air condi-
tioning in the recording venues; in any event it was at the level of the
recording room ambient noise.
Here, the difference in hiss levels between the CD and LP was very small
and the rumble and occasional impulse noises on the LP constituted the
only real difference in the noise level.
In this case, the comparison of tonal balance, frequency response, and
distortion was more precise because of the relative lack of masking by
hiss. And indeed, there was no clearly discernible difference between
the CD and the LP in any of these areas.
I conclude that if a good master tape is available and the mastering to
both CD and LP is best-case, the only advantage of the CD is the gain in
convenience, longevity, and freedom from mechanical effects such a rum-
ble and impulse noise. For my purposes, however, these advantages are
decisive.
End of technical contribution.
--<* P L U G *>----
This is a discussion of the recordings made by Fritz Reiner for RCA dur-
ing the fifties and early sixties. It is quite worthwhile to acquire
and listen carefully to most of these records even today, for two relat-
ed reasons.
First, of course, is the standard of artistic quality. This is espe-
cially true of his recordings of the Romantic repertoire and of Bartok.
I recommend especially the following recordings:
Tchaikowski: Violin Concerto in D, with Jascha Heifetz
-- RCA .5 remastering
Wagner: Various selections from the Ring and other musikdramas
-- RCA .5 remastering
Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra
--1954 recording
--1962 recording (Mobile Fidelity remastering)
The second reason is that the sonic quality of the master tapes is quite
good, especially in that un-gimmicky microphone techniques were ap-
parently used; it's somewhat ironic that with digital audio we're coming
around to techniques perfected in the early 50's by Mercury Records (and
evidently emulated by RCA in these recordings). Overall, these record-
ings are well ahead of (what I perceive was) general practice at the
time they were made.
In short, the recent remasterings listed above reveal almost everything
one would want to hear from the orchestra (with reservations as noted in
the technical discussion).
I have a number of these on LP; I'm delighted to see them appearing on
CD and audiophile discs, and will be purchasing every CD release as I
come across it.
---------- Don Weiss