![]() This is especially true of the AudioQuest and Analogue Production albums. JVC has the good sense to start with albums that were well-recorded to begin with (by well-regarded engineers like Val Valentin, Allen Sides and the jazz master, Rudy Van Gelder), and in some cases the original album was also mastered pretty well to begin with. So, are they worth the price? Well, that depends, of course. The small dynamic inflections that can make the turn of a jazz phrase meaningful, were there. (Which made them much less tiring to listen to than most CDs, thank goodness.) The sense of space surrounding the musicians, if it was captured in the original recording, was well represented. The instruments (and voices) had an easy, natural sound, with a good sense of immediacy. In all of the albums, I heard an excellent octave-to-octave balance to the sound, with no particular frequency range highlighted. In no case was an XRCD CD worse sounding than the original I compared it to. Overall, they rank with the best sounding CDs I have heard. I am happy to say the XRCDs really do sound better. I listened carefully to fifteen Fantasy-derived XRCD albums, and as many comparable regular issues as I could easily find, on a variety of stereo playback systems from a portable with headphones to a couple of good home systems and even a boombox. Finally, there are some original issues from JVC itself. There are also albums from AudioQuest and Analogue Productions, two audiophile labels specializing in blues and jazz. The majority of the albums are drawn from the Fantasy jazz catalog, the mother lode of classics from labels like Prestige, Riverside and Pablo. (The other is Tina Turner's Private Dancer.) But most of the XRCDs so far are jazz and blues albums, which is fitting since the strengths of XRCD suit "naturally" recorded albums. ![]() Tom Netherland has reviewed the XRCD version of Steve Miller's The Joker, one of two pop albums JVC has reissued. The resulting CDs are packaged in handsome book-style albums with the original artwork, which should help the purchaser feel better about spending two to three times the price of a regular CD. XRCD (for "Extended Resolution Compact Disc") is JVC's attempt to push the CD format to its utmost, by paying close attention to every step of the mastering and manufacturing process. Now, JVC is turning its attention in a similar way to CDs. JVC used really good vinyl"virgin" (now, there's an advertising word to appeal to your average audiophile!)and produced thick, flat, quiet slabs of beautiful black. ![]() Way back in the good old seventies, before Sony and Philips began the courtship that would beget the compact disc, record collectors knew to look for albums that were pressed in Japan by JVC, the Japan Victor Company. A survey of fifteen jazz CDs in great sound ![]()
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