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Amazing XRCD I just purchased....

Just finish listening to the Sonny Rollins (way out west) XRCD and it is a truly wonderful(relaxing) experience,without a doubt one of the top 5 XRCD Im ever heard,and alot better than most of the SACD I've heard.I must have for your reference "hottie" CD.Two thumbs up!!
bmwhaus

Showing 3 responses by hdm

hdm
1,055 posts
 
I think Jon was referring to the straight K2 reissues, as opposed to the XRCD's, which run about twice as much money. I just ordered 5 of the K2's; unfortunately I don't have have any corresponding XRCD's to compare them to (only have one, Bill Evans' Waltz for Debby), but I'll try and report back on my impressions of the K2's when I get them. If they are close to, or as good as the XRCD's sonically, they will be a real bargain.
hdm
1,055 posts
 
Following up on my post above, the K2's which I purchased have been great. Although I have no corresponding XRCD's to compare them to, I would say that they are sonically close to or = to the XRCD sound for a lot less money (typically $14.98 list) and therefore a bargain. But a lot of it goes back to the original recording. "Everybody Digs Bill Evans" on K2 is good but definitely not in the same league as Waltz for Debby XRCD. The Digs K2 is recorded a little on the hot side and you can hear the piano distort every once in a while. The other K2's I have (two by Miles Davis, one Coltrane, one Sonny Rollins and one Wes Montgomery) are beautifully recorded and remastered and sound very close to me to Waltz for Debby. I think you are very safe purchasing any of the K2's originally recorded by Rudy Van Gelder-they seem universally to sound very, very good.
hdm
1,055 posts
 
Jon: This is just an educated guess after reading the info included in both the K2's and XRCD's (which is in much greater detail) included with the CD's about the remastering process. It appears that both use 1) JVC 20 bit 128x oversampling 2)JVC K2 super coding and 3) the K2 interface to eliminate jitter.

The only difference that I can really ascertain (and I have no idea what difference it would make) is that the K2's are remastered using a JVC DAS-900 and the XRCD's (at least the 20 bit one that I own of Waltz for Debby) are done using a Sony PCM-9000 which uses a magneto optical disc (no idea if the JVC DAS-900 uses the same optical disc system or tape-perhaps some techies might chime in).

The K2's are a bargain; after hearing them I wouldn't bother to pay the extra money for XRCD's. In fact, I'm ordering 2 more tomorrow.
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