Compared Tone Poet to Mosaic

This might interest some people.  The new copy of Hank, by Hank Mobley Sextet on Tone Poet just arrived last week.  The sextet:  Donald Byrd, trumpet; John Jenkins, alto; Hank Mobley, tenor; Bobby Timmons, piano; Wilbur Ware, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums.  Originally released in 1957, new release dated 2026, but received 12/2025.  Anyway this is a terrific hard bop record in the best Blue Note tradition.  Originally recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, remastered by Kevin Gray and Produced by Joe Harley.  I thought it might be fun to compare the vinyl Tone Poet with the Mosaic release of 2022, which is on CD.

For vinyl playback:  VPI HW-40 w/SoundSmith Hyperion set up using AnalogMagic, Conrad Johnson ART Phono.

For digital playback:  Luxman D-10X

Amp, line stage, speakers, wires etc. were the same for both.

Well some interesting differences and similarities.  First the Mosaic set used the mono master, whereas the Tone Poet set used the stereo master.  With that said the two masters were made simultaneously so there were no differences in performance.  The overall tonality of two were exactly the same.  That surprised me.  Overall I found that I liked the mono recording better.  I was amazed that there was no real difference between the analog and the digital versions that I could discern.  They were equally great and I would be happy to own either.  The difference I heard was more to do with what the recording engineer did and it is clear that Rudy V.G. was more adept or more comfortable with mono and lavished more attention on it to get it right.  I also think that Kevin Gray must have done everything possible to capture the sound of the original mono master.  The two recordings are remarkably transparent.  Later recordings in the Mosaic set are in stereo and if there is interest and if I have a duplicate in vinyl of another record, let me know and I will endeavor to do a follow up.