Miles Davis – Kind of blue – Review – (Over 30 versions tested included vinyl records (MOFI, Analog Production, SACDs, CDs, Streaming), mono to Atmos.

[Timcognito]

I agree with your comment "It would have to be a pretty bad version to ruin it or Beethoven 's 6th, Brubeck's Take 5 ... It transcends the technology, the room, the venue, etc". But I do not think it takes away from the music by knowing there are different releases that sound different. My read of the article was that it was factual in describing differences and steered well away from hyperbole or judgement.

I appreciate knowing that there are different versions available and how they sound different, especially for some of the more "important" pieces. In this day when differences in most parts of the playback chain are undetectable, it's nice to know that there are differences in releases that can perhaps impact that listening experience nearly as much as changing listening rooms or buying new speakers. Knowing there are different versions makes me informed. And the whole process of mastering and releasing and who is working from what tapes...that's a complete black box for me and I'm grateful for any insight since it actually can have an impact on the sound.

Not knocking Kind of Blue at all but I have many great and seminal albums* and grew up seeing many of great San Francisco bands as that was my coming of age location for music. An early Santana played at my High School in a battle of the bands and did not win. But if I have it and loved it back in the day I occasionally play it and move on. In fact I try not to loose it's sentimental meaning to me by deliberately not playing it too much. I do collect Jazz from Contemporary Records because of their realistic in the room sound.

Jazz LPs from the 50s and 60s

I really love jazz albums from the mid 50s to mid 60s. I think that perhaps it was the convergence of the right technical apparatus and recording techniques with top-rate musicians who were very, very comfortable playing live together and recording as a single unit. They performed multiple...

www.audiosciencereview.com

*Not listing any because yours are as important and good as mine.

 

[TunaBug]

536 versions!

https://www.discogs.com/master/5460-Miles-Davis-Kind-Of-Blue

I have the 1997 version, Columbia CK 64935.

https://www.discogs.com/release/368061-Miles-Davis-Kind-Of-Blue

Be careful when trying to glean that kind of information from discogs, as it has little quality control. There are many entries in there with duplicate catalog numbers. For example, there are 33 entries there for "Columbia – CS 8163". Probably more where people entered the UPC code instead of the catalog number, and then people will enter UPC codes as 1234567890 or 12345 67890 or "1 2345 5678 0".

A quick (i.e. "sloppy") attempt at uniqifying them gets me down to "only" 312 versions. Which is still mind-boggling.

I'm not trying to diss discogs, it's a wonderful resource which I use frequently. Just remember that it's S/N ratio is sometimes like a worn "well loved" 78 RPM record.

It does make me wonder, though: What recording has the most actual releases?

 

[TunaBug]

An early Santana played at my High School in a battle of the bands

That's just so cool.

 

[Fahzz]

So it's rabbit hole time.
I was curious and I found that have two versions of Kind of Blue. Columbia/Sony Legacy Gold made in Japan 1992 - with the speed correction, and I also have a Columbia/Sony 1997 also speed corrected SACD with Multi Channel Stereo.
Now my question is: Can I rip the SACD and play multi channel through LMS Squeezebox or do I need an SACD player?
Anybody know?

 

[Fahzz]

So it's rabbit hole time.
I was curious and I found that have two versions of Kind of Blue. Columbia/Sony Legacy Gold made in Japan 1992 - with the speed correction, and I also have a Columbia/Sony 1997 also speed corrected SACD with Multi Channel Stereo.
Now my question is: Can I rip the SACD and play multi channel through LMS Squeezebox or do I need an SACD player?
Anybody know?

Can't rip it with a CD/DVD drive so nope for me.

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

Love it! It would be an odd month if I did not listen to it once.

One thing I really like is that the legacy edition, with studio outtakes, exists. That gives a clear window in the "sound of the room". Knowing that studio sound lets me judge whether some of that comes through with playback of the regular tracks, which it should, just a bit.

1959-60 has some incredible jazz releases, something must have been in the water... or air more likely.

 

[Jean.Francois]

Hello ,

Here is the second part of the Mile Davis “Kind of Blue” album review , which now contains the following 20 versions:

1. Vinyl MFSL ref 2-45011 - 2015
2. Vinyl ref : CS 8163 - NA-13-2011 - 2010
3. Vinyl Clear ref : 19439802191 - 2021
4. Vinyl Japan ref : SIJP 1020- 2020
5. Vinyl Japan MONO ref : SIJP 1019- 2020
6. SACD MFSL ref : UDSACD 2085 - 2015
7. SACD Columbia stereo ref : CS64935 remastered 1997
8. SACD Columbia multichannel ref : CS64935 remastered 1997
9. BNF stereo Fontana ref 885113 TY - 1960
10. BNF Mono Fontana ref 682 059TL - 1960
11. CD Columbia-Legacy ref : CK 64935 - 1997
12. CD Not Now Music ref : NOT2CD335 - 2010
13. CD Box mono ref 88883756642 - 2013
14. Amazon Music Ultra HD
15. Vinyl Analog Production UHQR 33.33 rpm - 2021
16. Vinyl Analog Production UHQR 45 rpm - 2022
17. Japanese Vinyl ref : SONP 50027 - 1968
18. CD Layer from SACD MFSL ref : UDSACD 2085 - 2015
19. HDTT DXD - with speed correction - 2022
20. HDTT DSD256 - 2022

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Vinyl Analog Production UHQR 33.33 rpm – 2021 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Vinyl MFSL ref 2-45011 – 2015 (blue curve).The two versions differ in their spectra. The yellow zone shows a difference in the low end of the spectrum (1 to 2 dB). The purple zone shows a difference in the midrange, with a higher pls level for the UHQR vinyl (up to 4 dB). The green zone shows the accentuation (up to 5 dB) above 14 kHz of the MFSL vinyl. The yellow arrow indicates a rise in noise on UHQR vinyl. The difference in mastering visible on the spectra provides two different listening experiences.

You can find samples from each version in high definition for listening and comparison, as well as all the measurements (weveform, spectrum, spectrogram, Dynamic Range…) HERE.

Enjoy listening,

 

[spiral scratch]

Anybody know?

I believe ripping these hi rez and multichannel discs is done with a PlayStation hack, but I haven't tried it myself.

 

[sneakmasterG]

I believe ripping these hi rez and multichannel discs is done with a PlayStation hack, but I haven't tried it myself.

SACD Ripping using an Oppo or Pioneer? Yes, it's true!

Note: I told the PS3 thread I would announce what I've found, so I am writing this first post, long before I am ready to (i.e I don't have the links ready yet, nor the instructions). I expect my second post to be ready in a few more days. Thanks to some very ingenious folks on other forums around...

audiophilestyle.com

Easier than the old PlayStation method.

 

[TunaBug]

So it's rabbit hole time.
I was curious and I found that have two versions of Kind of Blue. Columbia/Sony Legacy Gold made in Japan 1992 - with the speed correction, and I also have a Columbia/Sony 1997 also speed corrected SACD with Multi Channel Stereo.
Now my question is: Can I rip the SACD and play multi channel through LMS Squeezebox or do I need an SACD player?
Anybody know?

I use LMS on piCorePlayer at home and can play ripped SACDs with it just fine. When playing to a device that doesn't support DSF/DSD playback it automatically converts to PCM so that things just work.

There's lots of old hardware that can rip SACDs. I keep a couple of old Sony Blu-ray players that I picked up used at local thrift shops for under $10 each (one is sufficient, the other is a spare). If you want to start ripping SACDs the initial hurdle is getting the thumbdrive correctly formatted with the right software and figuring out the song and dance of when to insert it into the player. Once you've figured it out it's easy.

 

[Scytales]

Hello ,

View attachment 388429

Here is the second part of the Mile Davis “Kind of Blue” album review , which now contains the following 20 versions:

1. Vinyl MFSL ref 2-45011 - 2015
2. Vinyl ref : CS 8163 - NA-13-2011 - 2010
3. Vinyl Clear ref : 19439802191 - 2021
4. Vinyl Japan ref : SIJP 1020- 2020
5. Vinyl Japan MONO ref : SIJP 1019- 2020
6. SACD MFSL ref : UDSACD 2085 - 2015
7. SACD Columbia stereo ref : CS64935 remastered 1997
8. SACD Columbia multichannel ref : CS64935 remastered 1997
9. BNF stereo Fontana ref 885113 TY - 1960
10. BNF Mono Fontana ref 682 059TL - 1960
11. CD Columbia-Legacy ref : CK 64935 - 1997
12. CD Not Now Music ref : NOT2CD335 - 2010
13. CD Box mono ref 88883756642 - 2013
14. Amazon Music Ultra HD
15. Vinyl Analog Production UHQR 33.33 rpm - 2021
16. Vinyl Analog Production UHQR 45 rpm - 2022
17. Japanese Vinyl ref : SONP 50027 - 1968
18. CD Layer from SACD MFSL ref : UDSACD 2085 - 2015
19. HDTT DXD - with speed correction - 2022
20. HDTT DSD256 - 2022

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Vinyl Analog Production UHQR 33.33 rpm – 2021 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Vinyl MFSL ref 2-45011 – 2015 (blue curve).The two versions differ in their spectra. The yellow zone shows a difference in the low end of the spectrum (1 to 2 dB). The purple zone shows a difference in the midrange, with a higher pls level for the UHQR vinyl (up to 4 dB). The green zone shows the accentuation (up to 5 dB) above 14 kHz of the MFSL vinyl. The yellow arrow indicates a rise in noise on UHQR vinyl. The difference in mastering visible on the spectra provides two different listening experiences.
View attachment 388436


You can find samples from each version in high definition for listening and comparison, as well as all the measurements (weveform, spectrum, spectrogram, Dynamic Range…) HERE.

Enjoy listening,

My hats off to you.

The quality of your work is invaluable!

 

[Jean.Francois]

My hats off to you.

The quality of your work is invaluable!

Thanks a lot!

This is the third part of the test of Mile Davis' “Kind of Blue” album, which now contains the following 33 versions:
Vinyl MFSL ref 2-45011 – 2015
Vinyl ref : CS 8163 – NA-13-2011 – 2010
Vinyl Clear ref : 19439802191 – 2021
Vinyl Japan ref : SIJP 1020- 2020
Vinyl Japan MONO ref : SIJP 1019- 2020
SACD MFSL ref : UDSACD 2085 – 2015
SACD Columbia stereo ref : CS64935 remastered 1997
SACD Columbia multichannel ref : CS64935 remastered 1997
BNF stereo Fontana ref 885113 TY – 1960
BNF Mono Fontana ref 682 059TL – 1960
CD Columbia-Legacy ref : CK 64935 – 1997
CD Not Now Music ref : NOT2CD335 – 2010
CD Box mono ref 88883756642 – 2013
Amazon Music Ultra HD
Vinyl Analog Production UHQR 33.33 rpm – 2021
Vinyl Analog Production UHQR 45 rpm – 2022
Japanese Vinyl ref : SONP 50027 – 1968
CD Layer from SACD MFSL ref : UDSACD 2085 – 2015
HDTT DXD – with speed correction – 2022
HDTT DSD256 – 2022
SACD Japan Stereo ref: SICP 10083 – 2007
SACD Japan 5.1 ref: SICP 10083 – 2007
CD from DVD Combo ref: CN 90887 – 2004
DVD stereo ref: CN 90887 – 2004
DVD 5.1 ref: CN 90887 – 2004
Streaming Qobuz Stereo 24/192
Streaming Qobuz Mono 24/96
Apple Dolby Atmos
Amazon Sony 360RA
Vinyl mono ref: WaxTime 772359 – 2024
Vinyl stereo ref: WaxTime 772359 – 2024
Blue Vinyl ref : 350202 – 2020
Music On Vinyl Vinyl ref MOVLP019 : – 2010

In short, we can categorize according to sound balance, with a brighter version and a version richer in bass offering a more natural sound balance. And also according to spatialization within the same sound balance.
To see these differences for yourself, you can find samples of each version in high definition for your own listening and comparison, as well as all the measurements (waveform, spectrum, spectrogram, Dynamic Range...) HERE.

Enjoy listening,
Jean-François

 

[Bow_Wazoo]

I love this album.
Of the versions I've heard, I like the MFSL Sacd most.
But i converted it to Flac 48kHz.

 

[Fahzz]

Does the alternate take of Flamenco Sketches justify re-ripping this to include it in my digital library?