Thread: SACD's: Japanese or American?

Posts: 6

Post by dbmay75 October 14, 2007 (1 of 6)
Hi everyone,

Here's a quote from musicdirect.com:

"For many decades, Japanese pressings have been sought out by audiophiles the world over. Japanese Pressing Plants are virtual “Clean Rooms”, unlike pressing plants here in the USA. LPs from Japan have always been the quietest ever pressed, and Japanese CDs are much “truer,” perfectly round with manicured edges, a perfect center hole, and mastering technology second to none. Japanese CDs sound dramatically better than any other pressings, mostly due to their lower levels of “jitter.” The same holds true for the Japanese SACDs!"

I know several people who almost exclusively buy Japanese pressed discs vs. USA-made due to the attention Japan gives to sonic detail. Hardcore collectors or hardcore audiophiles? What do YOU think?

Cheers!

Dan

Post by soundboy October 15, 2007 (2 of 6)
dbmay75 said:

Hi everyone,

Just wondering what your take is on this poll? It seems most favor Japanese, both for sound quality and rarity.

What do you think?

Cheers!

Dan

Do you mean titles that were released and pressed in both Japan and the US?

Post by flyingdutchman October 15, 2007 (3 of 6)
Most where and in what poll?

Post by raffells October 15, 2007 (4 of 6)
flyingdutchman said:

Most where and in what poll?

I pressume its an American Poll as NORMAL people on the SACD net are more interested in more important matters with sacd like Music quality Performance,Interpretation, Availbility,surround sound variations,Price,Case or cardboard,hybridization,bit rate or DSD.etc etc
As the 4th of July is well passed I suppose are about due for some flag waving.
I must admit that as Europe seems to be the at the front end of new sacd releases and always has been rather that 50 years old MLP.LS.Albanny releases (not counting the varying Telarc items)some cobbled together Basie ?) and limited SFO Mahler/ with Australia and specialized Japanese items of European Music filling my Christmas stocking.ie Respighi/Sibelius/Suk/Dvorak/.
Of course Pentatone BIS t2L CHANDOS cpo DACAPO LINN SIMAS CAPICCIO CHANNEL CLASSIC MEMBRAN CALA LSO LIVE Lyrinx Tudor etc to name but a few ARE WAY OUT Of this discussion.I know the rest of the world has a name in English for this?.....................Edvinism..or something like that..probably ends in Phobic..
Dave

Post by Claude October 16, 2007 (5 of 6)
I guess the main reason for writing this is that Musicdirect sells import discs.

When it comes to SACDs which are available domestically (from regular CD stores) and as japanese imports which use the same mastering, the only reason to convince an american audiophile to spend 2-3 times the price on the japanese disc is to say the pressing quality is better.

For LPs the issue of pressing quality is obvious, and for CDs there is usually a different mastering involved. So the discs are likely to sound different.

On the Steve Hoffman forum there are people who compared Sony US and Sony Japan SACDs of the same title (same mastering, different pressing), and who have not heard a difference.

Post by ramesh October 17, 2007 (6 of 6)
On a CD level [ not SACD ], I've long extolled the amazing EMI Japan remasterings done by Okazaki. Next week, Toshiba-EMI will release the Du Pre studio EMI Elgar cello concerto and the Schwarzkopf Szell Strauss Vier Letzte Lieder.

Over the last few months, I've had another welcome CD discovery from Japan. Universal Japan from late 2006 are releasing DGG recordings under the 'best 1000' series, at Japanese bargain price. I've bought about a dozen of the analogue recordings, and they all sound better to various degrees than my earlier DGG European releases.
Four which sound significantly better are :
UCCG5140- Karajan's Shostakovich 10 from 1966, including the bars mistakenly removed from the Europe CD
UCCG5033 Karajan operatic showpieces [ Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana and La traviata prelude having the most luscious Berlin phil strings, without the edge which spoiled many DG CD releases.]
UCCG5102 Michelangeli- Debussy preludes book 1 and Children's Corner suite. Here the piano tone sounds harmonically richer
Gilels plays Mozart concerto K 595 and double concerto. A piano teacher friend borrowed this after I played the opening tutti of K595 of the Japanese remaster and compared it to the current 'Originals' transfer from Europe. The Japanese remaster doesn't have the screechiness when the violins go forte high on the E string. Wonderful VPO string sound.

On SACD, I finally bought the Ella and Louis SACD. The Japanese version is richer, and avoids the tizzy trumpet of the Verve US single layer disc.

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