A certain John Phillips, of uk.rec.audio "fame", writes :
However, I have CDs of analogue recordings from the 1960s onwards
with modern (1990s onward) digital mastering. Most sound marvellous.
Full of life and full of the ambience of the recording venue. For example
Boehm's 1967 Wagner Ring which just drips with the Bayreuth Festspielhaus
accoustic (even through the audible tape hiss).

Indeed. The analogue tape decks at the time, if properly aligned and set
up, were very good, and things improved a bit on the hiss front whenever
Dolby came along. I agree that many earlier CDs were indeed crap due to
dodgy mastering and dodgy equipment - amazing how an old recording can
really shine through in the hands of a good engineer.

In my own experience, generalizations about CDs being better than vinyl
are as just as false as generalizations that vinyl is better than CD.
I dare to suggest the same today about the generalization of SACD
versus CD. I am fairly sure digital production has a long way to go yet.

Leaving aside the X vs Y business, I'd say stereo digital reproduction
is pretty much as good as it needs to be right now; the signal recorded
is essentially identical to the input signal. There's not much room for
improvement at the moment.

--

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