Half-Speed Masters - are they worth double dipping?
I have pretty much read all that being said online, what is your personal experiences with half-speed mastered records. I see a growing trend in lot of re-issues now being sold with half-speed mastering.
The two records I am interested in are,
Ed Sheeran’s X -10 Anniversary and Police - 30th Anniversary Greatest Hits.
One good thing is, they are reasonably priced and under $50 :-)
+1 @8th-note
i don’t know where the ridiculous notion started that vinyl has a greater dynamic range than digital. Numerous studies show otherwise. And how in the world would vinyl extend the dynamic range of a digital file when it is embedded in a slab of petroleum? |
Actually, the data show that - in practice - an LP often has wider DR than its comparable CD counterpart. See the Dynamic Range Database and examples in my previous post. Better yet, make your own measurements. In absolute terms, the Compact Disc can have a much wider DR than even the best LP. There’s no debating that. |
Perhaps the answer lies in the mastering process for the intended audience. For example, 'Redbook' CDs reportedly have a dynamic range of 96dB. While I own hundreds of them, only a few of them come close to the dynamic range of a decent LP. Why... compression. Like cassette tapes, CDs were strongly marketed for use in cars, where significant compression is required. Of course, other digital formats may lessen this constraint. |
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These things are always going to come down to individual releases, individual tastes and individual systems and on a macro level, it is hard to come to a consensus on the matter for those reasons. Still, in my experience there’s been no single half-speed master that I’ve ever heard or owned that I didn’t find was bested, often handily, by a well-regarded analog pressing from pre-1985. Some I have found sound really amazing until or unless you put them up against a vintage pressing. Then not so much. With two exceptions, I’ve sold all the half-speed master version and kept the OG pressing. Not because these two--both 80s CBS Half Speed Master series releases of Elvis Costello’s Imperial Bedroom and Barabra Striesand’s Guilty--were better than original pressings, but because I can demonstrate to someone "Sounds incredible, right? Well this one, the original, sounds way better."
Buy a few, see what you think. I decided it wasn’t for me. I especially find the Abbey Road HSM jobs to be not good at all. They just sound like digitally-sourced vinyl to my ears. No thank you. |
