New Steely Dan Aja

I have the UHQR pressings of Pretzel Logic, Aja, and Gaucho. I consider these the best pressings of Steely Dan that I have. Granted I don’t have a CISCO pressing of Aja, but I have found these superior compared to the OG, Japanese, and audiophile reissues I have.

I have the Cisco, and frankly, I think it's over-rated.  I have standard pressings that sound better and the AP UHQR is in another league altogether.

Thanks, all! Yes, I mean the double-45rpm version from Acoustic Sounds but other new mastering efforts, too. I have been seeing reviews but wanted to know the thinking here. Hope you're all having a great independence day holiday! Great time for tunes!

Very interesting!  High praise, and actually cheaper than the CISCO pressings, so...I have placed my order 

IMO, this album (and some others from Steely Dan) are almost over-produced, so getting a good version can be difficult to find.  Too much post-recording production can lead to compression.

The CISCO pressing has been a reference for many folks, so would be interesting to compare this new one to a CISCO.

@jdjohn  Here’s the Stereophile review where the UHQR gets much higher marks than the Cisco version…
https://www.analogplanet.com/content/steely-dans-200g-45rpm-2lp-aja-pride-analogue-productions-uhqr-neighborhood

@jdjohn - I've seen a few YouTube videos that did that, along with some others. CISCO seems to be a very popular one, but I haven't seen a review yet that liked anything else better than the UHQR double-45... 

The CISCO pressing has been a reference for many folks, so would be interesting to compare this new one to a CISCO.

Maybe not completely relevant, I have the same mastering by Bernie G/ Acoustic Sounds on SACD. This beats my Japan pressing on vinyl, which beats my US pressing and streaming from Qubuz. Worth getting IMO.

I just listened to this all the way through this morning. This is probably my fifth time spinning it, and while I always go in with the thought that I will play a couple of tracks and move on to something else, the combination of sound quality (I'm speaking of the AP 45s) and the amazing material makes it impossible and I am still smiling during the closing notes of Josie. I have a nice clean Japanese pressing that I always thought sounded great but it doesn't hold a candle to the new set. Highly recommended.

I will also add just for context that I found their (AP's) Pretzel Logic to sound much better than a lot of reports stated. It's the worst of any of the catalog so far, but still nice quiet vinyl, and if I toe my speakers in a little bit more than usual, I can get a little treble boost, so it ends up still sounding better than my OG.

I assume you mean the double-45rpm version from Acoustic Sounds? I think it's awesome sounding, and I've got an original 70's promo from the day it was released. That is brilliant sounding, but nothing like the double-45, to me....