The very best sound: Direct to Disc

I have a bunch of them. Whether I like them or not depends on the music.
The Best Sheffield disc is Tower of Power Direct. JVC did D2D's with Lee Ritenour. They are excellent. The others I rarely listen to. Generally the sound is much better as there are fewer analog steps and the Mastering engineer is hearing the real thing while he is mixing. Today with digital recording once the music is in numbers you can take all the steps you want without degradation. The only problem left is that the engineer is remote to the recording and how he mixes it depends on his own interpretation and the system he is listening on.  

Are Mapleshade recordings the digital equivalent of Direct to Disk recordings?

not really, since they are mastered to tape, then CD’s cut from tape. but Pierre’s process is very pure so is his sound on his CD’s. the result is quite ’like’ direct to disc.

CD’s analagous to ’direct-to-disc’ would be where the recording format is 16/44 and the CD is a direct result without a higher rez step in between.

i have a Starbucks CD called ’Artist Confidential’ that is a collection of acoustic versions of pop songs that was recorded to 16/44 and then a CD made from this. it’s very good and one of the better digital recordings i own.

better yet woutd be owning a higher rez file the same as the source file; like the Reference Recordings HRx’s. they are the source file 176/24 and you can buy that source file. i have many of those.

the lesson learned is to get as close to a native format as you can. but still......the musical performance is still king. great music has to come first, then we hope it sounds good. if the recording process stifles the musical flow then it’s just sound. but mixed into all those direct-to-disc are some magical performances. so the process does allow for more music to come through.

I agree that the Mapleshade CDs are similar to the Ref Rec LPs (also available on HDCD, SACD, and I guess downloads) in that they are recorded to tape in a purist microphone setup and then the production to CD is tightly controlled. The sound is good, but the groups recorded may not be to everyone's taste.

Mike - the Jaton are stellar. Check out 2L for great sounding digital 

Raul, with all due respect, I'm an electronics technician and I have to take exception to "MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS". That sounds good, and at one time that was my bible, until I discovered that if you can hear the music, disregard the distortions.

I was 100% specifications until my prized SS Pre bit the dust, and I decided to try tubes. I got a loaner PV-10 that had seen better days, there was apparent both noise and distortion in that unit, yet it was more musical than my SS gear.

Enjoy the music with as little noise and distortion as possible is my new motto.