@jayrossi13 and @johnto
Comparing the official releases to the raw 2ch SBD’s...
Here’s how I see it:
The official releases, at least speaking about the newest Dave’s Picks series, as well as the most recent boxsets over the last few years or so, they do have a higher sonic fidelity than the raw 2 channel soundboard recordings. They have better tone, better detail, better extension, as well as better clarity and separation between individual instruments. They have more of a ‘front row’ feel sometimes in my system (recording dependent). But in making them into a clearer more detailed modern hi-fi recording some magic is lost...
The raw soundboards may sound a lil more distant and smeared by comparison, they have more of the feeling and energy of the actual live event. The living breathing dynamic swells of energy, a cohesive/interconnected organic musical flow that the official releases lack. I can’t explain why pulling all that great clarity and detail out of the recordings causes them to loose a cohesiveness and ultimate musical flow. I sure do wish Jeffrey Norman could do some sort of mix between the nice clarity, tone and detail that he pulls out of these old recordings but keeping that musical flow and energy that the original performances are capable of showing.
But these statements are not true for every moment of every release, as there are moments where everything disappears and musical bliss occurs that is simply not the same or as possible with its raw sbd equivalent.
Also... we are mainly talking about digital here and digital systems are sometimes harder to get ‘right’, so ones system is at play here, too... Personally —apart from trying to get good digital playback— I tuned my system for the Dead and everything else is secondary ;)
Comparing the official releases to the raw 2ch SBD’s...
Here’s how I see it:
The official releases, at least speaking about the newest Dave’s Picks series, as well as the most recent boxsets over the last few years or so, they do have a higher sonic fidelity than the raw 2 channel soundboard recordings. They have better tone, better detail, better extension, as well as better clarity and separation between individual instruments. They have more of a ‘front row’ feel sometimes in my system (recording dependent). But in making them into a clearer more detailed modern hi-fi recording some magic is lost...
The raw soundboards may sound a lil more distant and smeared by comparison, they have more of the feeling and energy of the actual live event. The living breathing dynamic swells of energy, a cohesive/interconnected organic musical flow that the official releases lack. I can’t explain why pulling all that great clarity and detail out of the recordings causes them to loose a cohesiveness and ultimate musical flow. I sure do wish Jeffrey Norman could do some sort of mix between the nice clarity, tone and detail that he pulls out of these old recordings but keeping that musical flow and energy that the original performances are capable of showing.
But these statements are not true for every moment of every release, as there are moments where everything disappears and musical bliss occurs that is simply not the same or as possible with its raw sbd equivalent.
Also... we are mainly talking about digital here and digital systems are sometimes harder to get ‘right’, so ones system is at play here, too... Personally —apart from trying to get good digital playback— I tuned my system for the Dead and everything else is secondary ;)