Oldest Recordings that sound “audiophile”

Interesting. On the Dinah Shore recording I mentioned from 1946, it sounds like a very detailed microphone was used very close up for the vocal which seems to have tremendous texture.

Yes Nancy Wilson albums wonderful voice lush recordings.

Elvis Is Back, released by RCA in 1960, rereleased by DCC on LP, mastered by Steve Hoffman, pressed on 180g vinyl.

audiophile?

anything done with tubes all the way through the ENTIRE chain, including the cutter head amps.

As a properly applied tube is LINEAR gain, with is CRITICAL regarding the proper HUMAN interpretation of micro and macro transient edge PLACEMENT in LEVEL and TIME. To add, silicon transistors are the worst at this. Worst. As they’re natively non linear and their generated distortions are ALL non linear.

Which is the reason that old audio sounded and sounds so dang good, to those that have the wherewithal to understand these points about how human hear,

and why a modern single bit delta-sigma ADC/DAC is just a godawful turd in comparison, with it’s ’vanishingly low distortion’. Jebus.. it’s difficult to be more wrong than that.

As those residual tiny distortions of the delta sigma systems, and the silicon transistors.. are the critical subtle bits that both items leave on the cutting room floor, when it turns out those tiny bits, to the human ear... are the ENTIRE ENCHILADA. Those missing tiny bits are the exact way the human ear hears. Essentially, 100% of your hearing is in that area of signal distortion that delta/sigma ADC/DACs and silicon transistors have as a residual.

Linear gain triode tubes distort the signal, in this area..the LEAST of all gain devices.

Do you see it now? Do you get it now? Then... maybe we can stop this going backward that’s been going on for the past +30-50 years? Chasing the wrong things?

Take 5.  Dave Brubeck Paul Desmond