Question for classical lovers

"If someone here has heard the new hybrid sacd LSO live release of Brahms 4/Haitink, I would like to know your opinion. I was surprised at how etchy and unnatural the strings sounded even on sacd layer. I hope I am not the only one who thinks that!"

You have all the luck. This is one of the least successful of all the LSOLive series. If you want to hear string tone, try one of the Linn SACDs, especially the Sibelius tone poems.

Kal

Kr4, glad you confirmed the poor quality of the LSO release. It's such a hit or miss thing for me becasue all my purchases are done online. I live in Oklahoma, not exactly the classical Mecca of America, I am surrounded by country music, aaarrrgggghhhh! Anyway, I just discovered the Linn website thanks to you.
Lousyreeds1, I have to agree with you there, too much music to ignore that's why I might have to have vinyl in my set-up and pay closer attention to the reviews on this website.

Rotarius, Here's a project for you if you really want help and honest commentary from a lot of folks here who are seriously qualified to help........

List all of your present equipment including speakers. Describe in detail how you have your equipment and listening position set up, down to the inches. Describe your room HxWXL. Describe openings. Describe wall's and decorations. When discussing tube equipment ID the tubes being used (can make a big difference).

And, think again about your memories. They may not be based on anything much more that events in which you really wern't paying much attention to the quality of the sound - more likely you were just enjoying the music.

Lastly, without knocking LP's whatsoever, there is a lot of dreck on vinyl as well as CD's. And matching analog components, setting them up and maintaining them, can be in the long run a lot more challenging than setting up a decent CD based system. Vinyl may well be better on some recordings and in some systems, but it ain't the quick and easy cure some would think and make you believe.

FWIW, you can get high quality CD sound with modest equipment if you pay attention to the set up of your room and speakers. If you don't do this first even the best equipment can sound like crap and likely will. Think high frequency distortion caused by improperly damped 1st reflection points, mid/high frequency glare or emphasis caused by listening to the speakers not properly positioned toe in wise. The list goes on.

But in the end how you proceed is your choice. I appoligize if this sounded negative or like a lecture. It wasn't so intended.

Lousyreeds, I noticed you said you live in Oklahoma. So do I, in the Oklahoma City Area. If you live around here, you are welcome to drop by and see how things sound in a different system. My system is biased towards the LP though. I have a few classical on vinyl and maybe you can compare to a CD. Good luck on solving the edgy strings.

Rotarius, Here's a quick response. If your tweeters are metal domes, and your amp is solid state, to my ears that is a surefire recipe for premature onset of listening fatigue. I just don't like metal dome tweeters (even expensive ones), and now that I've "got religion" I'm a believer in tube amps and preamps and wouldn't go back to solid state. I'm a longtime classical CD guy, although my friends Rushton and Albertporter are longtime vinyl guys; we don't need to relive the endless digital vs. analog argument here. But for what it's worth, and not knowing any more than I do about your setup, I'd suggest that something other than metal dome tweeters and solid state amplification would be a step in the right direction, and I second the suggestion that addressing room acoustics with a view to softening and damping them is a good idea: a hard, bright, reflective room is bad news, obviously, and tends to reinforce what people don't like about digital sound. Soft, heavy, overstuffed furniture, heavy carpets, heavy drapes, bookshelves loaded with books--all these help, and in addition of course there are those audiophile acoustic room-treatment products. Good luck and let us know how you fare.