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Vinyl Asylum: "Dark Side Of The Moon" shoot - out report by Rob Doorack

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"Dark Side Of The Moon" shoot - out report

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Inspired by the recent release of the 30th anniversary releases of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” on LP and SACD, Audio Asylum correspondent Ramossp (a.k.a. Sebastian) proposed a comparison of as many different versions of the album as could be gathered. Steve Klein of Sounds of Silence in Nashua, N.H., volunteered to host the event. On Sunday afternoon nine audiophiles (and one indulgent girlfriend) subjected themselves to 3 hours of comparing six analog and three digital “Dark Sides”.

Steve provided an extraordinary audio system for the event. The turntable was a Simon Yorke Series 7 with a Walker Precision Motor Drive power supply. The Yorke tonearm held a Kondo IO-j cartridge fed into a Kondo SFz silver – wired step - up transformer into a Kondo Ongaku-pre with built in MM phono stage. Power amp was a Kondo Ongaku-Neiro. The digital sources were a Vectuer D2 transport into a dB Technologies professional DAC for CD and a Phillips 1000 SACD player. The speakers were Beauhorn Virtuosos augmented with a pair of REL Stentor III subwoofers. All of the interconnect cables were Kondo KSL-LP1 and the speaker cable was Kondo KSL-SPz. The Kondo cables use silver wire. The digital sources, turntable, and amps were powered from separate Walker Velocitor Power Line Enhancers plugged into three dedicated power lines; power cords were a mix of Kondo KSL-ACZ and David Elrod Signature 2’s and 3‘s. Each component sat on a self – leveling Vibraplane air isolation base. The room’s acoustics had been treated with an assortment of Shun Mook, Michael Green, and Argent products. I didn’t total up the retail prices of all the gear but it’s safe to say that in many parts of the US you could buy a nice house for the same money.

The DSOTMs on hand were an 1973 US pressing, a 1973 UK SQ quadraphonic, a Mobile Fidelity LP, a UK Harvest from 1987 or 1988, the EMI 100 Centenary edition from 1997, the new 30th Anniversary LP, a Mobile Fidelity Ultradisc II CD, a Toshiba CD in mini – LP sleeve packaging from 2001, and the new SACD. Unfortunately we didn’t have access to an early UK pressing or a MoFi UHQR.

We were careful to set the playback levels for each recording as identical as possible, measured with a Radio Shack sound level meter. The level was set to 80 dB at a point about 1 minute into “On The Run” (it was the closest thing I could find to an extended steady sound on the record). The group decided to use the song “Us And Them” for the comparisons.

Since we were all analog fans we auditioned the digital versions first – saving the analog for dessert! - starting with the MoFi Ultradisc II followed by the SACD and then the Japanese CD. The comments below are taken from notes I made during the listening session and during a discussion after we’d heard everything.

The SACD was a real shock: the vocals were much more upfront than on the CDs and the sax solos were pushed way back in the soundstage. “What the hell was that?” was a typical reaction; “the sax sounds like it’s coming from the next county” was another. The presentation was so different that several members of the group wondered if the SACD was a new mix. One participant with some recording studio experience speculated that a multi-band compressor was used to punch up the vocals and make them more prominent. Another listener thought the whole thing sounded compressed. The SACD was also described as “a little tizzy”, “kind of bright”, “it sounds mechanical”, and “hollow sounding”. The SACD was judged to have the deepest and tightest bass of the three digital disks. The group preferred the Toshiba CD to both the MoFi CD and the SACD. “It’s the most musical” was one description of the Toshiba. Other comments were “it’s not as clean but it sings more”, “you can hear the human being playing the sax, hear the blow into it”, and “the sax has more bite than on the others.” One participant thought the Toshiba CD had “a harshness on the vocals that the vinyl doesn’t have” and another observed that “the attack and decay of notes doesn’t sound right, especially compared to the quad LP.” The organ was richer with “more overtones” on the Mobile Fidelity CD than on the Japanese disc but the MoFi’s bass was criticized as “thumpy” and “bloated”.

To be fair, the DAC used for the Red Book CDs cost $10,000 while the Philips SACD player was one – tenth of that when first released and was eventually dumped for $400. We decided to listen to the SACD’s CD layer on the Vecteur / DB Technologies rig to see if we could get any indication that the Philips machine might be responsible for what we heard. The sax on the CD layer was not shoved as far back in the soundstage as on the SACD layer but the group wasn’t impressed. It was called “flat and unemotional” and “mealy – sounding.”

We decided to audition the records in chronological order starting with the US pressing that its owner recalled buying in 1973. Despite some crackling wear noise at the beginning of “Us And Them” the record was judged as “not bad” and “a good baseline”.

Next up was the British SQ quad LP. This was a different mix than the familiar stereo one so we listened to it a couple of times. The mix didn’t seem to affect the group’s opinion. “It has the most communication” was one description, “this is the only one that I wanted to hear all the way through.” It was judged to have great detail and the best dynamics, both micro – and macro - . Other comments were “it has the biggest soundstage” with “air to spare” and “the piano has the most weight and body”. The sax was particularly praised: “it sings, it has bite and emotion”, “you can hear the air in it” and “this has more impact than any of the others.” One participant observed that only on the quad record could he hear sax player Dick Parry take a breath before he played. Another noted that it was the only recording we auditioned where one could hear that Parry was in a different acoustic space than the rest of the music, and that the speaker of the “give them a short sharp shove” interjection seemed to be in another smaller space, perhaps an announcing booth. The vocals were praised as “full bodied” with superior “chestiness”, but one group member described them as “a little sibilant.” Lastly, one participant said that although he admired the quad record very much, “the SQ coding artifacts were distracting – it felt like my eyeballs were being pulled apart!”

The Mobile Fidelity LP was next. Despite its legendary status in audiophile circles and the high prices it fetches the group had nothing good to say about it. The sound was “murky”, “unfocussed”, and “had no dynamics”. The soundstage was “one dimensional” and “flat”. One participant thought that the highs sounded rolled off. The music seemed to “have no forward motion” and “it doesn’t make me nod along with the beat.” The group member with studio experience speculated that “the bass had been boosted at around 50 Hertz” which made the range around 100 to 120 Hertz seem depressed in comparison and “took the drive out of the bass.” Lastly, no disagreed with one assessment that the “unremarkable” ‘73 US Harvest pressing was better than the MoFi.

The late Eighties British Harvest LP was something of a surprise – it was judged to sound better than the perfectionist pressings aimed at the audiophile market (the Mobile Fidelity, EMI 100, and the 30th anniversary). The participant who complained about the quad LP’s SQ coding artifacts said, “if I listened to this music regularly this is the record I’d want to own.” I marveled that “people were paying $18 or more for the MoFi fifteen years ago when they could have bought this better sounding record at any store in England for less than half that.” The group agreed that it had the best focus of any of the recordings. “The vocals sound more relaxed than on any of the other records” was one comment, although one dissenter thought “the vocals sound smooth but kind of homogenized.” The 80s pressing was praised for the clean, undistorted crescendos in “Us And Them”; the quad LP’s crescendos seemed to have a slight edge in comparison.

The rare EMI 100 Centenary edition was judged to be inferior to both the quad LP and the ‘87 UK LP, but like all the other records it was preferred over the Mobile Fidelity. “It’s pleasant” was one comment. Others were “it’s clearer than the MoFi” but “it has less air” and “less presence” than the quad or late ‘80s record. One group member said “something has been done to this but I can’t figure out what, maybe a limiter.”

The new 30th anniversary LP was last. Everyone praised the record’s dead quiet vinyl. “This has the greatest signal to noise ratio of anything we’ve heard” was how one participant described it. “The music is coming out of complete blackness,” said another. As a result the record was judged to have the best low level detail, better even than the quad LP. The vocals were initially described as “lush”, “velvety”, and “buttery” but in the end they were called “too soft” and “too smooth, artificial.” The saxophone solos were noticeably more recessed than on the other records but not as bad as the SACD. In general the group respected the 30th anniversary record more than they liked it. “This just doesn’t grab you like the quad or the ‘80s one do” said one participant. Other comments were “it sounds limited” and “it’s kind of boring.” One group member summed it up as “it sounds like they were trying to make a demonstration record for audiophiles, something they can use to show their friends that vinyl can be as quiet as CD, but they stripped the life out of it.”

In closing, it was a fun and educational afternoon. The winners of the “Dark Side of the Moon” shoot - out were the Toshiba CD and the UK quadraphonic LP, with one dissenter preferring the ’87 UK pressing. I wish we’d been able to audition an early UK Harvest LP which many think is the definitive vinyl version; the quad LP of the same vintage was spectacular. Pradeep Sarin took a number of pictures of the shoot – out and has posted them at his web site linked below. Three pictures of our host Steve Klein’s system can be viewed here .




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Topic - "Dark Side Of The Moon" shoot - out report - Rob Doorack 08:42:54 05/21/03 ( 74)