Steve's Steely Dan Aja

Mal said it was an old (original?) UK CD, and posted the details of the disc. Gotta get one!

 

That's a JVC pressing, right? I have a classical music CD from 1985, made in Japan for Japan of Vladamir Fedoseev Conducting the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Mussorsky "Night on Bald Mountain", Borodin March from Prince Igor and "in the steppes of central asia" and Ippolitov-Ianov Caucasian Sketches. Same basic label. Looks great and sounds even better. How does yours sound?

 

I would guess that it is a JVC pressing based on the matrix code and the fact that it says "MANUFACTURED BY VICTOR MUSICAL INDUSTRIES" along the perimeter. My similar copy of Gaucho with catalog number VDP-26 is a JVC pressing.

 

hi all!

thanx very much for chiming in and responding to my post! it was this thread that inspired me to try and track down the best sounding copy of "Aja" on CD.

here's what i did last night - played all the way through the JPN CD followed by the MFSL UDII.

and...the JPN CD TOTALLY BLOWS AWAY the MFSL UDII!

even on my VERY VERY VERY modest system, the JPN CD is warm, not overbearing, has great tonality and that "great breath of life" of which Steve's work is associated! even the artwork is great on the cover and back.

the MFSL UDII, however, is bright, a bit thin, and the vocals seem distorted on some of the tracks (i can really hear that dreaded "smiley face EQ" on this one). mind you, this is in comparison with the JPN CD.

unfortunately, i have no other CD releases to compare with (other than that of which is on the "Citizen" box set).

...one other thing i noticed in comparison - the MFSL UDII is much, much lower in volume than the JPN CD - i.e., when my disc changer swapped from the JPN CD to the MFSL UDII, the volume of the MFSL UDII was almost (almost) dropped by half. not sure how, or why, but you can crank the JPN CD quite nicely and enjoy - much more so than the MFSL UDII.

KeithH - i would like to post an EAC profile, but am not sure how to do so - i don't have the program, and use an iMac at home - if you could point me in the right direction, i'd be more than happy to try and post something. (EDIT: i do have access to PC's, though, just wasn't sure if a CD burner would be needed for any reason while using the EAC program.)

thanx!

 

Here is Mal's post from the other thread:

 

Here's mine --

Catalog # MCAD-37214 DIDX 55
Copyright 1977, 1984 on the insert
No barcode anywhere
Label says "Manufactured in USA for MCA"
Inner ring says "MCAD-37214-1T" and then stamped (physically) next to that is "21"

Any idea what this one might be?

It sounds good to me, although I don't have anything to compare it to other than the vinyl (and I always prefer the vinyl , but I feel that way about vinyl in general )

 

bangsezmax,

I have the same disc as yours except the number physically stamped on the ring is "24" not "21". You may take another look at yours. Mine has a very distinct upright line on the right of the four but the left half is much lighter. Only at an angle, in the right light, can you see that it is a "4".

I'd say that my copy sounds very good, with nice dynamics. Possibly a bit bright though...... I haven't compared it to my MFSL copy yet.

-sneak

 

Sorry I missd this - I blame the jetlag....

Well, Steve was busy mastering some Benny Carter at the time so I'll forgive him for missing the details about the disc I played him - the important thing is he says it matches his EQ "exactly".

As for the details - RZangpo2 has kindly posted them but the basic facts are that it was a factory pressed (not CD-R) original English pressing (actually says "Made In England" on the disc).

Tell me what you need in terms of EAC analysis etc. for comparison with other "contenders" and I'll post it for you.

 

An EAC log would be a beginning. Also, if you could post a small .wav sample of the first 10 seconds or so of the first song, that would be most welcome.

To reiterate, at the moment, we have only identified two different masterings on original Aja discs.

The more common one has the following EAC peak levels:
90.8 --- 91.7 --- 90.6 --- 88.7 --- 96.3 --- 86.2 --- 97.6
This is on the following discs:
MCAD-37214-DIDX-55, JVC, Made In Japan
MCAD-37214-DIDX-55, CBS-Sony, Made In Japan
CRC DIDY-55
MCD 01745 BMG Ariola
This one sounds excellent, but is not Steve's.

The less common one has the following EAC peak levels:
81.4 --- 100.0 --- 100.0 --- 97.4 --- 99.8 --- 100.0 --- 90.4
and is on the US JVC disc (DIDX-55).
This one has a certain treble boost, and is also not Steve's.

 

Here's the log:


1
D:\music\Track01.wav
90.7 %
100.0 %
EDBEAFC6


2
D:\music\Track02.wav

91.7 %
100.0 %
1D3A006B


3
D:\music\Track03.wav

90.8 %
100.0 %
339B2D41


4
D:\music\Track04.wav

88.9 %
100.0 %
D76D6538


5
D:\music\Track05.wav

96.3 %
100.0 %
0DCA3B53


6
D:\music\Track06.wav

86.1 %
100.0 %
34CAE1DC


7
D:\music\Track07.wav

97.5 %
100.0 %
D89A04B4



Looks like it matches your first example pretty closely. However, would EAC get the numbers off by the 1% or 2% we see here if the discs were clones?

I'll try to get a 10 sec sample for you next.....

 

What version of EAC are you using?

It appears that you have the more common Aja.

 

Exact Audio Copy V0.95 beta 3 (without CDRDAO package)

Why is the more common one believed not to be the Steve Hoffman version?

 

Could it be that Steve's Aja is that small a difference in numerics?

Either way, this is the one that he said was it so we have to pull this one apart!!! (nicely and with care!)

 

How about a photo of the cd?

 

Kevin verified in post #32 that this is not Steve's Aja:

 

Do differences in peak level measurements of 0.1% indicate a different mastering?

 

That's what I want to know .

[whoops, I got my percentage errors wrong by an order of magnitude in my earlier post - it should have read "0.1% or 0.2%" ]

 

Here ya go:

 

A thing of beauty, that UK disc! Off we go a-hunting!

 

I don't know, I still have feelings for VDP-27

 

Here's a page where you can download a 10s clip of Black Cow (uncompressed):

Clip

 

Thanks Mal.

I've been looking all over the internet and have not found anyone selling. Anyone else with any luck?

 

The clip turned out to be 100% bit-for-bit identical to my disc (MCD 01745, BMG Ariola, Made In Germany).

Now, Leppo has posted a clip of the Japanese JVC MCAD 37214 DIDX-55 disc in post #256 in this thread, and that one was also identical to my disc.

Which means that Mal's disc is identical to the JVC MCAD 37214 DIDX-55 disc.

In other words, the disc that was identified by Steve as his mastering is identical to the one that was identified in post #32 as being not his mastering.

 

I have compared the Japan disc to Steve's Katy Lied, and the tonality of both sounds identical to me, and has for some time. In other words, I have believed all along that the Japan disc I have is, in fact, Steve mastered. Despite what others have said on this thread.



Evan