D. Brubeck "Time Out" on Gold Mastersound

Hi,

The Hybrid SACD of "Time Out" was only released in Europe. The USA SACD is single layer SACD only. The present redbook CD is actually excellent. It's superior to the Mastersound Gold CD and cheaper to boot. An audiophile bargain!

 

I didn't care for the MasterSound either.

 

Based on all these comments, I thought the Mastersound wasn't really worth hunting down, and I almost passed on a sealed copy I was able to find for around $25.

I didn't even break the seal for quite a while, thinking that it would hold its value better in sealed condition. Today, I decided to give it a spin.

I also have the SACD and the current remastered CD.

I was really suprised how well the Mastersound sounded to me. I don't really understand the comments as far as brightness goes, because it seems a little less bright than the SACD and the current remaster (not that I would consider any of these bright). The Mastersound also sounds a tad warmer and fuller to me than the other two. And it is a little more laid back and natural sounding, quite smooth actually.

The mix is a little different, but I can't say which mix I prefer.

Overall, I couldn't really find anything wrong with the Mastersound version, and I am usually quite sensitive to modern masterings (compression, brightness, etc.).

So I have to give this Mastersound version the rating.

By the way, mine is the "Made in Japan" version in the long box.

 

The Mastersound was a solid state re-mix whereas the remastered CD/SACD was a vacuum tube re-mix.

Neither one is bad, in fact both are excellent IMHO. It's just one is slightly better than the other. I guess that's why they re-mixed it again with the tube gear. Mark Wilder did the mixing/mastering on both and it made me a fan of his. I just like the remastered CD and SACD slightly more.