Who owns XRCD discs? (1 Viewer)

[Jagan Seshadri]

I am curious to hear who else on this forum owns XRCD compact discs pressed by JVC, and if they sound as good as the one I own.
I own an XRCD of the Bill Evans Trio, Sunday at the Village Vanguard. Web link here
-JNS

 

[RicP]

I have quite a few. Dozens actually. Which ones are you most interested in? I have quite a few classical discs and they sound great. Also the Dire Straits -- Brothers in Arms XRCD is astounding and much better than the Warner remaster of the same album.

 

[Peter Luna]

where did you purchase the Dire Straits XRCD?

 

[RicP]

Peter,
I got it from a friend of mine in Hong Kong but I believe that you can get it at www.elusivedisc.com

 

[John Geelan]

aslo try www.redtrumpet.com

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Clue me in, guys. What's an XRCD? Is it just a CD that's been mastered with extra special care, handcrafted by monks in Tibet, or is it something technically more advanced than CD that requires special hardware?

 

[Robert A. Willis Jr.]

XRCD (extended range CD) is the result of a philosophy fostered by many Japanese (mostly) music lovers that CD's have the potential to live up to the motto "Perfect forever". They take the viewpoint that if you are supreme nit pickers thoughout the entire audio chain, the final CD will sound absolutely marvelous. Many now claim that the newr XRCD's sound as good if not better than SACD and DVD-S products.

I don't know about the latter claim, but I have about 10 XRCD's and they are the best sounding CD's in my collection. Classic, Chesky, MoFi, Telarc and some others are very good but inferior to XRCD's (IMHO).

rw

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

I just own one XRCD title so far, but those monks sure know what they're doing, up in Tibet
-JNS

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I love the XRCDs. They are almost always excellent.
The new XRCD2 is even better. I met the producer at the HiFi show in New York in May, a very smart and friendly Japanese gentleman. JVC has created redbook sound here that is only a small step below SACD. Imagine what SACD will sound like when similar improvements are in place!
My favorites:
Lightning Hopkins
Fritz Reiner/CSO Debussy Iberia Suite
Fritz Reiner/CSO Respighi Pines of Rome
Art Pepper Plus Eleven

Enjoy!
Lee

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Wayne wanted to know what makes the JVC XRCD process different (sounds so damn good..).

It starts with the mastering. The analog signal is taken directly from a custom mastering console and digitized using the K2 20 bit analog to digital converter. The digital word is then sent through what is called a DIGITAL k2 which is a digital re-generator. Then the 20 bit digital signal is transferred to a Sony PCM-9000 that stores the information on a magneto-optical disk. Eventually, the 20 bit information is converted to 16 bit by K2 Super Coding and then a K2 Laser regenerates a signal before the laser of the glass cutter and then that prepares the CD manufacturing.

It is a more complex process than this, but it serves to eliminate "jitter" an audable time-based distortion and get as much quality data from the master tape onto CD.

I notice improved clarity and transparency, a richer midrange, better soundstaging, and more realistic bass. Try a XRCD and see for yourself if the extra trouble sounds worth it.

P.S. Knowing the Chesky Records process, I must disagree with Robert Willis that all XRCDs sound better than Chesky CDs. While I am clearly biased on this point, there are clearly strong Chesky recordings that give XRCD a run for their money and exceed XRCD sound on certain titles. I will give JVC its due - their mastering process is world class!

Lee

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Thanks Lee.

 

[Robert A. Willis Jr.]

Lee,

Sorry but I was generalizing. Your statement about Chesky is correct.

rw

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

I've noticed that there exist non-XRCD discs that are nonetheless 20-bit K2 remastered. I'd suspect these would be pretty good too, but less expensive due to cheaper packaging?

Who knows?

-JNS

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Robert,

No problem.

Lee

 

[MikeAW]

Here are some great XRCD sites...
At the bottom of this one, you get a schematic of how the sound is made...
http://www.tvz.com/TBM/xrcd_e.html
The next one is a JVC site, that pretty much has it all..
Link Removed

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

Does anyone own the XRCD version of "Everybody Digs Bill Evans"?

As I said, I have the XRCD version of "Sunday at the Village Vanguard" and it is a splendidly clean recording. I was hoping that the XRCD treatment of "Everybody Digs Bill Evans" would be similarly well-done...but XRCD's are expensive, so I picked up a regular CD of that album today.

The regular CD is not nearly as good a recording in terms of audio quality. Sure, it's a stereo recording from 1958, but it has tape dropouts and mic overloads, whereas the 1961 Vanguard album is pristine.

So, does the XRCD version of "Digs" correct any of these shortcomings, or is the recording just too old to be salvaged?

-JNS

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

RicP, you don't happen to have the "Everybody Digs Bill Evans" XRCD, do you?
For everyone's information, I found a good website for high quality recordings: Acoustic Sounds
-JNS

 

[RicP]

Sorry Jagan I do not.
Acoustic Sounds is good.
So is www.elusivedisc.com -- that's where I get most of my XRCD's from.
I just got Reiner conducts Beethoven's 7th. It's fantastic

 

[KeithH]

I don't have many XRCDs because the classical and jazz titles don't interest me for the most part. That said, I do have the XRCDs of Steve Miller Band The Joker, Tina Turner Private Dancer, and Dire Straits Brothers in Arms. These discs sound quite good, and I agree with Ric that the Dire Straits XRCD beats the Warner remaster. I have both the Warner US and European remasters of Brothers in Arms, and the XRCD is better. I wouldn't say the XRCDs are as good as SACDs, but I obviously don't have SACDs of these titles for direct comparison.

By the way, I have read on Audio Asylum that the Dire Straits XRCD is a bootleg. People have said this because it always seems to be available on eBay, but not from larger mail-order dealers or brick-and-mortar stores. I got my copy on eBay. However, as Ric said, the Dire Straits XRCD is available from Elusive Disc, which suggests it is a legitimate release. I will say this. If it is a bootleg, it is a very professional job. I have never seen a bootleg that looks so professional.

 

[KevinJ]

i have an xrcd of the procol harem whiter shade of pale album which is pretty good[it's a japanese import btw]