Listening to digital/analogue and then mono

[magiccarpetride]

A friend came over for a listening session couple of days ago, and after listening to some of my recent vinyl acquisitions, he started wondering if digital might sound as nice as LPs. So we said why don't we do a quick side-by-side comparison, for a lark?

So I played Sgt. Pepper's opening track (streaming AIFF stereo file from Mac Mini via ethernet cable into modded Logitech Squeezebox Touch digital transport and then into Beresford Bushmaster DAC connected via digital coax cable). Sounded great, with awesome deep bass and everything super clean and legible. No distortions, just perfectly clean (almost clinically clean) sound.

Immediately after the song finished, I switched over to playing the same track on my turntable (Systemdek IIX with Denon DL-103 cartridge mounted on Rega RB300 tonearm, into hand-made SUT into Emotiva XPS-1 MM phono stage). I was spinning the original Sgt. Pepper's stereo pressing. The difference? Staggering!

The music simply came to life on the turntable. The guitars leapt out from the speakers, the bass felt like molten lava, Paul's voice was really shouting with excitement. Gone were the clinically clean glossy sounds, to be replaced with impolite, nasty, raunchy gutbucket rock and/or roll sounds.

But most importantly, the music coming out from the turntable was SWINGING! So much so that we couldn't help ourselves and remained glued to our seats for the remainder of the side one. It was captivating, mesmerizing, magical. Once side one was over, we both had to exclaim how, indeed, Sgt. Pepper's IS the best album ever made!

And then the weird thing happened. My friend said that, if the stereo LP sounds so amazing, imagine how incredible would the mono, the Holy Grail Pepper sound?!? Do I have a mono copy? Well, sure I do, I have the squeaky clean 2012 all analogue 180 gram vinyl remastered release of the mono Pepper. The release that everyone is hailing as being the absolute best sounding ever.

So we put the mono LP on, expecting to hear nothing short of a miracle. Alas, nothing like that happened. Compared to the stereo LP, the mono LP sounded dull, muffled, crowded, congested. The swinging was gone, the palpable life-like presence wasn't there anymore.

That made me wonder -- could it be that the magic was missing from the mono LP due to the fact that I was playing it using the stereo cartridge? Many people claim that the only way to really hear mono LPs is to use the mono cartridge.

Opinions?

[SLS]

Curiously, I have an original Sgt Petter stereo and the mono remaster, with dual arm turntable with mono and stereo cartridges. I understand that far more effort was put into mastering the mono versions. I think I shall give them a compare, together with the digital mono remaster.

[pgarrish]

2 things I'd say. 1, your tt setup sounds a bit more high end than the sbt/beresford combo. But 2/ I expect the lp is simply a far better recording.

I have ultra by Depeche mode on both cd and 180g vinyl and even on my basic planar 2 through basic phono stage it's a fair bit better than the cd.

[Lawrence001]

I think some people give absolute tonal sound quality and instrument/voice separation over stereo placement/ imaging and soundstage, so they would think a slightly better quality mono recording was best whereas those who valued the latter would struggle to listen to the former.

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[Ali Tait]

Yes have discussed this elsewhere, we thought that some are more sensitive to phase changes, these people zeroing in on imaging and soundstaging(I include myself in this). The other less sensitive folk would zero in on timbre and tonal shading etc.

[Marco]

All are important for realism, but it's tone & timbre/'boogie factor' for me every time. If a system (or component) fails miserably in that department, and merely majors on imaging/soundstaging, then it'll leave me cold, as it simply won't engage me in the music.

And in my book, that's an EPIC FAIL, for any hi-fi component or system!

Marco.

[Haselsh1]

Very interesting as I almost bought 'Ultra' on vinyl a month or so back. I've had the CD copy since it first came out but I may have to get the vinyl version now just for completeness.

[struth]

Was it from the latest 2017 cd the copy was made

[pgarrish]

Very interesting as I almost bought 'Ultra' on vinyl a month or so back. I've had the CD copy since it first came out but I may have to get the vinyl version now just for completeness.

Mine is warped, the seller sent me another LP as compensation. But it plays fine (cue jokes about rega speed stability being so bad you can't tell...) and it's just more dynamic and musical than the cd.

[Haselsh1]

Yeah, just planning out today so maybe a visit to HMV is called for. Rega owners need not worry when it comes to speed stability. It seems to apply to anything powered by an elastic band. Maybe we should all upgrade to a DJ deck ;)

[montesquieu]

To go back to your Sgt Pepper experience, a decent mono cartridge can be transformational, I've been a mono fan for some years - here's a recent thread on the subject.

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?53161-Miyajima-cartridge-re-cantilevered-in-bamboo!-Lots-of-mono-fun&p=888522#post888522

Petrat has since bought two mono Miyajimas one 0.7 and 1 mil for the two main mono groove sizes.

Unfortunately I only have the mono Sgt Pepper on CD. The new vinyl stereo master is fab in my view.

[walpurgis]

Unfortunately I only have the mono Sgt Pepper on CD.

I have an original mono LP release from the sixties. Not played it for years. Must dig it out and give it a spin. :)

[Qwin]

I have several first pressing mono Beatles albums, they need a mono cartridge to sound any good, later stereo copies I have sound better than them using the same stereo cartridge.
As for Pepper, the Beatles buggered off to the South of France after spending two weeks mixing the Mono version and left George Martin to sort out the stereo mix on his own, which he did in three days. This was a common thing for them to do. They weren't present for mixing the Stereo on any of the first three albums.

[Arkless Electronics]

Then there's the old thorn or steel needle debate.... :D