Yes Close To The Edge HDTracks

[Garf]

As I do not have either CTTE or GFTO, so I will pony up on this one. The SH forum has DR11 and DR10 listed for CTTE and GFTO respectively. Time to re install java and download.

[chriss71]

@Garf: Would love to here from you a review...

[Julf]

As I do not have either CTTE or GFTO, so I will pony up on this one. The SH forum has DR11 and DR10 listed for CTTE and GFTO respectively. Time to re install java and download.

 

Great! Looking forward to review as well as posting of DR and spectrum!

[Harry K]

My hate affair with HDTracks' crappy downloader was put on hold when I saw the notification for Close To The Edge.

 

I don't know it's providence and after listening to it this evening I don't care. It is a worthy effort and I think it sounds rather magnificent. More detail and seperation than I've heard on any 16bit issue. I went for the 192.

 

Encouraged by this and the fact that the HDTracks app actually worked properly, so credit where credit is due, I've also had a punt on Going For The One and The Yes Album. IMO the latter has got a bit more timbre and musical interest than the MFSL Gold Cd but like Fragile 24 bit, compared with the MFSL CD it's quite close.

 

Going For The One will have to wait until tomorrow.

[jazzy1]

The DR for hdtracks CTTE is in the DR Database. It's an 11 across the board.

 

DR Database

 

Here are a couple of waveforms, for title track, and "And You And I"

 

[jazzy1]

Spectral view for Close To The Edge:

 

[mav52]

I guess I'm showing my age here, I have the three-LP (two-CD) set from 1972 which are called Yessongs . Come to think of it, I have every CD they released.

[Stiv]

Not really impressed with the HDtracks CTTE.

[Robert Hutton]

My hate affair with HDTracks' crappy downloader was put on hold when I saw the notification for Close To The Edge.

 

I don't know it's providence and after listening to it this evening I don't care. It is a worthy effort and I think it sounds rather magnificent. More detail and seperation than I've heard on any 16bit issue. I went for the 192.

 

Encouraged by this and the fact that the HDTracks app actually worked properly, so credit where credit is due, I've also had a punt on Going For The One and The Yes Album. IMO the latter has got a bit more timbre and musical interest than the MFSL Gold Cd but like Fragile 24 bit, compared with the MFSL CD it's quite close.

 

Going For The One will have to wait until tomorrow.

 

Right you are.

 

The Going For The One 192k is magnificent! I have never heard it anywhere close to this.

 

The Yes Album also at 192k has the MOFI redbook as stiff competition, and it doesn't kill it, but it leaves nothing on the table either - I have listened to it three times now, and each time it reveals itself more.

 

Fantastic.

 

The HD Tracks downloader upgrade in January is working out quite nicely too. Way superior to the abominable older one.

[rwwjr44]

Get the JRiver downloader, it works very well. IMHO

[wgscott]

Chris: my advice is don't feed the troll...

 

Ignore list - Blogs - Computer Audiophile

[kennyb123]

The Going For The One 192k is magnificent! I have never heard it anywhere close to this.

 

On first blush, the song "Turn of the Century" seems to me to have been processed to reduce tape hiss. Unfortunately it sounds like they used too heavy a hand as good deal of the high frequency energy has been sliced off <big sigh>. I'm disappointed, as this has robbed the song of the atmospheric quality to which I've been accustomed. I hope some of the other tracks fare better. Based on the brief bit of "Awaken" I just heard, I'm not too optimistic.

[rwwjr44]

I just finished listening to "The Yes Album" 24/192. Sounds really good considering its age and other aspects of its origins. The Keyboards and guitars are clear and well delineated. The vocals, well they aren't as constrained as earlier versions but they are what they are. The higher resolution brings out some of the nastiness of the recording session and/or tape. The original LP doesn't have the ambience or clarity of this version.

 

I have always wished that Yes (actually a good number of artists) did a better job in the studio with their early releases. However if you are a Yes fan (and I am) then you'll enjoy this download. I don't know that (at this time) it gets much better than this.

 

I have the DVDA version of "Fragile" which I'll listen to tomorrow, then the CTTE download Friday.

[kennyb123]

The Yes Album also at 192k has the MOFI redbook as stiff competition, and it doesn't kill it, but it leaves nothing on the table either - I have listened to it three times now, and each time it reveals itself more.

 

MoFi did a much better job mastering this in my humble opinion. It's more dynamic - the HDTracks version sounds dynamically flat in comparison. MoFi was also able to dig out much better bass. Squire's bass is far better on "Starship Trooper" and likewise Bruford's bass drum has far more weight and punch. Tonality is better on the MoFi too.

 

I almost find the HDTracks version tough to listen to after switching from the MoFi. One is full of life, energy and color. The HDTracks 24/192 version ... not so much. I think I may have to go as far as saying that the MoFi clobbers it.

[Julf]

The DR for hdtracks CTTE is in the DR Database. It's an 11 across the board.

 

So same as on the original CD.

[Julf]

Spectral view for Close To The Edge:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4581[/ATTACH]

 

Pretty much what you would expect from a tape from that period, but looks OK (doesn't look upsampled).

[kennyb123]

I spent some more time listening to the 24/192 versions of "The Yes Album" and "Going for the One". What I've concluded:

 

The Yes Album: a pretty good mastering job that I could probably be happy with if the MoFi CD didn't exist. The rip of the MoFi CD will be what I play when I want to hear this album.

 

Going for the One: I wish I could get my money back for this, as I find it difficult to listen to. The loss in high frequency information is just too distracting to me. I consider this the least impressive purchase I've made from HDTracks.

[Harry K]

Good though the MFSL Gold CD of The Yes Album is (and it is) my one grey area is the loud bass. It's always been forward and pumped up in the mix - and highly enjoyable - but I wondered if it had been maybe a little bit overdone on the Gold CD. My impression with the 24/192 offering is that there is a bit more texture to the bass which gives some insight missing on the Gold CD, and a little less pumped. Small degrees admittedly.

[chriss71]

So, now on the HDTracks Homepage (for Close to the Edge):

 

Sourced from Analog Flat Master.

 

I am really sure that it is the same source as the AFZ...

Hhm, who do better mastering? Steve Hoffman or an unknown person...

 

I will think about it, because my friend has bought the HDTracks Download and my reseller have the AFZ...

So, in a near future I can compare both and then I will decide which I shell my money out...

[firedog]

As I do not have either CTTE or GFTO, so I will pony up on this one. The SH forum has DR11 and DR10 listed for CTTE and GFTO respectively. Time to re install java and download.

 

Yes, get the JRiver downloader for HDT. Doesn't need Java and works much better.

[kennyb123]

Good though the MFSL Gold CD of The Yes Album is (and it is) my one grey area is the loud bass. It's always been forward and pumped up in the mix - and highly enjoyable - but I wondered if it had been maybe a little bit overdone on the Gold CD. My impression with the 24/192 offering is that there is a bit more texture to the bass which gives some insight missing on the Gold CD, and a little less pumped. Small degrees admittedly.

 

The MoFi gets me closer to what I think I'd hear if in the same room with the musicians in terms of the bass. The Rickenbacker tone comes across more clearly with the MoFi as well. I hear far less texture in the bass on the 24/192 - I find the tone a bit washed out. How one perceives this will likely be system-dependent.

 

As far as the bass goes, the 24/192 is more like every other version of I've heard of this album. MoFi was able to make the bass more prominent. I think they made the right choice.

 

I suspect that the bass was likely toned down when this album was first cut to vinyl, as that was often the practice in those days. This was done partly to make it easier to squeeze all the music onto a side of an LP, and also because systems back then couldn't handle deep and powerful bass.

 

If bass was equalized originally, the re-mastering engineer would have to decide whether he wants to match the original bass level - or back off on the EQ. MoFi seems to have to done the later.

 

My earliest UK pressing of the "Close to the Edge" LP has absolutely no bass. The LP itself was cut such that there is an unusually wide leadout area - a result of so much missing bass. Later pressings are cut to use up almost the entire LP. I've always imagined that Chris Squire must have freaked out when he heard that early pressing. Clearly too heavy a hand was applied to equalizing out the bass - and this was corrected in later pressings. It will be interesting to hear how much bass comes across in Hoffman's new remaster, which I will be receiving today.

[chriss71]

It will be interesting to hear how much bass comes across in Hoffman's new remaster, which I will be receiving today.

 

...and I hope I can read your review here...

[HiResSteve]

My earliest UK pressing of the "Close to the Edge" LP has absolutely no bass. The LP itself was cut such that there is an unusually wide leadout area - a result of so much missing bass. Later pressings are cut to use up almost the entire LP. I've always imagined that Chris Squire must have freaked out when he heard that early pressing. Clearly too heavy a hand was applied to equalizing out the bass - and this was corrected in later pressings. It will be interesting to hear how much bass comes across in Hoffman's new remaster, which I will be receiving today.

 

Not that this is the place to be discussing various lp masterings but, my UK lp of Close To The Edge (K50012) is cut with the opposite absolute polarity of my Canadian US-Cut copy (SD7224/STA722620). Neither is "correct", they both probably sounded right on their respective hardware at the time. I adjust for polarity because things played back with the wrong polarity sound thin and edgy to me.

[Robert Hutton]

So, now on the HDTracks Homepage (for Close to the Edge):

 

 

 

I am really sure that it is the same source as the AFZ...

Hhm, who do better mastering? Steve Hoffman or an unknown person...

 

I will think about it, because my friend has bought the HDTracks Download and my reseller have the AFZ...

So, in a near future I can compare both and then I will decide which I shell my money out...

 

You are really sure about the source for both, but elsewhere have complained that neither has been disclosed?

 

Hoffman is not a mastering engineer, although he claims to be. The AF Close To The Edge was mastered by Steve Marsh at Marsh Mastering, with Hoffman providing 'EQ Consulting".

[chriss71]

@Robert Hutton: Come on, you and I know that is is near 0% possibility that in this short time they dub that tape 2 times... Can you agree on that?

 

Hoffman is not a mastering engineer, although he claims to be. The AF Close To The Edge was mastered by Steve Marsh at Marsh Mastering, with Hoffman providing 'EQ Consulting".

 

On this one, I am 100% your opinion my friend (if I am allowed to call you so)...