Oscar Peterson Exclusively For My Friends 24/88 on Qobuz - anybody tried it?

[Musicophile]

I've discovered that Qobuz has recently released a 24/88 remaster (?) of the excellent 1960s Exclusively For My Friends sessions.

 

Exclusively for My Friends (Live) | Oscar Peterson*– Télécharger et écouter l'album

 

 

I was first confused by the fact that this was supposed to be a 3 "CD" box (funny that in the age of downloads we still think of CDs), but it is actually the same 36 tracks I have in my original black box on 4 CDs:

 

 

The SQ of the redbook version I have is quite nice, as these were recorded in a rather intimate setting in Germany.

 

The music, if you don't know it yet, is among Peterson's best sessions ever (even according to Peterson himself):

Exclusively for My Friends [box Set] - Oscar Peterson | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic

 

The price is really ok at €15 for 4h of music, but I'm still a bit hesitating to repurchase the same stuff again, so I wondered if anybody has bought it already and would be willing to share a spectrum plot.

 

If you don't have the CD box yet, this is a highly recommended purchase in any case.

[Musicophile]

After serious reflection of about 10 min (just kidding) I said to myself: What the h... I want this anyhow, and it will be a nice test case for Qobuz studio master guarantee, and bought this together with Nezet-Seguins recent Schumann symphony box (24/96).

 

Will spend some more time listening later, but here's the good news:

 

This is the plot of a randomly selected track (Lulu's back in town):

 

 

Not a heck of a lot ongoing above 20khz, but doesn't look like up sampling to me. (experts on this forum, please feel free to contradict me if needed).

 

DR is 12.

 

So at this price, if you don't have it yet, go for it. For comparison, I discovered the same set at Highresaudio for €35.

[Musicophile]

Listening to this right now, and a bit disappointed. Music is as great as ever, and it clearly sounds different to my redbook box. However, the question is: is it actually better? I need to do some more serious listening, but first impression has a slightly boomy bass, and not the resolution I was expecting.

[NiHo]

Musicophile,

I have this in its SACD release which came out in 2003. I fully agree that this is Oscar at his very best, wonderful music. My version notes that it was digitally remastered by Angelka Rudloff at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen. Do you know if this download is the same version, or a different version?

 

The SACDs were released on six CDs, but contain the same 37 tracks as the download.

[Musicophile]

Musicophile,

I have this in its SACD release which came out in 2003. I fully agree that this is Oscar at his very best, wonderful music. My version notes that it was digitally remastered by Angelka Rudloff at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen. Do you know if this download is the same version, or a different version?

 

The SACDs were released on six CDs, but contain the same 37 tracks as the download.

Unfortunately I don't have the slightest idea as there wasn't even a booklet with the download, and Qobuz' website doesn't give any further insight.

 

In parallel, there was also a reissue of the same remaster on vinyl:

 

Oscar Peterson (1925-2007): Exclusively For My Friends (180g) (Limited Edition Box) (6 LPs)

 

Given the rather similar dates this may be the same remastering I just bought, in which case it is a recent remaster by Dirk Sommers from the analog tapes.

 

Oscar Peterson - Exclusively for My Friends - MPS-Music

 

You may need to use Google translate.

[Musicophile]

And actually I need to revise my initlal assement of the sound quality. I had so far been listening mainly to "CD"1, am now on CD 3 which sounds better (or I'm just getting more used to it).

 

Anyhow, at this price this box is a must have for any jazz lover.

[kumakuma]

Thanks for starting this thread. Oscar Peterson is a favorite.

 

BTW, I could be wrong about the remastering but high rez downloads in 24/88.2 format are usually from SACDs in my experience.

[Musicophile]

Thanks for starting this thread. Oscar Peterson is a favorite.

 

BTW, I could be wrong about the remastering but high rez downloads in 24/88.2 format are usually from SACDs in my experience.

I had the same thought initially.

 

However, given the entire fuzz they made about the recent 180g vinyl release (at ~€150 for the box!!!) I still hope this is not a converted SACD.

[Boris75]

I had the same thought initially.

 

However, given the entire fuzz they made about the recent 180g vinyl release (at ~€150 for the box!!!) I still hope this is not a converted SACD.

 

Furthermore, the spectrum plot that you posted would be quite unusual for a conversion from DSD (though not impossible if they used very aggressive filtering).

[nrj53]

Downloaded last night. Terrible download experience. Downloader installer crashes repeatedly with OSX10. Tar files will take hours to download at stall if you try that option. Used Windows in VMWare and then it only took 30mins.

However, the music is wonderful. Live with lots of little background noises, but brilliant playing. The bass is a little forward and obvious, but not overwhelming.

Great value at €14 for 24/88.2 files in almost any format you could want, when the boxset of CDs is $40 on Amazon, and the 6 SACDs are about $40 each secondhand (strange that the SACDs follow the LP layout and therefore you need six, instead of the 4 CD boxset. All versions contain the same music

[Maldur]

...One SACD can hold up to 4h 16min music, so usually 3-4CD fit to disc, if someone wants...

[Musicophile]

Downloaded last night. Terrible download experience. Downloader installer crashes repeatedly with OSX10. Tar files will take hours to download at stall if you try that option. Used Windows in VMWare and then it only took 30mins.

However, the music is wonderful. Live with lots of little background noises, but brilliant playing. The bass is a little forward and obvious, but not overwhelming.

Great value at €14 for 24/88.2 files in almost any format you could want, when the boxset of CDs is $40 on Amazon, and the 6 SACDs are about $40 each secondhand (strange that the SACDs follow the LP layout and therefore you need six, instead of the 4 CD boxset. All versions contain the same music

That's weird, I never had any issues with the Qobuz downloader. Glad you like the music though.

[Boris75]

That's weird, I never had any issues with the Qobuz downloader. Glad you like the music though.

 

Qobuz downloads worked flawlessly for me for years, but the situation has been different in the last couple of months. There was a couple of instances where I had to download a single track separately because it failed in the download app. In a more recent case, a FLAC file downloaded well but was corrupt with noise instead of music at its end. Fortunately I detected this before playing because dBpoweramp flashed a warning message when I converted my FLAC files to ALAC. I downloaded this file a second time and all went well in the end, but this scared me a bit: if the file I first downloaded had reached my speakers, it could possibly have damaged them.

[Musicophile]

Qobuz downloads worked flawlessly for me for years, but the situation has been different in the last couple of months. There was a couple of instances where I had to download a single track separately because it failed in the download app. In a more recent case, a FLAC file downloaded well but was corrupt with noise instead of music at its end. Fortunately I detected this before playing because dBpoweramp flashed a warning message when I converted my FLAC files to ALAC. I downloaded this file a second time and all went well in the end, but this scared me a bit: if the file I first downloaded had reached my speakers, it could possibly have damaged them.

You should probably send them a mail on this if you haven't done so yet.

 

By the way, somewhere in the options you can choose the format you want to download, all of my files are immediately downloaded as ALAC, as I have no use for FLAC.

[Boris75]

You should probably send them a mail on this if you haven't done so yet.

You are right: I should, but given that I have solved my problem, my incentive is now low, and I feel lazy about it.

By the way, somewhere in the options you can choose the format you want to download, all of my files are immediately downloaded as ALAC, as I have no use for FLAC.

Yes, this is what I did, but I like to keep a reference copy of what I purchase in addition to the "production" copy which I play on my music server. For me, FLAC represents a better archiving tool than ALAC for reference purposes thanks to its embedded checksums, which are absent from ALAC files. In addition, I actually like having this extra step of converting the files myself into ALAC because dBpoweramp is very good at flagging corruption and other problems in music files.

[Boris75]

Anyway, I am going to buy this set. I am just waiting for one Qobuz's regular promotional offers for purchases above €30 since I would also like to get Tilson Thomas' new West Side Story.

[jhwalker]

Anyway, I am going to buy this set. I am just waiting for one Qobuz's regular promotional offers for purchases above €30 since I would also like to get Tilson Thomas' new West Side Story.

 

West Side Story is one of the best recordings I've heard. The recording itself is immaculate, and the performances are first-rate - highly recommended.

 

FYI, there are a bunch of different "containers" for this one out there - my understanding is the recording was originally done in PCM 24/96, 5.1. All other formats (e.g., SACD, DSD download, stereo version, etc.) are derived from that - FWIW.

[madfloyd]

Question about the Oscar Peterson set:

 

What is the kazoo-like noise that is pervasive through much of this? Is it Oscar humming along?

 

My gawd, it's annoying as hell and ruins many of the songs.

[kumakuma]

Question about the Oscar Peterson set:

 

What is the kazoo-like noise that is pervasive through much of this? Is it Oscar humming along?

 

My gawd, it's annoying as hell and ruins many of the songs.

 

I noticed it as well but it didn't bother me that much. Maybe because I'm used to Keith Jarrett's "singing"...

[madfloyd]

I noticed it as well but it didn't bother me that much. Maybe because I'm used to Keith Jarrett's "singing"...

 

On these recordings, Oscar makes Keith seems like a mute.

[Boris75]

I've discovered that Qobuz has recently released a 24/88 remaster (?) of the excellent 1960s Exclusively For My Friends sessions.

 

Exclusively for My Friends (Live) | Oscar Peterson*– Télécharger et écouter l'album

 

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Many thanks for the recommendation: I am very pleased with this discovery. The sound quality is quite good, I do not find the humming disturbing, and to me the musical quality is truly great.

[astrotoy]

I've just received my 6 album collection of the Oscar Peterson Exclusively For My Friends from Volker Lange. These are dubs of the master tapes done by Volker at Lutz Precision in Europe. Each album is on two 10.5 inch tape at 15ips in CCIR EQ. The albums are around 40 minutes each (20 minutes on each tape reel). Nice packaging, but nothing like the Tape Project. I'll be listening to them in the next few days. My copies ranged from Tape 5 to Tape 16, so there haven't been many issued so far.

 

Larry

[PAP]

you bought 1/4 inch tape!?

[astrotoy]

you bought 1/4 inch tape!?

 

Yes.

[HiResSteve]

All the hires stuff (24/88) from MPS sounds excellent. Pretty much every title they have put out so far is on highresaudio.com. Just search for MPS and you will find about 7 pages worth. So many amazing albums with new additions coming every few weeks or so. If you dig 70s European jazz with a scratchy Fender Rhodes or George Duke, they got it. Enjoying Red Garland - The Quota tonight. What a great album.