For fans of "the Dan"

[audiophile65]

Hello Steely Dan fans!

What are the best ways to begin converting the following "Dan" recordings, with either disc or 180g LP:

 

Can't Buy a Thrill

Countdown to Ecstasy

Katy Lied

The Royal Scam

Pretzel Logic

Aja (I want to avoid the MoFi UltraDisc because part of the title track is a little messed up)

Gaucho (Can't use the MCA SACD, but may try the MoFi UltraDisc?)

 

Also, has anyone downloaded Gaucho (24/96) from HDTracks? If so, please describe the sound.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

[rms]

I dl'd Gaucho from HDTracks and it sounds fantastic. I have never before heard so much detail. I have two different vinyl copies and an early CD and the backup singers and Michael Brecker's sax just never sounded right to me on any of them. Kind of muffled and in the case of the sax shrill and lacking detail. On the 24/96 it sounds like they are standing in front of me playing. I can really hear every little nuance from all the vocalists and musicians. No more muffled and shrill. It really blows away all the other recordings.

 

[driven -- by sound]

Is it fidelity you're after? Gaucho(96/24) from HDtracks delivers! Sounds downright fantastic!

 

Personally, from a song perspective I would've preferred buying a masterful Aja(96/24) from HDtracks had it been available...

 

[barrows]

Well, you asked for it. Find someone (or maybe you have) with a really good vinyl setup, fantastic 'table and cartridge, then get a Prism Audio Orpheus ADC/DAC, and a really good step transformer. Run the output of the (really good mega buck MC) cartridge into the step up, and then into the inputs of the Prism, apply RIAA equalisation in the digital domain (listen to differnet curves to find the best one in playback mode, for each album), then clean the records to perfection and make sure everything is static free. Then capture the albums at 24/192.

The 10audio website probably has information on this, check out their review of the Prism. Another ADC which would do a stellar job would be a Weiss Firewire unit.

Done right, with perfect vinyl, this approach should outperform the CD versions available.

 

[audiophile65]

Even though I do not have an audio system and DAC yet (will be working on that in September), your comment sounds exciting!! A week or so ago, I already purchased and downloaded "Gaucho" 24/96 from HDTracks into my MacBook Pro/iTunes. I had to convert it from a FLAC file to an AIFF file (using Max) since iTunes cannot handle FLACs. Will my AIFF "Gaucho" sound impressive like yours?? -- I'm sure it will -- do you have Mac or Windows?? Do you have MAX or Pure Music?

 

[rms]

I think it should still sound great in AIFF but somebody else may be able to answer that better. So long as there is no downsampling or conversion it should sound the same.

 

I currently play the native flac files using Decibel on my Mac Mini out firewire to a Metric Halo Lio-8. Power amp is a DAC 4800A to SP Tech Continuum Studio Monitors.

 

I am very happy with Decibel. It's a pretty minimalist program but the playback quality is probably as good as anything out there. One big reason I chose it is the ability to play nearly all formats, and of most importance to me, flac files.

 

And if you're interested in converting lp's to digital the Metric Halo is a great tool. You can connect directly to the mic pres of the ADC, apply the RIAA, and capture on your computer in 24/192.

 

[diw]

I downloaded Gaucho from HDTracks , converted it to AIFF with Max and imported it into iTunes....it sounded great but occasionally hiccuped when playing back, not always in the same place and not in a repeatable way....DHTracks were very good about it , they enabled another download for me but I couldnt import it into iTunes...they comped me a download of another album, wothout being able to identify what the problem was. Subsequently I bought another download of Gaucho and managed to import it into the iTunes library only after I had deleted the older version. Usually with iTunes you get a dialogue box warning you that some tracks have already been imported and what do you want to do...it seems that this isnt the case with Hi-Res files. In any event the new version sounds very good, even better with Pure Music 1.8......much better imaging it seems with 1.8...although the hiccuping problem may have returned again....still trying to work that one out. HDTracks have come in for some stick on these forums but it seems they have their customer service act better sorted now....I'm waiting for Aja also.....

 

[RFP]

I already have the MFSL CD and the SACD but I dl'D 24/96 in FLAC for comparison.

 

It is high res and tonally accurate but I was disappointed by the amount of compression added. The MFSL is still my preferred choice of mastering - by a big margin