Side two was a little better at A+ to A++ . Again, not all the top but good presence to the piano.
Pressing Variations
The typical direct to disc pressing of Discovered Again leaves much to be desired. Two areas are especially lacking as a rule: the top end tends to be rolled off, and there is a noticeable lack of presence, which can easily be heard in the drum sound: the snare sounds like it's covered with a towel on most copies of this album. Wha' happen?
Who knows? Even though the mastering is fixed at the live event, there are many other variables which no doubt affect the sound. The album is cut on two different lathes -- M (Master) and S (Slave), and pressed in two different countries: Japan and Germany. Many mothers were pulled from the acetate and many, many stampers made from those mothers. (I saw one marked stamper number 15!)
Bottom line? You got to play 'em, just like any other pressing. If no two records sound the same, it follows that no two audiophile records sound the same, a fact that became clear early on in the listening. Of course not many audiophiles are in a position to shootout six copies of Discovered Again, and I'm not sure most people would want to. Here at Better Records we have a whole system set up to do exactly that, so we waited until we had a pile of them, got them all cleaned up, and off to the races we went.
Reversed Absolute Phase, Or Is It?
According to the liner notes, this album is reversed absolute phase. They tell you straight out to reverse the positive and negative at the speaker for the best "transient response and spatial clarity."
That out of phase quality is as plain as the nose on your face when you know what to listen for. There's an unpleasant hardness and hollowness to the midrange, a lack of depth, and an off-putting opaque quality to the sound.
With our EAR 324p phono stage the click of a button reverses phase. I can't tell you how handy it is to have such a tool at your disposal. Checking the phase for Discovered Again couldn't have been easier.
An Amazing Discovery
But get this: most side ones are NOT reversed phase. How about them apples! We could not have been more shocked. Here is the most famous out of phase audiophile recording in the history of the world, and it turns out most copies are not out of phase on side one at all! (All the side twos we played were however.)
This copy does not have the phase reversed on side one but, as is usually the case, the phase is reversed on side two.
Keys to Listening
One of the most telling qualities that the best copies displayed is the ability to hear through the mix to Grusin's piano, which is usually toward the back of the studio. The best copies really let you follow him all the way through every song, no matter how quietly he is playing or how far back in the mix he may be.
Bloated bass is another problem with this record. There's tons of bass and some copies just don't manage to get it to stay tight and note-like.
Lastly, the top end on the best copies is really extended, giving those bells on the first track amazing harmonics. It's surprising how many copies of this album have no real top end! When you hear how good it can really be it's shocking on two levels: how good it is on some copies and how bad it is typically. The direct to disc recording method is supposed to solve this problem, but like so many promises in audio (audiophile remastering anyone?), critical listening tells you that this is a promise that remains unfulfilled.
This Is Good Music
We are on record as being big fans of this album. Unlike most Direct to Disc recordings, Discovered Again actually contains real music worth listening to. During our all-day shootout, the more we played the record, the more we appreciated it. These are top quality players totally in the groove on this material. When it's played well, and the sound is as good as it is here, there's nothing dated about this kind of jazz. Hey, what can we say -- it works.
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