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CBS Half Speeds? Digital?

I bought a fine collection of audiophile discs here on audiogon from a nice fellow back East. I was just interested in the MFSL and Nautilus vinyl but the 50 or so albums included about a half dozen CBS half speed "audiophile" pressings. Curious I spun Billy Joel's "The Stranger" and couldn't believe how badly it sounded. Like a CD with noisy vinyl. There was a write up on their "technical" specifications and if I'm not mistaken they actually converted the analog master to digital and then cut the vinyl from this "exciting" new master. These were pressed in the early 80s when digital conversion technology was primitive to say the least. Any of you audiophiles care to shed some light on these discs? I tried the Springsteen and a couple of Michael Jackson albums and they sounded equally bad. If they did in fact convert analog masters to digital tapes and then pressed vinyl the persons responsible should be forced to listen only to MP3s for the rest of their natural life.
ntscdan
nrchy's avatar
nrchy
2,111 posts
 
I listened to the CBS half speed master of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" two days again and I was real happy with the sound. This is an older version, no digital here.
I know when digital was all the rage in the early 80'many of the companies rereleased good recordings but with digital remastering. Of course no one knew how to do it at the time and the recordings sounded like hot steaming excrement!
Since those days people have learned how to use the new technology, and some of the recordings are actually listenable. SOME!
Like Tom suggested, read the fine print. It's possible you might be getting some real gems.
Good luck.
tagyerit
73 posts
 
the cbs half-speeds were indeed remastered digitally. i've been told that there were some made prior to these abominations that were not, but have never found one. beware and follow twl's advise: read that fine print. there are an incredible amount of digitally remastered lps out there (many are classical) from many labels, and most of them announce it on the front cover with great pride. ahh, those crasy 80's...
also, many current lps are taken from digital recordings. some are fine (lots of improvements in digital technology since that dark decade), some are not so fine. many sound exactly like the cd.
ncarv
974 posts
 
CBS Master Sound "Audiophile Recording" LP "Isaac Stern's 60th Anniversary Celebration" proudly proclaims itself as a "Digital Recording." That it is -- it sounds more like a CD than an LP.
nameci
53 posts
 
I have had mixed experiences with the LPs saying "digital remaster" or "digital recording".
Almost every single CBS digitally remastered LPs sound bad.
But ones with just says digital PCM recording(like Denon, Telarc) sounds very good.
CBS Master sound lps usually sound very good(I have about ~40 of them) in my experience.
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
If you think these are bad try the A&M audiophile half-speeds; they are tons worse. Though most of the CBS half speeds are worse than the originals the Santana Abraxas sounds pretty good.
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