Indeed,
That E.W.F. album is a classic. "Let's Groove" is such a cool track...because I simply dig some serious Vocoder!! Maybe the best Vocal effect ever. Right next to Aphex! (Almost)
Quite an interesting story behind the Vocoder. Once a Military Voice Encryption System, later to somehow find itself in a 1970s Funk Recording...and it kept going.
With re-masters...I'm uncertain. It's difficult to re-create the Tension, Suspense, and Release of some of the fine older recordings. (ie: Dire Straits-Love over Gold)...AND be screaming loud, but...
Mastering Genius Robert Ludwig actually re-mastered his own original handiwork to satisfy Warner Bros. It's louder, but the dynamics are still (subjectively) there.
No surprise. Anything Ludwig touches earns an instant Grammy Award for Technical Excellence. (Check out Ludwig's Handiwork with the DEVO catalog! Wow!!!)
There's a few, very enjoyable remasters out there. Bing Crosby's "Christmas Classics" is amazing, and vastly improved over it's 1962 origins...with a nice added track!!
That said... There's also a few MORE audio disasters as well. Recordings where "Victor Volume" was twisting the knobs, and things got ugly.
It's fun to just listen, and then decide. I am convinced now however that DR by itself is a poor metric upon which to choose a recording.
PS: Michael, so that I don't seem contradictory on the DR matter...
We've been discussing Attenuators as a means of Optimally Gain-Staging your system. This is done so that our playback chain is not the source of increased noise, or distortion. If it exists in the recording, so be it. We here simply choose not to invite any more to the party. Makes sense.
Happy RME'ing all!
Curt
Vintage 2018 ADI-2 DAC. "Classic AKM4490 Edition"
Cables: Red, and White Ones.
Speakers: Yes