To then go through a Nadja crossover?
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Not these days.
And I have other plans anyway. Albeit the do involve A/D-D/A conversion. Simple conversion is essentially transparent if done right (many aren’t). DSP is where things start to get funky.
Opinion warning.
I’ve yet to hear any digitally recorded vinyl record that sounds superior to the very best all analogue record. (I see the progress for the record co’s but not for the listener yet)
When I do experience this I will be open to completely changing my position (It will save me £0000’s.)
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I’d like to hear a like for like comparison between two records sourced from the same tape, one direct to lacquer, and the other DSD copied then to lacquer, then pressed using the identical process, to then test to what extent they are different and identifiable under blind testing.
It was interesting that in Chad’s interview he noted that Cowboy Junkies ‘Trinity Sessions’ was an original digital recording - I doubt many people would have said that after listening to it.
I’m somewhat more stuck in the past. Many of the skills of Recording cutting, mastering, pressing, equipment etc are lost or considered non viable. Quality control is at an all time low, Etc Etc. For example a standard pre 65 Decca Pressing (With Deep Groove) in very clean condition will piss over most of todays audiophile pressings.
The same can be said for a lot of the Blue note recordings made at the Plastylite pressing plant.
In the UK (and the US) the launch of Stereo was a very serious thing: Very serious R&D, brand new equipment, excellent engineers from recording to pressing through to Quality control and a lot of money behind it.
Contemporary audiophile pressings are cottage industries by comparison, there simply isn’t the budget wherewithal, equipment, experience to do what used to be done.
It is impressive to hear Chad speak of 120 employees. To put this into the above context, the EMI Hayes plant In the 1950s employed some 14,000.
Perhaps this is why digital short cuts become a viable option?
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I’ve came to the conclusion that the best sound quality is not what I’m after. I just like stuff. I can listen to music on anything and enjoy it but I also like the different equipment, history, engineering etc so I’m just buying stuff up based on whatever whim at that time.
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To some extent I would say that I am too. However I am prepared to be quite pragmatic and will be convinced by my ears over and above my purist instincts.
So if someone like Mofi knocks out a version of Thriller with the compression that Bernie Grundman applied removed/ reduced, and it sounds better than the original then even if its digitally copied before being cut then I’d buy it. Maybe not at £180 but then again I wouldn’t pay that for an all AAA copy of Thriller in any case as you can still hear its limitations from the overall sound of the production used that you can already hear.
But then again I’m not a collector, completist or investor so I maybe don’t have the some of the instincts that drive different positions and habits. I typically go for a first pressing in country of origin in decent condition where I can enjoy it. ‘Audiophile’ LP purchases tend to be opportunistic and/ or stop gaps until I can find a ‘proper’ one; or if the price of an original is just not practical to even consider.
I buy contemporary releases on vinyl if I think they’re going to get played with any frequency, and only if I think that the mastering is going to be any better than on the digital counterpart, if not then I’ll just stream it.
I’m really not interested in ‘quick buy it before its gone’ type limited releases just because of numbering, sparkly coloured vinyl, fancy sleeves or the chance to make a quick buck or feel somehow its gone up in value in my ownership 
Oh totally. Even if the demand was there, if you wanted to scale up beyond the cottage/ niche and produce high quality in larger numbers then I very much doubt the skills exist in that kind of capacity.
I’d imagine that the volumes of output are of a completely different magnitude! I’d love to see a break down between engineering, production, logistics, quality control, marketing, admin etc for the 120 and the 14,000.
I only went to the inside walls of emi hayes once as a friend was in a band,and for some reason that was the meeting point to get the coach…Incidentally the little gig was at the place that fawlty towers was filmed.
I was shocked at how massive EMI was
My first girlfriends mum worked on quality control in the 60s,70s and finished in the mid 80s.
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I wonder if the haircut and glasses were part of the uniform!
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Some size eh. Can just imagine the effort required to press say half a million copies at a dozen different plants for a global release of an album.
Yes, if a new band puts out something interesting I’ll buy it, I’ll accept absolutely terrible original pressings from Jamaica too (Because it is what it is)
…Here comes my but!!
If there is an excellent pressing of something out there, I will start to get the grip sweats.
The sentence that got me in to audio and has proven to be a blessing and a curse is:
" If you like music, don’t you want to hear all of it"? .
I still don’t have an answer I can comfortably accept at a deep or remotely sane level.
The trouble is when you love, common sense takes a back seat.
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Yep can get that. Has to be something I actually enjoy though, so fantastic vinyl production of opera or musicals might be something to admire from a reproduction standpoint, I’m not going to make any effort to actually own them.
Same, grip sweats only occur with desire.
I haven’t been following any of this story. Could you give a quick summery of the actual controversy and accusations please 
I am interested but it has exploded into a huge load of contrary opinions from people with a vested interest. Please cut through the crap I trust your knowledge and opinion.
summary
Thanks, Spell checker being seasonal.
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Mofi one step says made from the original master tapes. Punters led to believe it’s an all analogue affair. Maybe a bit of not correcting that assumption (misled or lied!?).
Comes out that means taking that tape and making a high res dsd digital file. Then making the records from the dsd.
Cue the wailing. It’s digital. It’s sullied. It’s not what I wanted (but maybe still sounds great = confusion).
When does the digital conversion take place. Is it used as the source for the cutting engineer or between the tape lathe transfer post engineer mixing?