As previously noted Concord Music Group is letting most Telarc's SACDs and CDs go out of print, some now only available as MP3s.
Telarc made what I feel are the most realistic recordings ever released on SACD or any other format. They are the definition of the concert hall experience and was SACDs biggest supporter, that is until they were purchased by Concord Music Group.
Telarc records exactly what was in the concert hall, jazz club or studio, no tricks, no EQ, no unnecessary mixing, etc. What you hear on their SACDs is what you would hear if you were there in person. They record mostly direct to stereo and direct to surround. Even most of the sound effects on the Cincinnati Pops recordings are done in "real time' So far Telarc is the only record company to expose the full resolution of SACD. Channel Classics, PentaTone, Reference Recordings and a handful of others sometimes come close but they are not there yet. In time I hope they will be.
See also:
In short if not for Telarc I would not own an SACD player, for me Telarc defines the SACD format. Sadly Concord Music Group, Telarc's new owner decided two years ago to no longer release SACDs even though they still record using the PURE DSD in multichannel using state of the art high band equipment in including the Sanken CO-100K microphone with frequency response to 100kHz.
If I had a million dollars I would buy Telarc from Concord Music Group and issue all of the DSD recordings on SACD they made in the last two years. In addition I would issue all of the DSD multichannel and stereo only recordings Telarc made since they started recording DSD in 1998 that were never released on SACD. I would issue the rest of the historic 50kHz Soundstream recordings from 1978-1984. In addition I would reissue all the SACDs Concord Music Group allowed to go out of print. I would love to find a wealthy Telarc lover willing to support me in this endeavor.
Teresa,
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed a shame that new Telarc releases are no longer available on sacd.Telarc sacd sound realy great and I don't understand why they stopped it.If I was a rich man....
Greetings,Hedwig-a Belgian music lover.
Teresa,
ReplyDeleteIn reaction to your article 'A Reference Recordings SACD and two 96kHz 24 Bit high resolution downloads' I would like to ask you which pc speakers you use, because most of them aren't very good and you don't get the most out of your flacs. I'm thinking of buying an Olive Musicserver so I can play them on my stereo set.
Ton, The Netherlands
i don't use PC speakers instead I route the sound to my tubed preamp via Monster Cable mini stereo to 2 RCAs cable. I have also tried a Bryston DAC between computer and stereo, see my review at Positive Feedback http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue49/bryston.htm
ReplyDeleteHowever I am quite pleased with the sonic quality of analog outs, the only reason I would want an outboard DAC is to play 176.4kHz and 192kHz music files in their native resolution as the core audio in my Mac Mini has a maximum resolution of 96kHz so it downsamples them.
Here is my stereo equipment http://www.positive-feedback.com/staff.htm go to bottom of page. The speakers are floor standing Infinity Reference Standard 7 Kappa's with 12 inch woofers, 3 inch midranges and EMIT tweeters with frequency response to 45kHz +/-3dB.