Kind of Blue

Product Information

Now Analogue Productions, the audiophile in-house reissue label of Acoustic Sounds, Inc., together with Quality Record Pressings, is putting Kind of Blue where it belongs: the Ultra High Quality Record (UHQR) pressed on Clarity Vinyl on a manual Finebilt press with attention paid to every single detail of every single record. What would be fun to do is to straingage a tonearm mount and measure how hard the record is pulling. Trust me, you are not “all set”, unless to you this record is of minor importance or you don’t care to own what is clearly and easily the best sounding Kind of Blue. Davis played trumpet sublime with his ensemble sextet featuring pianist Bill Evans, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley with Wyton Kelly playing piano on “Freddy the Freeloader.” DVD & CD DVD 24/96 DVD Audio DVD Audio & CD DVD Audio/Video DVD Video DVD Video & CD HDAD 24/96 24/192 HRx Laser Disc SuperDisc Video• Reel to Reel

Lacquer creates the father, which creates mothers, which create stampers. Theoretically, 10 mothers can be made before the father is too worn and thus destroyed, and 10 stampers made from each mother before she too is destroyed. That's 100 stampers, and an audiophile label will never press more than 1000 records per stamper. Pressing every record they possibly could will yield 100,000 LPs. It continues to be one of the most listened-to and studied recordings of all time, a required primer for many young musicians, and one of the most transcendent pieces of music ever recorded. Davis played trumpet sublime with his ensemble sextet featuring pianist Bill Evans, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley with Wynton Kelly playing piano on "Freddy the Freeloader." I have the Classic Records version which I thought was a great pressing, this AP UHQR version blows it out of the water! The clarity is stunning! Wide soundstage and deep imaging! Most of the static sound at the beginning of the Classic version is absent. The only glaring omission by AP are pics of bassist, Paul Chambers, and drummer, the recently deceased Jimmy Cobb (May 2020), the last remaining member of the 1st great Miles Davis septet (though he sat in only for FF, Wynton Kelly is also missing). Not sure how you guys missed that one, but Paul, Jimmy, & Wynton, we appreciate your contributions to make this arguably the best jazz album! Kind of Blue also benefited from Miles’ being signed to the leading major record company of the day — Columbia Records, a part of the CBS media conglomerate. Columbia had the means and wisdom to invest in cutting edge recording technology, and their own professional recording studio. My only complaint is the big ol' box is kinda annoying. I just put the LP on my shelf in a sleeve without it.Every UHQR will be hand inspected upon pressing completion, and only the truly flawless will be allowed to go to market. Kind of Blue is arguably Miles’ greatest hit, the one album with which he is most associated. It is still one of the most popular jazz albums of all time, outselling most contemporary recordings and prized as a harbinger of modal jazz and revered as a paradigm of improvisation over reduced harmony—creating a perfect balance of sound and space. Outside the jazz realm, it is consistently chosen by music historians and critics as one of the best albums of all time, alongside evergreen classics by The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and others. For example, Michael knows and is more truthful about his findings on ANYTHING as he has the experience and knowledge from listening to the best and worst gear on the planet. THIS allows us to tell the truth, because one actually understands what truth is in any audio parameter from system matching experience, not bullshit theory." CD Player D/A Converter or Processor Disc Player / DSD-capable USB DAC Hi Res Audio Player iPod Audio Portable DAP (Digital Audio Player) Software• Furniture

Well, I think that everything has already been said and talked about the audio quality, however, I want to commend QUALITY's initiative, for leaving the record on the outside of the beautiful cover, thus maintaining the integrity of the cover during long periods of travel, congratulations to the thinkers !!! Blank records and antiskate are probably the last thing I wanna get in a discussion about with you when there are so many fun and agreeable topics!

ProAc K10

The 200-gram records will feature the same flat profile that helped to make the original UHQR so desirable. The friction is a function of several factors, but is dominated by the coefficient of friction between the stylus and the vinyl. The geometry of the stylus also matters because it changes which direction the groove pushes on stylus.

What can I say, You rally don't know what words mean. In this case "truth." But it is a word that is largely adored and equally misunderstood by those with intense religious beliefs. The original pressing is of course the “document of record” (pun intended). It has a romantic transient blur to it that’s ear-pleasing but clearly not what’s on the tape. Add the era’s relatively noisy vinyl (even when it’s “quiet” as you’ll hear, compared to the Clarity vinyl, which is really quiet). Outstanding sound, which I can really appreciate with my headphones on. This will be played much more than my MoFi 45rpm version though flip between the two when feeling nerdy. Part of this is no doubt the vinyl formulation but more of it I think is the Finebilt handpress, which has a longer press time and which has had the chassis shaking hydraulics removed and placed on its own isolated platform. Especially if this record is seared into your brain from decades of exposure, you’ll immediately hear the improved focus, which does not come at the expense of the recording’s famous lush, rich and full warm instrumental sound and it’s upper frequency transient precision and clarity in front of the somewhat wet space. Everything needed to be said in a short review has been said already; see Fred Kaplan’s comment above. Personally I never heard this record sound so good, it is testament to Bernie Grundman. The combination of Clarity vinyl and the flat profile brings this recording closer to the listener. There is little if any need to for an A/B comparison as it is that good it easily manages to stand up all by itself. If there are any issues, they sit with the physical pressing as mine has some none fill. Still this attains five stars though six would be more accurate but then we would be getting into hyperbole territory. The presence of this record engages the listener from the first to last note.

Misc

ANY audiophile that has been doing this for 40 years would immediately say YES! It does have a huge difference., and thats why they spend more." No need to comment on the music, obviously a master work. The recording? The sound of the 'room' is amazing, the balance of the instruments and breadth of the performance is tangible. Nothing is exaggerated. This totally (and I say totally) blew the doors off my MOFI 45. Miles trumpet sounds so sweet oh my god it really is something you have to hear. I also would say this is by far the best of the three UHQR's I own and perhaps this is the best album I own to date. History was on the side of Kind of Blue; it was born in 1959, at the peak of the golden age of high-fidelity, featuring innovations in studio equipment (magnetic tape, high-quality condenser microphones), matched by advancements in home audio reproduction (long-player records — LPs; high-end turntables, and other stereo components). Kind of Bluealso benefited from Miles’ being signed to the leading major record company of the day — Columbia Records, a part of the CBS media conglomerate. Columbia had the means and wisdom to invest in cutting edge recording technology, and their own professional recording studio. this one is speed-corrected, so you can think of it as the one to own. ... the booklet that accompanies this edition is so comprehensive that, should you have the patience, you might want to read it from cover to cover before letting your stylus settle into the groove. It just might prepare you for what you are about to hear, which is — to my ears — so far above reproach that it has joined a minuscule list of albums I would have to classify as 'perfect.'" — Ken Kessler, The Vinyl Adventure. Read Kessler's entire review here.