Vinyl and SACD Review: Diana Krall – The Look Of Love
Vinyl – The Look Of Love – 2015
Vinyl
Surface noise: 5+ (not pops and clicks)
Dynamic Range: 4+
Stereo Imaging: 5
Image depth/perspective: 4+
Overall frequency response: 4+
SACD – The Look Of Love – 2002
Plastic – SACD
Surface noise: N/A
Dynamic Range: 4+
Stereo Imaging: 5
Image depth/perspective: 4+
Overall frequency response: 4+
Side One
- S’Wonderful
- Love Letters
- I Remember You
Side Two
- Cry Me A River
- Besame Mucho
Side Three
- The Night We Called It a Day
- Dancing in the Dark
- I get Along Without You Very well
Side Four
- The look of Love
- Maybe You’ll Be There
- I Should Care
I’ve owned the SACD version of this album for several years, being released by Verve Records in 2002 (CAT#314 589 597-2). After reading several comments about how stellar the ORG limited edition, 180 gram, 45RPM double LP version was, I couldn’t resist the temptation to buy it when I saw it for a great price. Especially as the album is now out of print. So here I am, a proud owner of pressing number 01161.
Since its original release in 2001, this album has been re-pressed numerous times by Verve Records. This 45 RPM version was released in 2015 by ORG (CAT#004-45). It is a 180 gram double album with a limited pressing number.
The album only contains three tracks per side, nicely spread out over the entire side of each disc. Which at least in theory, gives the cutting engineer all the space needed to capture the full dynamic range of the original recording. Did it? The SACD supports the original LPCM and SACD CD stereo version and a remixed 5.1 surround sound version, the only version I have listened to extensively.
First a little background on the album’s production:
- Tracks 2, 4 and 6 through 10 were recorded January 22-27, 2001 at Avatar Studios NYC
- London Symphony Orchestra recorded March 9-11, 2001 at Abbey Road Studios, London
- Mixed March 19-23 at Capitol Studios, Hollywood. CA
- Tracks 1, 3 and 5 were recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood and mixed there June 5-7, 2001
- Original Mastering, June 8, 2001 by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab, LA. (Sheffield Lab)
- Vinyl Edition mastered by Bernie Grundman and pressed at RTI
- SACD 5.1 mixed by Al Schmitt at Capital Studio and mastered at Marcussen Mastering by Dave Collins. Both in Hollywood, CA.
What a pedigree of engineering and facility excellence!
So which version did I prefer? Read on.
The Vinyl
So was the wait worth it…ohhhhhh so yes!
This vinyl has to be the quietest I have ever played. There is virtually no surface noise at all and not one pop or click. It’s as close to a CD/SACD as you can get.
The recording provides a very intimate performance of Diana, and having only three tracks on each side there seemed to be no restrictions to the dynamics of Diana’s vocal range or any of the instruments. Her voice was absolutely natural, having perfect annunciation, with no emphasis to any part of the vocal range. Her close miking in no way accentuating any sibilance or HF detail. Turning my lights off, my room is deep space black, having no windows and all equipment LED’s being masked. With no visual distractions Diana’s presence was positively palpable, standing just in front of my center speaker with the entire orchestra laid out behind her.
Musicianship and vocal performance were first rate providing a tight, very enjoyable and entertaining musical performance. Stereo imaging was rock solid with just a touch a reverb being added to Diana’s voice that you occasionally heard tail out. The few instrumental solos for the piano, guitar and double bass were all first rate. Depth of image was excellent with the entire orchestra nicely spread between my speakers with very good depth detail.
The entire orchestra was wide open with plenty of instrumental detail and refinement. Double bass, kit, strings, wind and brass sections all providing a realistic representation of the instruments natural sounds. The double bass being tight and extended with no boom and the kit providing plenty of detail especially for the cymbals, hi-hat and triangle. Strings showed no sign of being strident with brass sections exhibiting a clean bright edge. Musical detail and transparency was exceptional.
Recommended tracks, all of them! They are all very well recorded, with many of the tracks having excellent piano, double bass and piano solos and breaks.
The Plastic (SACD) – Stereo
I have only listened to the 5.1 version of this album prior to purchasing the vinyl. The 5.1 version gives me an opportunity to exercise my rear 1038 Genelec’s, something that I never do with vinyl as I do not like the final product of stereo processed to five channels. For this comparison, I used the stereo SACD recording. I have never listened to the LPCM recording.
At first I couldn’t really tell that this wasn’t the vinyl recording, the similarities were amazing. After concentrating on each track, I finally extracted what the differences were between the stereo SACD and vinyl pressing. There were not many, nor were they very significant.
They can be summarized as follows:
- Double bass was slightly cleaner and tighter
- Vocal was slightly more recessed
- Vocal had less reverb tail out
All of which could easily be put down to the performance of my arm, cartridge and phono pre-amp.
The imaging, depth and dynamic range of this transfer were all virtually identical to the vinyl, and there were no significant digital hard edges to any sounds.
As for the SACD being quieter than the vinyl, either between or during the tracks, it just didn’t matter. In this case the only noise ‘annoyance’ was the white noise from my head amp!
The Plastic (SACD) – 5.1
Truly outstanding. It delivers in spades on all fronts: detail, clarity, top end, openess, tight and extended bass, smooth mid-range and a wonderful immersive surround sound. If I wanted to be really picky the vocals had a very slightly harder upper mid-range.
It was like multi-channel vinyl on steroids.
There are obviously significant differences to the signal chains and mastering processes between analog vinyl and digital SACD. Usually I find that these differences stand out to the detriment of the digital pressing. This recording shows that this does not have to be the case. The engineering team, par excellance, showed that digital, can sound as good as, and in some cases, even better than, some of the best vinyl.
All three versions, vinyl, SACD stereo and SACD 5.1 are outstanding examples of a well recorded and mastered performance. Given the choice I would have to go with the 5.1 mix. It has everything going for it with no real negatives (other than it’s digital!). All things being equal, who said analog always beats out digital? Well me, sometimes. This is a case in point where digital isn’t necessarily worse than analog, I just prefer the digital 5.1 mix.
If you are a Diana Krall fan you won’t be disappointed with either of these recordings. If you don’t or can’t play vinyl, not to worry, get the SACD and get both the stereo and 5.1 mixes. You won’t be missing much.
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