Not sure if everyone is familar with this whole thing or not, but the gist of it is that this dude was claiming that his copy of Phish 2nd night Alpine was THE BEST recording of this particular show, hands down. So, he sent me a copy and I am now able to pretty much directly compare his source against my own.
For those of you who want the short version-Neither are the shit as far as I'm concerned, I would wager highly that the MK41 tapes beat both sources out. The DPA's just aren't that shit hot when it comes to "far field" recording it seems, other than in an open field type setting with no obstructions overhead and a tight sounding PA.
Anyhoo, I tossed dudes disc in my player, and cued up the tape in mine for a little A/B action. I have to start out by saying that this comparison is not entirely 100% accurate as my mics were where dude was the first night(2nd row section against the wall) and his were on the inside of the wall, just to the right of where the lighting mix is. I am mentioning this as the guy implied to me that the couple feet difference in his position made a considerable improvement to his tapes. Also, he was running in true A/B Stereo, mics spaced around a foot or so, mine more or less pointed to the outside of the stacks(though I'm not positive where they were pointed at after dude moved my stand three times) .
Now, first the Nagra recording. Smooth and silky would be the best way to describe it. Lots of low end, very rich, classic analog sound. Other than that slightly distant sound that some cardiod mics have further back, nothing that you'd really state as being really lacking from your listening experience.
Next, my inferior master. If nothing else, I must say that the 4023>V2>AD500 tape sounded MUCH different. Definitely a more digital feel and lacking some of the smoothness of the analog recording, but you'd swear that someone lifted a pillow from over the speaker, releasing a whole ton of highs that were not previously discernable. Slightly tighter in the bottom end, but again not as smooth. Much more open and detailed I think would be the best way to describe it.
Though I wouldn't say that the 4023 source was oh so much better or anything, the greater amount of highs pretty much made me want to listen to my own copy time and time again as I switched back and forth.
Now, to avoid my own personal bias and find an objective listener. Everyone knows that women have better ears than men so who better than the lovely Tasha to help out.
Bit of a tough choice it would seem, we went back and forth a number of times, tried to get the volume equal for each source etc. and eventually she picked the 4023 source.
Maybe not so much better but different to me. It kind of cracks me up because I thought that my copy was fairly mediocre to begin with, typical big show sound.
At some point if enough people are interested and someone wants to do a torrent of the Nagra source I can do one of mine and you guys can judge for yourself.
Topic: Phish 6-26-04: 4011>Nagra IV VS. 4023>V2>AD500e>DA-P1 (Read 2693 times)