# Best SPARS codes for classical recordings?



## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

I have been diving very deeply into classical for the better part of a year now, and have started to form opinions on recording techniques. I have noticed that my favorite albums tend to be recorded A-D-D, or Analog-Digital-Digital. There is something about the best analog equipment of the 70s that just seems to create a rich, involving sound world for me.

That's not to say I don't have some D-D-D recordings that are excellent, of course. 

Does anyone else make a note of these things, or am I just an inveterate techie?


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Sometimes, there is/was no choice. In the 1980s-90s, in the rush to transfer recordings to CDs, companies often took the cheapest and quickest route, simply recording the original analog tapes to digital CD (AAD). Preferable was for companies to digitally remaster the analog recordings to get rid of tape hiss and improve things like balance, ambience, bad tape edits, etc. and that ADD format is/was what I preferred for older recordings.

I also prefer ADD CDs for a given work over a DDD CD made in the 1980s because it took a number of years for companies to upgrade their equipment to be digital friendly as opposed to the old vinyl-friendly equipment that emphasized the high end (which had been one of the causes of of some of the first DDD CDs being grating on the high end).


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Some of us still prefer the plain ol' singe A … as in vinyl records. As for the transmogrifications of digital discs, it remains an on/off world, sometimes good, sometimes not so good.

A lot still depends upon playback machinery, but some of the older CDs are harsh, strident in sound. Even tube amplification can't soften some of those discs.

Of course, not every vinyl record sounds great either. Part of collecting is learning to live with less than great recordings and less than great sound to enjoy the music itself. If you don't enjoy the music, you probably won't care much what the quality of the recording is, or what letters accompany the digital disc version!


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

SONNET CLV said:


> Some of us still prefer the plain ol' singe A … as in vinyl records. As for the transmogrifications of digital discs, it remains an on/off world, sometimes good, sometimes not so good.
> 
> A lot still depends upon playback machinery, but some of the older CDs are harsh, strident in sound. Even tube amplification can't soften some of those discs.
> 
> Of course, not every vinyl record sounds great either. Part of collecting is learning to live with less than great recordings and less than great sound to enjoy the music itself. If you don't enjoy the music, you probably won't care much what the quality of the recording is, or what letters accompany the digital disc version!


I certainly agree that music is more important than sound quality. But while sound quality has not made a bad performance good for me, it has certainly hampered my enjoyment of a good performance.


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