http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?search- ... g=imwan-20

Audio Fidelity kicks off its 2011 release schedule with Fulfillingness' First Finale by Stevie Wonder, which Amazon currently lists as available on January 4th.



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004FLW2F6/?tag=imwan-20

No Jacket Required is listed for Jan 4th also.



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004FPXJLS/?tag=imwan-20

Could be interested in that one but I'll wait for comments first.

Jamie's honest comments were helpful to me re: making decision whether to buy AF's Talking Book, so I hope he buys this one too. I'm waiting to buy or not to buy.

Geez, I don't think making Jamie the guinea pig on these is very fair..... maybe we should just ask Steve... after all, who better to ask???

Amazon now shows Stevie Wonder as a January 11th release, with Phil Collins following on February 1st:

  

I ordered the No Jacket Required mainly because it's never been remastered anywhere. I have no faith in Steve, but here's to hoping. Plus, I'm getting it for under $20, so that's acceptable risk

I wasn't impressed with the Face Value. I have the Atlantic gold disc and other pressings. The AF seems flat in comparison, and not in a good way. To me, the horns don't pop as they should which is a shame. Horrid sounding disc? No, but I wouldn't waste money on it. It's definitely got more resolution, but I prefer the warmer mastering on the gold vs. the newer one. To each his or her own, though.

I wasn't a big fan of the volume jumps on the AF Face Value.

Just received the test pressing of Face Value that I won because I'm a Gold Member.

Should this disc sound any different than the finished product?

Amazon now shows Stevie Wonder as a January 18th release, Phil Collins on February 15th, and Walking Man by James Taylor has been scheduled for release on March 15th:

   

Congrats on winning.

It shouldn't sound any different assuming it was made with the same files as the production CD. Seeing as it was a flat transfer there wouldn't be any reason to make changes or updates before going to manufacturing.

Thanks

Must confess, I haven't even listened to it or the "regular" CD yet.
Could maybe have answered my own question if I had.

Would have loved a shot at the test pressing for the unreleased Vince Guaraldi's Greatest Hits, but that was only open to Platinum members.

Hi Blair & Jamie

Perhaps time to do some more AF comparisons Blair.

Well, well, well .....

Look who has joined IMWAN !

Did you get kicked off the other site?
Or just checking out the alternatives.

Yes, another shootout would be a good idea, though I'm not sure if AF will fare any better this time around.

So, why did they kick you out? We want the story.

Not recently. Just seeing where all the SH Forums members migrated to.

Agreed, give me a call and we'll do this. If there's a pressing with better sound quality than my 32XD I want to know about it.

The 32XD of Face Value is not the Diament mastering, correct? Wouldn't Barry's be the best for those who don't prefer the AF? (I've not heard it, or the AF for that matter, so I have no opinion, myself. Just curious.)

I actually prefer the European/target CD. Barry's is a bit drier for some reason. The AF sounds closer to the European/target CD.

I would love someone (Jamie?) to give their thoughts about the sound quality of the AF Fullfillingness First Finale vs. the original Motown CD.

I have to preface my comments by saying I've never heard this album before so this is purely based on the AF CD.

The sound quality is muddy, unexciting and not very lively. You have to really crank it to get any impact from the sound. From the comments I've read this is just the way the album was recorded and by listening to other Stevie albums from this era I assume the engineering style of Bob Margouleff is to blame more than the mastering. BUT, the CD does suffer from under-mastering, IMHO. It can sound better. There's lots of room to add some much needed clarity without making Stevie's voice thin.

It's not just this disc that sound lifeless. Many of the AF CDs have a similar dull quality to them. This wasn't the case with DCC releases. Something has changed. The new mastering style has become much too conservative for its own good. For some reason they've chosen to give us flat CDs (in both senses of the word) instead of good sounding CDs. The DCC magic is gone. Mobile Fidelity is the new DCC.

Thanks Jamie. Re: AF, I agree based on the several CDs I've heard. It is only a legitimate mastering choice to not add EQ if the tape already sounds good. Hoffman doesn't master CDs any more. He seems to just take that old cassette and burn it to digital as-is. I have a feeling he hasn't gotten near a real master in quite a while, despite his claims.

That would be great if MFSL would put out Stevie's catalog, but I don't see that happening any time soon. Hopefully some kind soul will do a fantastic 192k needle drop and we won't have to worry about it again.