Todd Garfinkle has released high resolution versions of the two Sera Una Noche albums, and there is but one problem!! If your DAC is up to it, they are so good, so dynamic, so engaging, so realistic…that your opinion of MA Recordings wonderful redbook quality will have to take a backseat to the heightened realism of these 24/96 and 24/176 “direct microphone feeds”. MA Recordings has always been known for the organic nature of their recordings, that wood sounds like wood, and air sounds and feels like air. Well now, with these “hirez” versions wood becomes maple or ash or African Zingana! Air becomes full of electricity and pressure and smell (almost) and, well, presence. The venue acoustics become larger and deeper, the harmonic decays become longer and much more natural. There is not only more “there” there, but the recording venue appears to enter your own listening room. Low frequencies pressurize the listening area much more naturally, with detail and a kind of wetness that only live natural acoustic bass frequencies can do.
Both male and female vocals take on a personal trait, as if the singers voices were no longer recorded but instead in the room with you. Those microdynamic vocal inflections and cues that the brain needs to differentiate between live and recorded are usually obscured by the noise floor or resolution of the cd medium. Instead now those cues are equally present, and you are transported….instead of just listening to music. It’s akin to first seeing good professional HD video. The blacks, the depth of field, the small nuances and details, they all add up to a more vivid experience. Same here with these DVD-Rom recordings. If you haven’t purchased these Sera una Noche recordings and have a good DAC capable of high resolution playback, then buy these now!! Even if you’ve already bought these as cd’s, buy them now!! It’s a new experience; hearing them again for the first time kind-of-thing. Todd, well done. Keep ‘em coming!
Ted Brady
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]