j*** remasters, again

I've been giving some listening time to some of the remastered versions of the Original Jazz Classics (OJC) discs. There are now so many versions of these things available that it makes one's head spin. OJC is the umbrella label put out by Fantasy, which owns the Riverside, Contemporary and Prestige records catalogs. There are several hundred absolutely fabulous recordings in that archive: Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Cannonball Adderley, Chet Baker, the list is endless.

There's the bog standard OJC, which sells in the US for $12.

There's the JVC XRCD versions, which go for about $30. These have been remastered in Japan using the "K2" process. Many more of these versions are available in Japan than in the US, but enough are sold here to be worthy of attention. Most of the hi-fi press has fallen all over itself praising these as the best sounding versions.

Recently released are two batches, one as the Prestige 50th Anniversary series, the other as
the 20bitK2 series, both of which sell for about $15. These have also been done in Japan, utilizing the "K2" process, but aren't listed as XRCD, and appear to have been done by a different mastering engineer than were the XRCD versions. This is very confusing, because both the expensive XRCD and regular price K2 versions hit the stores at about the same time.

Finally, there are some European imports that have been remastered using 20 bits.

I've heard some of the European imports, and I thought they were terrible. Muddled, overblown bass, piano didn't sound like the real instrument. (I'm thinking of Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard). The XRCD version, to my ears, was definitely better. But this weekend I compared a few recordings that I happen to have in two of the other versions, and could not draw any firm conclusions.

For instance, Wynton Kelly's album "Kelly Blue" seemed better on the cheapest, standard CD than on the most expensive XRCD. I compared the standard Bill Evans "Waltz For Debby" to the $15 K2 remaster, and did the same for "Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section." I think I'm leaning toward preferring the the cheapo standard version of both. Interestingly enough, the current issue of "The Audiophile Voice," (generally a fairly worthless read) makes a passing reference to the standard version of "Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants" sounding better than the $15 K2 reissue, saying that the ensemble is muddled and the bass is far too prominent. That jibes with what I'm hearing on the two comparisons I have on hand. The reviewer points to the XRCD versions of the Miles Davis Prestige label recordings as far and away the best, saying that here is clearly a case of a remastering engineer making all the difference.

I came late to the jazz party, and have been building my CD collection only over the past two or three years. Obviously I'd like to buy only ONE version of these recordings. Has anyone else out there gone through this same process of seeking the "best" version of these discs?

All listening has been done with a CDS2 into a 52, feeding the tuneful and harmonically right ATC 50 active speakers. Naim speakers don't work in my house, so they don't count!