cannga:
Janis Ian had a big hit, At Seventeen, when I first came to America. Sometimes, one associates a song with a certain memory, and At Seventeen always reminds me of the Pennsylvania refugee camp (not what you think, not the Ritz Carlton but not bad either, I actually gained weight and grew :-)) we lived in that summer. After that hit, Ian then sort of disappeared from the scene. The next disc, Breaking Silence, is her comeback attempt around 1993. I first heard it at the house of a professional speaker designer (like going car shopping with Chris Harris). It has since become a well known, gold standard demo cd among US audiophiles, for both the great music, and the absolutely stunning sonics.
It is an all out, no holds barred, audiophile recording, from start to end. Rare, expensive, and gold standard equipments were used every step of the way. Famed Telefunken U47 tube mic was used for Ian's voice, then tube mic preamp, then 30 ips Ampex tape. The mastering engineer was Doug Sax (Sheffield). To give the "normal" non-audiophile people on this forum some perspective: In automotive terms, this would be the equivalence of having Mezger and Rohrl tuned my Turbo.
I'll let the quality of the song writing speaks for itself. Sonically, this will be among the most realistic recording you will ever hear. The band will sound like it's in the room with you, Janis's will be whispering in your ears. Details of Ian's voice are astounding & you'll hear every one of her breaths and intonations. Bass is tight and so powerful that before I ran 20 amp dedicated lines to my Krell FPB 600 amp, lights in my house used to flicker with every drum whacks of the last track, Breaking Silence.
Unfortunately the disc is out of print, so you'll have to buy it on ebay or Amazon. There are some new copies that should go for 20-30 (expected price gouging), with used copies going for much less. BTW, used cd's (and books) from Amazon are safe -- just always look for sellers who have sold hundreds or thousand plus items, and with rating of 95% plus. Trust me, this will be the best $5 you will ever spend for audio.
For those who have bought RLJones's
Girl at Her Volcano, I would very highly recommend this Janis Ian disc as well. The pair makes for a fascinating sonic comparison & contrast. While both of these discs have outstanding sonics, probably only
Breaking Silence received an all-out audiophile treatment from start to end: tube equipments, analog tape, etc.
The question is: Does this make a difference?
The key is the voice. While I love loud and explosive drum whacks because the bass provides a foundation for the music, midrange (voice, violin, piano, etc.) is the most "important" frequency range in audio. "If you don't get the midrange right, you don't have high fidelity." To compare midrange, easiest to pick out quiet and slow pieces, without much drumming or other instruments. In addition, the music has to be good, otherwise you won't pay enough attention and will be bored to death. For the non-audiophiles reading this, what you do is put one song on, concentrate on the voice only, then put the other song on, etc.; do it a few times.
The 2 tracks, Jones's
Walk Away Renee and Ian's
Through the Years make for very good comparison. In
Walk Away Renee, Jones's voice is there in the room with you, but it is on the "thin" side, and sounds a tad bright and brittle. In contrast, in
Through the Years, Ian's voice is soft; it has a 3d quality, a body to it (I know, I *am* crazy. :-)). You will hear every inflection of her voice and you'll hear her breath trailing off at end of a words. Jones is in the room, but Ian is on your lap! It is this seemingly minor difference that moves us.
To understand the difference is to understand audiophilia, and the pathos of us audiophiles.
--
Regards,
Can
997 Turbo + Bilstein Damptronic "Stage 2" ( Review ) + GIAC ECU Tune ( Fast as a torpedo & reversible to stock - Review ) + Cargraphic Exhaust ( Oh heavenly noise! )