User Details - Whitehall

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Name:
  Joseph Somsel
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  7

 
 
Reviews
Found: 36 show all

Bach: The English Suites - Glenn Gould        (2 of 2 found this review helpful)
  April 2, 2014

Once again, Gould shows he can make his own, distinct interpretation of Bach. Just as valid, one feels, but definitely different. It's one interpretive surprise after another. (I've long loved the Andreas Schiff RBCD set.) He even adds a few jazz-like touches here and there - they work for me! The ... more
Jimmy Witherspoon: Big Blues        (1 of 1 found this review helpful)
  January 5, 2014

This is a really good blues disc! The songs are mostly blues standards but the singing, the guitar, and the sax come together in an excellent, professional combination. The content and presentation tend toward the "easy listening" side of blues - not much in the way of screaming guitars or bellowing ... more
Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Brothers Band        (4 of 4 found this review helpful)
  June 30, 2013

I have to disagree that this Mobile Fidelity release is worth buying. It is not. I'll gladly pay a premium price for a music record with better sonics. This Allman Brothers recording does not have better sonics. As noted, this is the fault of the original recording engineer and the techniques he ... more
The Voice of Gregorian - Gregorian Singers        (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
  January 23, 2012

What the heck was I thinking? This is the worst misuse of high fidelity media I've come across. What a waste of my money! It is essentially a men's choir covering mostly pop songs with a drum machine and synth for accompaniment. Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" as might be sung in the Sistine ... more
Aaron Neville: Nature Boy        (5 of 5 found this review helpful)
  December 13, 2010

Smooth sound, solid arrangements, good supporting personnel. The BEST part of this album is that Neville does not over-sing the tunes. He can be over-styled at times - OK a LOT of the time. Here he strikes a good balance of adding his own singular stylistics to classic tunes. He adds enough ... more

 
 
Latest Posts

Discussion: Di Meola/McLaughlin/DeLucia: Friday Night in San Francisco
February 11, 2012
Yes, silly of me, I understand. Mostly, it was a "let's go out on the town - who's playing and where?" decision. I recognized the name and went for it. Some music is just incomprehensible to some people. No value judgment in this case but an honest reaction. I'm the same way with Shostakovich. ... more
Discussion: Di Meola/McLaughlin/DeLucia: Friday Night in San Francisco
February 9, 2012
So I was not too put off by the recording that I rated so low - I even recently attended a DiMeola performance at Yoshi's in Oakland. I left before the end of the first set. Others in the audience seemed to enjoy it but it bored me to tears. To each their own. ... more
bitstream pure DSD, my 2 cents
February 2, 2012
This document gives some description of Sony's method of using DSD within amplifiers: http://www.docs.sony.com/release/ES_STR_05_Final.pdf They seem to use the bitstream from DSD and use it to flip power tranistors into strong positive and negative pulses which are smoothened and filtered into an audio signal at the speaker terminals. They seem ... more
bitstream pure DSD, my 2 cents
February 2, 2012
How about Sony's S-Master machines such as the AVD-C700ES? This is a single box receiver/player for home theater that plays SACDs as well as DVDs, CD, MP3, and FM. I've read about their big boys such as the STR-DA7100ES but that requires a DSD stream over HDMI from a compliant transport like the DVP-S9100ES. With some of the AVD series, the ... more
SACDs and dbx Expansion/Compression?
December 17, 2011
I think most of you agree then that the dbx expander brings little to SACDs and generally is not worth the inevitable degradation the extra signal process brings. There may be some exceptions for poorly recorded or mastered SACDs but those are failures of the supply chain, not inherent in the SACD format. Still, for some FM broadcasts, expecially ... more