The Hip Walk was recorded in 1965 and is considered one of Nathan Davis’ best albums. Jimmy Woode (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums) and Francy Boland (piano) also played on this album.
It’s been a while since I wanted to add a test of an album including a magnetic tape in comparison with vinyl and a digital source. It’s done with this album, and I’d like to thank Julien for making it possible to carry out this test using his magnetic tape of the album and his Revox PR 99 mk3 as player.

The Revox PR 99 mk3 is a high-performance professional machine. At the speed of 15 ips (38 cm/s), it boasts a bandwidth of 30Hz to 22kHz (+2 -3 dB), and a signal-to-noise ratio in excess of 66 dB.

For this review, you will find 3 versions tested: Vinyl record AAA, Tape reel-to-reel, Tidal Max Flac 24 bits 96 kHz.

The comparison was made in analog listening for the vinyl record and the tape, and the extracts were digitized with an ADC using an ES9822Pro in DXD 32-bit 384 kHz format.

Below you will find the description of the different editions, as well as the measurements of each edition in the following chapters.

The album is composed of 7 tracks:

1. The Hip Walk
2. While Children Sleep
3. Train of Thought
4. Yesterdays
5. That Kaycee Thing
6. Carmell’s Black Forest Waltz
7. B’s Blues

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Vinyl AAA- 2023

Presentation

The album has been remastered from the original analog tapes by Christoph Stickel and the vinyl record has been given AAA treatment in full analog. The vinyl recorsd includes the original artwork, additional notes, photos and a scan of the original tape box (ref:0218117MSW).

Waveform and Spectrum: DR12

The waveform shows that the vinyl record is dynamic like the Tidal Version.

The spectrum shows the signal rising above 20 kHz (yellow arrow), with signal above 20 kHz (white arrow) due to a smal part of music and distortion caused by the vinyl record’s operating principle. The purple arrow shows the spurious frequency peak present at 20 kHz on the vinyl record.

Synthesis and listening

The vinyl record is very well cut, with reduced surface noise, is remastered and is indicated as being processed in full analog (AAA). Listening to it, we’re closer to the sound balance of the digital version than of the tape. The upper end of the spectrum is more detailed than on the tape. The rendering is pleasant, but with stereophonic precision a little lower than that found on the digital version and on tape.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Surface noise: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3.5)

Sample : “Train of Thought” 24 bits 192 kHz:

Ed 2: Tape Horch House – 2022

Presentation

Studio Master copy on two Metal reels (RTM SM900 1/4 – 2 Track), at 15IPS-38cm/sec-510 nWb/m, Equalization CCIR (ref: HH01.00.258)

Waveform and Spectrum: DR12

The waveform shows that the tape is dynamic, but with some differences for certain tracks compared to other remastered versions.

The spectrum shows that the signal rises above 20 kHz (yellow arrow), with a signal rising to 30 kHz (white arrow). The black arrow shows the frequency peaks generated by the PR99 reader.

Synthesis and listening

The tape is copied from the original version, with no remastering as on the digital version or the vinyl record. Listening to it is like listening to another world, with a more natural, “warmer” rendering than the other two versions. Here, there’s no race for detail with an accentuation of the treble, but a balanced, detailed and natural sound. The quality of the recording means that there’s no background noise, thanks also to the excellent Revox PR99 used for playback. Thanks again to Julien for the use of his equipment.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Surface noise: ●●●●● (5)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : “Train of Thought” 24 bits 192 kHz:

Ed 3: Tidal Max Flac (remastered 2023) – 2023

Presentation

The stereo version of Tidal MAX Flac is the 2023 remastered version presented in 24 bits 96kHz.

Waveform and Spectrum: DR12

The waveform shows that the Tidal MAX is dynamic, as shown by DR12’s Dynamic Range measurement.

The spectrum shows that frequencies rise above 20 kHz (yellow arrow) and that there is no signal above 48 kHz (white arrow) due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency used for the Tidal Max version.

Synthesis and listening

The remastered version brings much greater clarity and brings out more information in the high end of the spectrum, as the spectrum analysis shows. The listening experience therefore favors precision and detail over the version available on tape.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3.5)

Sample : “Train of Thought” 24 bits 96 kHz:

Which is the better version? It’s hard to compare two versions with different philosophies. On the one hand, vinyl and the Tidal version bring the precission of a remastered version, rich in detail, and on the other, the tape brings a version that’s more faithful to the original and more natural, and which remains the most pleasant to listen to.

Dynamic Range measurements and spectra are shown below.

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Measurements

Dynamic Range comparaisons

Dynamic represents the ability to reproduce a wide range of sounds from the softest to the loudest. The target is to compare the dynamics of the music and not of the media (CD, digital files or vinyl).

For our 3 editions reviewed have obtained the following Dynamic Range (DR) :

	Vinyl AAA- 2023	Tape Horch House – 2022	Tidal Max Flac (remastered 2023) – 2023
Global	DR12	DR12	DR12
Min	DR12	DR11	DR12
Max	DR13	DR13	DR14
The Hip Walk	DR12	DR11	DR12
While Children Sleep	DR12	DR11	DR12
Train of Thought	DR12	DR12	DR12
Yesterdays	DR13	DR11	DR12
That Kaycee Thing	DR12	DR12	DR14
Carmell’s Black Forest Waltz	DR13	DR13	DR14
B’s Blues	DR12	DR11	DR12

The 3 versions tested were all very dynamic.

As a reminder, the scale goes from 0 to more 20, but the dynamics are considered good from 12, quite good between 10 and 11, and deteriorate below 10.

Spectrum comparisons

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Vinyl AAA- 2023 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal Max Flac (remastered 2023) – 2023 (blue curve). The curves are similar, with a little more bass for the vinyl record at the lower end of the spectrum (green zone up to 1dB), and an attenuation in the treble (yellow zone) of up to 4dB. The red arrow indicates a parasitic peak at 20 kHz, which is present on the vinyl record.

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Tape REEL-To-REEL – 2020 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Vinyl AAA- 2023 (blue curve). The curves are similar, with a higher bass level for the Tape (green zone up to 5 dB higher), and attenuation above 3 kHz (yellow zone) up to 4 dB. The peaks on the white curve at 20 kHz and 40 kHz are due to the PR99 player. The very slight horizontal offset between the 2 curves indicates a very slight difference in tape speed.

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Tape REEL-To-REEL – 2020 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal Max Flac (remastered 2023) – 2023 (blue curve).The curves are similar, with a higher bass level for the band (green zone up to 5 dB higher), and attenuation above 2 kHz (yellow zone) up to 6 dB. The very slight horizontal shift between the 2 curves confirms a very slight difference in playback speed on the tape.

The spectra below represent the sample of the song “Train of Thought” for the three versions tested. Unlike the previous comparisons, which don’t take stereo into account, this graph represents the spectra for the stereo channels. What’s interesting below 200 Hz is the presence of stereo in the low frequencies, with a 15 dB difference between the right and left channels for the Tidal and Tape versions. This difference between left and right channels is very small for vinyl records, and even disappears at 60 Hz, demonstrating one of the limits of bass stereo for vinyl records: for cutting reasons, bass is converted to mono.

Detail of the ratings :

• Dynamic :
  1. Significant dynamic compression, DR less than 7
  2. Compression of the present dynamics, DR between 7 and 9.
  3. Correct piece DR >=10
  4. No dynamic compression (DR >12), dynamic rendering
  5. No dynamic compression, high DR and very dynamic sound rendering
• Spectrum :
  1. Spectrum cut and less than 15 khz
  2. Spectrum cut at 15 khz
  3. Spectrum not conforming to the original and cut (not HD) or original but limited bandwidth (but less than 20 kHz)
  4. Spectrum conforming to the original (but not HD)
  5. Spectrum conforming to the original with HD resolution (higher than 24kHz)
• Surface noise (only for vinyl):
  1. Continuous audible noise
  2. Audible surface noise except on passages with a high level of noise
  3. Reduced surface noise, barely audible on low level crossings
  4. Low surface noise, very good quality
  5. Very low surface noise, no defects, almost inaudible on the quiet passages (exceptional disc)
• Spatialization :
  • Between 0 and 5 for 5.1 or 7.1 channels configuration
  • Between 0 and 10 for Atmos configuration (7.1.4)
  • For more information on spatialization, you can read the article describing this parameter here.
• Restitution :
  1. Low quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
  2. Average quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
  3. Quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Good record.
  4. High quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Very high level disc.
  5. Maximum quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Exceptional disc.

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