willland Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 (edited) I have come to really appreciate what Becker and Fagen can do. The arrangements are incredible, the recordings should be the templates on how to record, and need I mention dynamic range. These guys will never be accused of scaling down for the digital era. I picked up a "Two Against Nature" CD about two months ago and just ordered the "Aja" CD from Amazon for $4.99 which came with an MP3 download from Amazon Cloud Player. If the Aja CD is at least as good as the MP3 download, then I know I am in for a treat. I converted the MP3 with dBpoweramp(free trial) to LAME MP3 at 320kbs. I compared it to an also converted WAV copy and could not tell the difference. When the CD arrives, I will rip it also in WAV and LAME MP3 and A-B them. Steely Dan's music has become my go to demo music to show off and test my gear, in 2-channel and multichannel. Bill Edited February 14, 2014 by willland 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Well, they're not the Beatles, but they're good with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Have been a fan for a very long time. You need to give Supertramp a good listen too, there's just certain music that sounds fantastic with Klipsch/Horns and those are two of them. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Richard Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Steely Dan is a favorite group of mine. Aja and Gaucho are go-to albums for me, good stuff. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 So, who can hear the difference between lossless (I use AIFF) and lossy (I use AAC). I'm embarrassed to admit this, but there's only a handful of recordings where I can notice a difference. I think Apple's AAC is similar to 320kps MP3s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 (edited) So, who can hear the difference between lossless (I use AIFF) and lossy (I use AAC). I'm embarrassed to admit this, but there's only a handful of recordings where I can notice a difference. I think Apple's AAC is similar to 320kps MP3s. I can sometimes. When I first started ripping CD's I ripped them with Windows to MP3's and then ripped the same songs to lossless WAV with Windows and there was a very noticeable difference on some of the recordings. dBpoweramp does a better job at ripping than Windows IMO so the audible differences are more subtle. Bill Edited April 27, 2015 by willland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iRONic Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I picked up a "Two Against Nature" CD about two months ago and just ordered the "Aja" CD from Amazon for $499.00 which came with an MP3 download from Amazon Cloud Player. If the Aja CD is at least as good as the MP3 download, then I know I am in for a treat. I converted the MP3 with dBpoweramp(free trial) to LAME MP3 at 320kbs. I compared it to an also converted WAV copy and could not tell the difference. When the CD arrives, I will rip it also in WAV and LAME MP3 and A-B them. Please tell me that's a typo. Becker & Fagen are both geniuses but 499.00?! Repost which AJA CD you receive. The '84 Steve Hoffman remaster is much better than the '99 Roger Nichols issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 If you like Steely Dan, you should also check out The Nightfly, Donald Fagen's first solo album. It's often cited as one of the best-mixed and recorded albums, plus there are a number of top musicians contributing to the sound on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iRONic Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 If you like Steely Dan, you should also check out The Nightfly, Donald Fagen's first solo album. It's often cited as one of the best-mixed and recorded albums, plus there are a number of top musicians contributing to the sound on it. That's a trademark of both their solo stuff and Steely Dan albums. A veritable who's who in music records and tours with them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Please tell me that's a typo. Becker & Fagen are both geniuses but 499.00?! LOL, edit complete. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iRONic Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Whew! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete H Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 So, who can hear the difference between lossless (I use AIFF) and lossy (I use AAC). I'm embarrassed to admit this, but there's only a handful of recordings where I can notice a difference. I think Apple's AAC is similar to 320kps MP3s. Considering how cheap large storage is these days I rip everything in two formats, WAV for everything I'm going to play through the main systems and 192kps to load Denise's player that she listens to when exercising, so I've never really compared them because I never listen to the lossy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Repost which AJA CD you receive. The '84 Steve Hoffman remaster is much better than the '99 Roger Nichols issue. It's the 99 remastered version. It still does very well in dynamic range. Album Details Steely Dan - Aja Artist: Steely Dan Album: Aja Year: 1999 DR Album: 13 DR Track min: 11 DR Track max: 15 DR Tracks: 15 13 13 11 12 15 14 (might not be in original order) Label: MCA Label Code: Catalog Number: 811 745-2 Bar Code: 5 011781 174526 Country: EU Comment: Remaster of 1977 album Source: lossless dr@loudness-war.info VS Original LP Album Details Steely Dan - Aja Artist: Steely Dan Album: Aja Year: 1977 DR Album: 18 DR Track min: 17 DR Track max: 19 DR Tracks: 19 19 18 17 17 19 18 (might not be in original order) Label: Label Code: Catalog Number: Bar Code: Country: Comment: Source: lossy dr@loudness-war.info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicSeeker Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 AJA and Nightfly are definate must haves. AJA is such and excellent recording, always used to show off the system to others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxx Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 (edited) I have always enjoyed the music of Steely Dan.... It is amazing how many folks haven't looked up the origin of the bands name.... Always funny when a woman explains how much she loves Steely Dan... Edited February 14, 2014 by Boxx 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 (edited) Get all of their albums, Steely Dan is a band that "composes" music, similar to the mention fo Supertramp above. And all of it is recorded so well. Edited February 14, 2014 by tigerwoodKhorns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 I have always enjoyed the music of Steely Dan.... It is amazing how many folks haven't looked up the origin of the bands name.... I did and it did not surprise me at all. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iRONic Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Repost which AJA CD you receive. The '84 Steve Hoffman remaster is much better than the '99 Roger Nichols issue. It's the 99 remastered version. I would be hugely disappointed if the vinyl release out performed that CD! Heh heh... In your future music shopping journies try to find the Hoffman mastered issue. For ~$5.00 it won't break the bank. I have all three and the difference is quite audible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I'm a big fan of their music, and as previously mentioned, it's always well recorded... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeker Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Steely Dan does have certain elements that make listening enjoyable. Steely Dan seems to be one of my easiest musical choices Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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