Now let's listen to some historically important electric era recordings (1925-1945).
While no longer in production—but still available from the used market—the electric era Complete Decca Recordings of Billie Holiday (GRP D217027) ought to be in every audiophile's library due to the important and enjoyable musical performances that are documented.
With the CD 5.1x I could easily hear that a big jump forward in overall fidelity occurred during the electric era of recording: more of the audio spectrum was captured, the signal-to-noise ratio was improved, and lower level sounds—the softer sounding instruments and vocals—were captured in greater resolution and clarity.
The CD 5.1x provided a tonally natural and analog-like presentation of Billie Holiday's Decca recordings, with an inviting sense of natural warmth, and a rather dramatic lesson in how deeply moving Billie Holiday could be as a vocalist.
I could also hear that the recording 'stage' widened from the acoustic to electric era. With the CD 4.1x the width of the monaural recording filled the 6 feet of space between my loudspeakers. With the CD 5.1x there was an additional foot of width to each side of the monaural recording, as well as a more tangible and expansive sense of the acoustic space from Decca's New York studios at 50 West 57th Street.
The CD 5.1x also provided a more distinct sense of separation of the individual instruments in the recording, and the 'space' around them, making it easier to follow their contributions.
The CD 5.1x and CD 4.1x both provided an 'authentic' portrayal of electric era recording fidelity, while delivering an enormous amount of listening pleasure. The CD 5.1x handled Billie's electric era vocals better by making the recorded distortions more resolved (thus less intrusive), allowing Billie's vocals to be more articulate, as well as having more dynamic shadings and nuances in evidence.
The CD 5.1x's additional resolution and clarity made it easier for me to hear instruments playing softly in the background, and when teasing apart the timbral textures of trumpets, alto & tenor saxes, and so forth.
The CD 5.1x provided absolutely thrilling presentations of electric era recordings by Billie Holiday. The electric era recordings captured a lot more musical information compared to the acoustic era, and as the fidelity increased the performance improvement offered by the CD 5.1x became even more evident.
