My original review for Barbra Streisand Live at the Bon Soir chronicled Impex Records' excellent SACD release and can be read HERE. As extraordinarily good as the SACD was (and is!), the long-awaited 2-LP, HQ-180 set has finally arrived, and it's definitely been worth the wait. The LP release was delayed by a meticulous approval process involving both Barbra Streisand and Sony/Legacy, and that created pressing plant scheduling issues. There was also the need to cut multiple sets of lacquers, all of which caused the LP release to be postponed by several months. Those delays served to make the LP set's eventual appearance almost seem like an afterthought to me. But to my great astonishment, the LPs take the sound to an entirely different level of analog goodness, and surprisingly, they better the SACD in every possible way. In a world where the differences between great digital and great analog are becoming vanishingly low, the incredible sound quality I heard from the LPs caught me completely off guard and is literally beyond belief.
I recounted in my original piece how mastering engineer Paul Blakemore and mix engineer Jochem van der Saag arrived at the remixed masterpiece they created through a dizzying synthesis of advanced digital and analog technologies. Mastering engineer par excellence Bernie Grundman then took the helm to create both the SACD masters and the lacquers for LP production. While the age and condition of the master tapes for Live at the Bon Soir made the use of some digital processing unavoidable, much of the overall mastering work was done on state-of-the-art analog equipment. The proof is in the listening—this 2-LP set is a must-hear and a must-have!
Barbra Streisand, Barbra Streisand Live at the Bon Soir. (2) HQ-180 Impex Records LPs, $59.99 MSRP
I covered all the historical and technical aspects of Barbra Streisand Live at the Bon Soir in my SACD review, and that information should help explain why this recording is such a technological triumph and aural delight. But for those of us who still spin LP records and enjoy the experience from a more traditional perspective, Impex Records' 2-LP set is also a very rewarding tactile indulgence. It really takes you back to the days when the LP was king, and holding a twelve-inch album and its full-sized artwork in your hands was part and parcel to the analog experience.
The 2-LP set arrived encased in a Stoughton-style, tip-on, heavy gatefold jacket; each 180 gram album was inserted in a non-scratch poly inner sleeve. Barbra's personal note and foreword is displayed across the gatefold jacket's inner spread, giving it greater prominence and additional punch versus the nicely done but diminutive SACD insert. A full-sized, saddle-stitched booklet replicates the printed contents of the SACD insert, including Jay Landers' excellent essay, all photos and art elements, and all technical information and credits. And it all thankfully appears in a larger font size with large format photos; the full-sized LP booklet is much easier to read and enjoy. The beautiful booklet was finished with a lustrous satin finish coating that not only gives it a really elegant appearance, but also provides excellent protection from fingerprints. Once again, Impex Records definitely sets the industry standard with another impressive LP release.
The LPs were pressed on HQ-180 heavy vinyl at RTI; both 180 gram albums were perfectly flat, and all surfaces were glossy and completely free of any marks or irregularities. Mastering engineer Bernie Grundman's initials were clearly visible in the dead wax area, and the LP record labels matched the appearance of the SACD disc exactly. The coordination of production between the SACD and LP formats matches every detail with uncanny precision. This project was obviously a labor of love between Sony/Legacy and Impex Records, and Impex has pulled out all the stops for this LP release, delivering a product that's exciting on every possible level.
Listening Results
Clicking on my name in the header above will show the systems I use for evaluation of all music and equipment reviews. I played the Barbra Streisand Live at the Bon Soir LPs on my mostly analog system that features the ProJect Classic EVO turntable that's mounted with a Hana SL moving coil cartridge. It plays through a Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+ with its dedicated Michael Yee linear power supply; the signal is then fed to a PrimaLuna EVO 300 tube integrated amplifier playing into a pair of KLH Model Five loudspeakers. It's a modern but also very vintage-sounding analog system, and was perfectly suited for achieving superb playback of these excellent LPs.
First of all, a word about the HQ-180 vinyl formulation used by RTI for this release: the reduced noise floor I experienced during playback of the Live at the Bon Soir LPs offered an impressive level of quiet that I generally only hear from the very best analog and digital. Quietness of this level is rarely achieved during LP playback; only the VR-9000 Supreme Vinyl that Impex uses for their 1STEP releases is quieter in my experience. I actually reached out to Abey Fonn of Impex to confirm that the vinyl used for these LPs wasn't the same as used in their 1STEP releases! The HQ-180 LPs had no surface noise whatsoever, and there were no ticks or pops of any kind; at no point could I hear any discernible groove modulation noise. It was among the most perfect LP playback I've ever experienced, and in addition to the whisper-quiet backgrounds, the music literally jumped out at me from my loudspeakers!
In my SACD review, I noted that the newly remixed master for the Bon Soir recordings had at one point in the process been transferred to 24/96 high resolution PCM. I decided that since I had access to the 24/96 PCM files via Qobuz, it might be instructive to compare their sound to that of the SACD, all the time expecting the sound of the two to be quite similar in nature. Nothing could have been further from the truth; the SACD files presented a sound that was richer, more organic, and displayed greater warmth—the SACD was an order of magnitude better than the high res PCM, and there was truly no comparison.
That amazed me, but as has been my recent experience with good-sounding LPs that have been simultaneously released as SACDs, the sound between the two formats is often eerily similar in character. Right out of the gate, the Live at the Bon Soir LPs offered a presentation that was more powerful and had greater dynamic range than that of the SACD. Additionally, the LPs presented a much more cohesive acoustic image of Barbra and her accompanists, who now occupied more clearly defined positions in the soundstage. There was a greater level of midrange clarity and presence, especially in Barbra's vocals. Whereas the transfer to SACD yielded a remarkable improvement over the PCM files, the lacquers Bernie Grundman created for the LPs offered an astonishingly engaging playback experience compared to the already great SACD. I was literally dumbstruck by what my ears were hearing!
Conclusion
This is undoubtedly one of those instances where even if you've already gotten the SACD and love it (as I do!), you really do need to get the LPs. I love the convenience of great digital, but the LP playback experience is exactly that—it's much more of an experience! Bernie Grundman's LPs take the technical prowess that Paul Blakemore and Jochem van der Saag employed to make the master tapes for Barbra Streisand Live at the Bon Soir a viable reality, and have imbued the music with a vibrancy and analog goodness that makes these 60-year-old recordings sound new again. These LPs are not to be missed, and are very highly recommended!
Barbra Streisand
Impex Records
All photos courtesy of Impex Records, Columbia/Sony Legacy, and the author
