CSN and Dio from Audio Fidelity:

 Let 's face it - Audio Fidelity has had 'challenges' since day one. Dubious marketing claims, quality control lapses and gaffes, flat out half and full untruths about their source tapes. Probably worst of all, they have tried to be a revived DCC, but unfortunately, mastering technology has caught up with them, and many audiophiles have been underwhelmed with the sound of AF reissues, appreciating the increased clarity but find the sound clinical - lacking the warmth of the old DCC's. Generally speaking, I have found that is a pretty fair summation of the AF sound.

So along comes Crosby, Stills & Nash and their S/T debut. Hoffman does the EQ consulting on this one, mastered by Stephen Marsh. Hoffman tried to prime the market on his forum by claiming this is the first version from the true masters, which is bullshit - the older gold CD from WEA is from the masters also. But mastering technology has taken some huge leaps in the interim, so it is interesting to see how this one turned out.

And on the surface, it's pretty impressive. Obviously a LOT of EQ tweaking has been done here, and the sound is very 'alive' and vibrant, highly detailed, with good dimensionality and transparency. On the surface, the 1993 Gaswirt gold CD can't touch it - by comparison, it sounds somewhat flatter and less alive. But...a few more listens, and getting past the surface gloss added by the master manipulator, and something very wrong is happening here. And if you know the sound of a Martin guitar, you will hear it pretty fast. Hoffman has pumped the mids to give the Martins used on this record a wetter, fatter and warmer sound - exactly what the notoriously dry sounding Martin guitars are not. And at that point, this remastering comes terribly off the rails. It's just TONALLY all wrong - the Gastwirt actually got it right, first time. Sure, the Marrakesh Express organ sound effects just pop right out with the AF - but is that really what was intended? Just look to Bernie Grundman's remastering on Classic vinyl to find out the truth. Hoffman has made those organ train whistles into sound effects - tinkly, garish sound effects.

Like I said, the AF offers some very clear and tangible sonic gains, and certainly has been made more "audiophile", and exciting though it is, the tonal truth is on the Gastwirt gold CD, and even more so on Grundman's vinyl.

On to Dio's "Holy Diver", an odd choice for an audiophile reissue. As far as Dio goes, it's his classic, but in the pantheon of metal, it hasn't aged overly well, and there is certainly a lot better metal choices out there. But if you are offering metal pop for the aged and infirm, I suppose this hits the bullseye.

Sounds very good on the AF. Warmer, yet at the same time that AF clinicalness is there. And that makes it rock less hard than it should - so although this is a fine sounding disc, and a fine remastering, it probably isn't in the league of what the old DCC would choose to put out.