I just downloaded one track of Jazz at the Pawnshop from HDTracks. Sound quality does not compare to even a YouTube video I found of an LP (skip ahead a few minutes into the video, as the intro music is not representative):
I'm glad I only spent $2.50 to investigate the HDTracks offering of this album. I have other HDTracks albums that are fantastic masterings, but this is not one of them.
Who knows, maybe if the mastering done for HDTracks was done from original analog tapes, could it be that the tapes are beginning to lose their sparkle?
I managed to track down the XRCD copy from 1996, and that one does sparkle and have that dynamic open sound.
-Jagan
