Meet the Team Responsible For Decca's New Pure Analogue Vinyl Series!

Mark Ward and Michael Johnson speak to the Techs and Execs

Mark Ward and Michael Johnson recently participated in a video conference call with the Decca Pure Analogue Vinyl Series execs and tech teams.

Of course everyone interested already knows Rainer Maillard and Sidney C. Meyer, the team responsible for the highly successful and great sounding DGG Original Source Series as well as the DGG label exec Johannes Gleim who's participated in more than a few video calls published here since the inception of the DGG series.

Joining in here is Decca's Dominic Fyfe, who's responsible for overseeing the exciting new Decca all analogue series. All of the first albums in the series will be reviewed here ASAP beginning with Mark Ward's coverage of the New Year's Day Concert In Vienna set, cut from analog tape for the first time ever. Paul Seydor and Michael Johnson will soon review the others.

Comments

2026-01-19 01:36:05 PM

Jennnifer Martin wrote:

I absolutely cannot wait! The Decca catalogue is my favorite. Thank you to all involved! With Universal holding Mercury et al, the mind boggles at the possibilities!
- 2026-01-19 03:21:51 PM
  
  Mark Ward wrote:
  
  It boggles indeed! Look carefully and you will see myself and Michael occasionally boggling!!!
2026-01-19 04:04:24 PM

Come on wrote:

Fantastic! Will buy any release that matches my musical taste! Will compare the Stravinsky to the Speakers Corner soon.

PLEASE DO MOLINARI's TOSCA (and other italian operas of that era). The Ring would certainly also be appreaciated in AAA to replace the last digitally processed Abbey Road vinyl release.

As interesting as a comparison would be...when Mercury titles are coming, please don't start with everything we already have AAA from Classic Records, Speakers Corner and ORG, even if it still sells for the 4th time ;-)
2026-01-20 03:57:34 AM

André wrote:

The Stravinsky 45er is incredibly good, one of the best things I've ever heard sonically on vinyl. Also great the vinyl quality in the 1st batch from Decca. To Deutsche Grammophon: Please improve the vinyl quality, I have various quality problems (Bruckner "Romantische" of all things that crackles). If DG gets that under control, it would be the ultimate level.
2026-01-20 10:31:21 AM

Come on wrote:

I was able to listen to the new Pure Analogue 45 RPM Sacre now and compared it with the Speakers Corner and the HDTT DSD256 files.

The new Decca Pure Analogue is fantastic! The sound quality level feels like it's definitely on par with Grundman's 45 RPM ORG remasterings, however a comparison of the same recording would turn out.

Compared to the Speakers Corner Sacre LP from the same recording (which without comparison already sounds very good), the Pure Analogue not only sounds as if the tape quality is three generations better, it sounds like a different, much better tape compared to the Speakers Corner. The width, depth, and transparency are in a completely different class and the high and low frequency extension and quality are significantly better, as is the dynamics. But what is immediately striking right from the start is that the detail and resolution are so extreme that there is a clear focus on the immense valve noises of the wind instruments, which are hardly audible on the Speakers Corner in comparison. It sounds magnified and intimate, which is somehow also a little distracting, but it's on the tape. At first, you fear that this is achieved by emphasizing presence or treble, but a few minutes later in the tutti, you hear that none of this has happened. The source and mastering simply seem to have a truckload more detail and resolution. The HDTT release (in my experience as usual, with only few exceptions) sounds again a generation down compared to the Speakers Corner LP. The HDTT simply seem to be one or two tape generations down compared to well sourced AAA remasterings. Even fewer transients and details with a more rounded sound, but a wider stage than the Speakers Corner. Both light years behind the Decca Pure Analogue.

This series is the best thing that could have happened to the Decca recordings, keep them coming!
- 2026-01-20 10:31:55 AM
  
  Come on wrote:
  
  The disc, which in my case was severely warped, is not much different from 95% of other new pressings and won't be a problem for anyone with a flattener, the others will have to warm up the oven, try to get it sucked down with their vacuum platter (and pray the mechanism doesn't suddenly fail when playing and catapult the tonearm upwards) or simply play the first part of the first side a quarter inch in the air. I still hope that someday a reviewer will receive one of the copies that we mortals here and there have to cope with (I know, no reviewer get's special review copies, they're just lucky ;-). I see a flattener as essential nowadays and I'm grateful that a product like a vinyl record is still being manufactured at all and that the engineers and labels are putting so much effort into it. Even if you had the ultimate digital equipment, imo you would not find the sound quality of such analog releases in the digital environment.