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Does anyone have an opinion on whether a diamond disc recording is better than a blue amberol (or any cylinder) recording?

I have two diamond disc machines and several cylinder machines.

Every time I play a cylinder and then play a diamond disc I rather cringe at the surface noise that is produced from a diamond disc. Are these supposed to have so much surface noise or do I just need a new stylus? It plays well on the diamond disc, just with much surface noise.

Thoughts?

Some Diamond Discs - especially the pre-paper label designs pressed during World War One - can be excessively noisy (European supplies of certain chemicals were cut off). In general, the earliest (1912-1915) and the later Diamond Discs (1922-1929) will have quieter playing surfaces - but exceptions do exist.

George P.

I don't find the later diamond discs to be that bad. But I must admit that I prefer to listen to cylinders. Not sure if is the quality of them or playing the machines themselves. That is what we did a year ago when Sandy hit. We were without power for a week. During that week we played cylinders every day. What a great week. Anyone with a similar story?

Rich Gordon

I am very impressed with the sound of Diamond Discs, especially as compared to other recording methods of the period. However, in my opinion, the direct-recorded Blue Amberols (and BA pressings of wax Amberol masters)are the best recordings of their time, especially when played with a diamond reproducer and a wood cygnet horn. Oddly enough, I have some cylinder dubs of DDs where the dub actually sounds better than the original disc.

Jim

Without debating the two, I usually prefer copies on blue amberol, but sometimes easier to get a title on Diamond Disc. Both are good, but agree those war era DD's do have a lot of surface noise, but personally the music is better after the war any ways. Fletcher Henderson etc.

I 100% prefer the white label DD. I think a lot of people leave the lids open, which can eliminate a lot of noise. A good clean DD on a good reproducer with the lid closed produces about 0 noise.

I agree with Amberola. With the exception of the 1917-1918 Edison discs, the disc will always sound better than the cylinder imho. The early directly recorded cylinders are close runner ups. A distant third goes to any pre-electric lateral cut disc.

I have a C-19 in oak that I play all my DD on. I like the cloth covered slats that hold the records in that machine. I do not like those etched labeled DD. Its a shame that some music is only available on those records. I got a copy of Aunt Dinah's Golden Wedding on the white label, but it cost me a fortune. I rebuilt the reproducer on the c 19, and it is without a doubt the best sounding phonograph in my collection. You can hear the bass, where as other machines sound tinny, if that's a word?

sq4wonder wrote:Does anyone have an opinion on whether a diamond disc recording is better than a blue amberol (or any cylinder) recording?

In my opinion, there is not a simple answer to that question. Apart from surface noise, the DD has better fidelity, a wider dynamic range and more volume than a dubbed cylinder. I have a number of duplicate titles on both formats to compare. A good dubbing on a clean BA can often be more enjoyable overall than a noisy DD, even though they may be a bit technically inferior. The dubbings were inconsistant - they did not necessarily improve over time. Some early dubbings were quite good.

The direct recordings on early and foreign Blue Amberols are something else. They often sound fantastic coming through a diamond reproducer and big horn. They are very nearly the equal of DD recordings, with less surface noise. Those are my favorites. Some of the US Everlasting and Indestructible 4M cylinders also sound very good for the same reasons.

Agreed that there is no simple answer. Post-war etched DDs can sound much better than a poor cylinder dub. While some cylinder dubs can be quite good, there are occasional cylinders which are just awful compared to the Diamond Disc. I recorded an example of this on YouTube:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDZnd5DQ334[/youtube]