DonKabano

This is the original mix of Aoxomoxoa, which was released commercially between June 1969 and late 1971. In September, 1971, Jerry Garcia did a major remix of the entire album, eliminating a considerable amount of the backing material and trimming the beginning and end of a few songs. The LPs, cassettes, and CDs available commercially since that time contain the remix. There appear to be no plans to commercially release this original mix.

This LP copy is in excellent condition and was ripped with a state-of-the-art analog rig (the turntable, tonearm, cartridge, amplifier, and cables together cost about $14K). As a result, there is virtually no surface noise or tracking distortion, and much finer resolution of detail than you may be accustomed to in LP transcriptions. The sound is sweeter, richer, and more natural than in 99% of LP transcriptions.

Both because of the analog rig and the 24-bit resolution, this easily beats any other rip of the Aoxomoxoa original mix I've heard.

Lyra Helikon phono cartridge
Linn LP12 turntable with Cirkus upgrade and Lingo power supply
Linn Ekos SE tonearm
Audioquest LeoPard tonearm cable
PS Audio PS2 preamplifier
Kimber PBJ interconnect
M-Audio Audiophile USB A/D converter
all plugged into PS Audio Power Plant Premier (regenerative AC synthesizer)

Live Lite 4 for M Audio 4.0.4, 24-bit/48 kHz
ClickRepair 3.0.1, DeClick=1, DeCrackle=Off, Method=Wavelet, Pitch Protection (lowest possible settings)
FLAC, level 8

Note: Some people have questioned my use of a relatively inexpensive M-Audio A/D converter with such a high-quality analog rig. But I can testify that the M-Audio produces excellent results. The output (D/A) side of budget components like the M-Audio is the main weakness, because outputting an analog signal requires pre-amplification, which requires good electronics to do well. But the input (A/D) side receives an already-amplified analog signal and merely has to digitize it. This is done by the Texas Instruments (formerly Burr-Brown) chip in the M-Audio, which has nothing to be ashamed of. All the M-Audio has to contribute is a minimal signal path (RCA connector, wires) to the chip and the DC power that the chip runs on. The quality of the DC power in this case is considerably enhanced by plugging the M-Audio into a PS Audio Power Plant Premier, which regenerates pure AC power through amplification of a 60 Hz, 117V signal. The resultant 24-bit files differ from the analog original only slightly.

01. St. Stephen
02. Dupree's Diamond Blues
03. Rosemary
04. Doin' That Rag
05. Mountains Of The Moon
06. China Cat Sunflower
07. What's Become Of The Baby
08. Cosmic Charlie

Torrent download: Grateful Dead - Aoxomoxoa original mix - 24-bit 48 kHz

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