Various Artists Thorens: New Reference Collection UHQCD

Ultimate HiQuality CD!
More than two years have passed since the last Thorens compilation, and Thorens have been pretty busy in the meantime. The TD124, to which Tribute to a Legend was dedicated, continues to be very popular.
With the New Reference, Thorens are dedicated to a project close to their hearts. The most extravagant turntable in the history of Thorens aims to provide a deeper and more precise insight into new and old records.
A period of around 60 years is represented on this double album, with the oldest productions created in 1960 at the start of the stereo era. The latest ones were created just a few years ago. Thorens delved once again extensively into the private vinyl collection when selecting the titles, combining old favorites and some more recent listening test highlights to create a highly personal mix, which will achieve some consensus: No doubt a certain soft spot for soul can be heard.
To best transmit this musical experience, a U-HQCD (Ultimate HiQuality CD) is used as sound carrier. A newly developed disc manufacturing process masks the sound quality of U-HQCD closer to the master quality. U-HQCDs are fully compatible with all standard CD players.
The package consists of a complex media book.
All About Ultimate High Quality CD (UHQCD)
Many years have passed since the birth of the Audio Compact Disc (CD) back in 1982. By use of High-Quality materials and a totally different manufacturing method, the definitive version of audiophile audio CD was born. Playable on any CD player, the Ultimate High Quality CD greatly surpasses all previous CDs before it!
The Ultimate High Quality CD (UHQCD):
UHQCD is a radical change to the CD manufacturing process itself. The conventional wisdom about CD manufacturing, which had remained largely unchanged across the world for over 30 years, has been exhaustively questioned. Through this effort, the ultimate in quality was attained - a level of quality that is certainly impossible to achieve with existing CD discs.
The Ultimate High Quality CD was developed through an effort to improve audio quality by simply upgrading the materials used in ordinary CDs to higher quality materials. For the substrate a high-transparency and high-fluidity polycarbonate (a type of plastic) of the type used for LCD panels was used, while for the reflective layer, low-cost, common aluminum was replaced with a unique and expensive alloy of high-reflectivity.
Differences in manufacturing methods:
Conventional CDs are produced using the technique of injection molding to form "pits" of data on polycarbonate material. Metal plate on which "pits" representing audio source data are formed is used as a die. This is called the "stamper." Polycarbonate is melted at high temperature and poured into the die to duplicate the pit patterns on the stamper.
This method is efficient because it enables high-speed production, but it does not enable totally accurate or complete duplication of the pits on the stamper. As a melted plastic, polycarbonate is inevitably viscous, so it cannot penetrate completely into every land and groove of the tiny pits of the stamper.
The Ultimate High Quality CD photopolymer is used instead of polycarbonate to replicate the pits of the stamper. In their normal state, photopolymers are liquids, but one of their characteristic properties is that they harden when exposed to light of certain wavelengths. The advantage of this property, perfect replication of very finely detailed pits was achieved. Photopolymers in the liquid state are able to penetrate into the tiniest corners of pits on the stamper so that the pattern of the pits is reproduced to an extremely high level of accuracy. The Ultimate High Quality CD reproduces audio with greater precision and at a level that is impossible to achieve using conventional CD production technology!

Features:

• U-HQCD (Ultimate HighQuality CD)
• Playable on Conventional CD Players
• Complex Media Book
• New Reference Collection – a project close to the heart
• Old favorites and newer listening test highlights were combined into a very personal, but also consensus-based mix

Selections:

1. Youn Sun Nah - She Moves On
2. Vanessa Fernandez - Trampled Under Foot
3. Vital Tech Tones - VTT
4. Bettye LaVette - I Hold No Grudge
5. Mario Biondi & the High Five Quintet - This Is What You Are
6. Elvis Presley - Fever
7. Inger Marie Gundersen - Let It Be Me
8. Eva Cassidy - Autumn Leaves
9. Shelby Lynne - Just a Little Lovin'
10. Ondara - American Dream
11. Allan Taylor - Colour to the Moon
12. Gene Ammons - Canadian Sunset
13. Beverly Glenn-Copeland - La Vita