Hi-Res Downloads

96kHz/24-bit, FLAC*; Provogue PRD 7510 2 (supplied by www.highresaudio.com)

Guitarist Eric Johnson says of this album, ‘With EJ, I just decided to be more honest with myself and everybody, and show more of my personal side.’ Which is all well and good, and the result has a certain homespun charm with a feeling of the artist sitting in his own studio, noodling his way through some standards and some self-written tunes, both solo guitar pieces and songs. However, anyone expecting much sign of Johnson’s past catalogue might be disappointed in this all-acoustic set, which is winsome at best: it opens with a cover of ‘Mrs Robinson’ and continues in a similar vein. Taking on board PM’s comments about the sources of the material here, it sounds respectable enough in a very detailed audiophile kind of way, but it’s all rather uninteresting, sounding like music for hi-fi show demonstrations rather than anything able to withstand repeated listening. AE

Sound Quality: 80%

Hi-Fi News Lab Report

Although this ‘hi-res’ download will light the 96kHz LED on your DAC, tracks 2, 3 [Graph, above], 4, 8, 10, 11 and 12 are obviously upsampled 44.1/48kHz files. Other tracks, particularly 6, show an excess of ultrasonic (aliasing?) noise. PM