Post by Aeryn Sun September 16, 2009 (1 of 51)
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while I know that this primarily for SACD, I was wondering if anyone here had bought and compared the new remaster of the Beatles albums, and what you opinions were. Thanks!
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Post by Edvin September 16, 2009 (2 of 51)
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I have bought the stereo box and am pleasantly surprised by the work done by the EMI engineers. The level is slightly raised. Everything is much clearer and also more dynamic. The drums have more impact and McCartneys bass playing, genius, is clearer than ever. Also the voices are more focused. There is very little noise reduction, but the tape hiss at the beginning of Martha my Dear is removed and the song is now on the same level as the rest.
The sound is warm and full and I can't stop playing the cd's, even though I have heard the music since it came out in the first place. I do get a little irritated sometimes by the stereo itself, or double mono, and have ordered a copy of the mono box as well.
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Post by raffells September 16, 2009 (3 of 51)
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Aeryn Sun said:
while I know that this primarily for SACD, I was wondering if anyone here had bought and compared the new remaster of the Beatles albums, and what you opinions were. Thanks!
Hi,
I am probably one of the few scousers (from Liverpool) on this forum and I actually met the Beatles. I also go to the annual open air Beatles Festival along with well over 300 000 people.It is the biggest free open air concert event in Europe and occasionally very overcrowded.
One of these stages is dedicated for "Beatles only music" by tribute bands.During one performance as usual the singer stopped.The voices of many thousands carried on in tune and perfect time.I mention this because it was the only time I could envisage that surround sound would out perform stereo in capturing this effect.
I should mention that the releases were very heavily advertised at the 6 giant concert stages and 100 or so other events.So was the DVDA of their music and a Giant poster was displayed on each stage behind the artists.
Im afraid this answers a belief that if the music was avaibale on sacd would it help "the cause" Sadly NO. As I doubt if any one Beatles enthusiast there went out and boughtnew hifi after the concert. To them its all about the music ,ie words and tunes and not HIFI.
That particular DVDA disc sold very well because it was a totally different production of the music.
As regards your question.Feedback? some of it from that day and some since seems similair.Shrug of the shoulders ! "Its the Beatles"
The obsession with having the original mono or stereo pressing in its original cover is very much regarded as a joke here.So is most of the other Beatle razzmataz.
In general I think Edwins comments are correct but my CD player shows slightly less improvement than he writes.Mind you Ive played the CDs as DVDAs ie converting the wavefile and burning onto a DVDA.
None of these issues bears any resemblance to the sound at the Cavern.
http://www.mathewstreetfestival.org/
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Post by terence September 16, 2009 (4 of 51)
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Edvin said:
I have bought the stereo box and am pleasantly surprised by the work done by the EMI engineers. The level is slightly raised. Everything is much clearer and also more dynamic. The drums have more impact and McCartneys bass playing, genius, is clearer than ever. Also the voices are more focused. There is very little noise reduction, but the tape hiss at the beginning of Martha my Dear is removed and the song is now on the same level as the rest.
The sound is warm and full and I can't stop playing the cd's, even though I have heard the music since it came out in the first place. I do get a little irritated sometimes by the stereo itself, or double mono, and have ordered a copy of the mono box as well.
edvin is spot on. so glad to see him singling out mccartney's bass playing - so buoyant and propulsive, so inventive, and much fuller and more focused in these remasters. i think he's he greatest rock bassist ever - and by some distance.
listening in chronological sequence emphasises the sheer range and quality of the beatles' achievement. it's such wonderful, witty, varied, raunchy, occasionally heart-breaking music.
to me these new versions are very much an improvement, worth every penny. the music will i think stand the test of time - these remasters confirm its towering stature, and in my opinion really couldn't have been much better done (SACD aside!) than they have been.
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Post by k-spin September 16, 2009 (5 of 51)
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terence said:
edvin is spot on. so glad to see him singling out mccartney's bass playing - so buoyant and propulsive, so inventive, and much fuller and more focused in these remasters. i think he's he greatest rock bassist ever - and by some distance.
listening in chronological sequence emphasises the sheer range and quality of the beatles' achievement. it's such wonderful, witty, varied, raunchy, occasionally heart-breaking music.
to me these new versions are very much an improvement, worth every penny. the music will i think stand the test of time - these remasters confirm its towering stature, and in my opinion really couldn't have been much better done (SACD aside!) than they have been.
Terence, did you go for the stereo or mono versions?
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Post by pgmdir September 16, 2009 (6 of 51)
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We got 'em here at the stations--- I'm impressed. We'll be switching all of the cuts we play on air.
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Post by terence September 16, 2009 (7 of 51)
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k-spin said:
Terence, did you go for the stereo or mono versions?
stereo. mainly because i wanted all the albums and the mono box doesn't have them all. apart from that there's a good case for the mono. i'd like to hear it. but the stereo is magnificent and i'm very happy....
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Post by michi September 16, 2009 (8 of 51)
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Got both sets, and I wish more remasters were like this... Looked at the waveforms, there's virtually no clipping; yes the levels were raised but none of the 'loudness war' rock/pop compression.
Granted, I -do- think there could have been some benefit from hi-rez, but I doubt we'll ever see it...
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Post by Goodwood September 16, 2009 (9 of 51)
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Edvin said:
I have bought the stereo box and am pleasantly surprised by the work done by the EMI engineers. The level is slightly raised. Everything is much clearer and also more dynamic. The drums have more impact and McCartneys bass playing, genius, is clearer than ever. Also the voices are more focused. There is very little noise reduction, but the tape hiss at the beginning of Martha my Dear is removed and the song is now on the same level as the rest.
The sound is warm and full and I can't stop playing the cd's, even though I have heard the music since it came out in the first place. I do get a little irritated sometimes by the stereo itself, or double mono, and have ordered a copy of the mono box as well.
I'm glad someone kicked this off. I would like to think this community is made up of people who are primarly interested in music with the format taking it's appropriate place.
Well I am very happy with the Stereo set. I think that they managed to extract every possible bit of potential from RBCD. The bass in particular is more extended, only very rarely sounding excessive. I recall hearing bass on one of the first albums sounding louder on some notes than others. I put this down to my speakers until I put my headphones and it was clearly down to resonance in the bass speaker cab!
I do wonder what the Mono box will provide as I am happy with stereo even for the first albums. OK my speakers are toed in so it doesn't sound like I am listening to headphones. I think it has already been commented that whatever gains there are in presentation, some clarity is lost. This isn't surprising considering that all of the material is going into one channel of digital bandwidth.
I also really like the packaging. The plastic free sleeves are a revelation and very well done. The booklets round off the packages nicely.
As good as SACD? The tell tale sign is where they have eq'd the mixes to provide as much HF information as possible. It's there, you can hear the cymbals but at times you get little more than a crude hiss or splash.
As good as vinyl? This is much more difficult. They may not have the ultimate resolving power but eclipse the vinyls in many areas, especially when comparing with tracks near the spindle.
Looking forward to hi res versions one day. Until then these will do nicely.
I will never forgive EMI for the pricing of the Mono box. It is completely outrageous and I will curse further when I eventually succumb to buying it (hopefully at something less than the £200 current UK price).
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Post by Titus September 16, 2009 (10 of 51)
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I prefer the DVD-A "Live" CD, compared to the new remastered stereo releases.
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