Hmmm...I started buying Columbias (The Byrds) in 1965. I was 13 and noticed by 1969 that every Columbia I bought, whether The Byrds, Dylan, Santana, etc. sounded bad compared to, say, Warner Bros., Reprise, or a bunch of small labels. I remember reading an article in Rolling Stone in about 1970-71 that complained about the poor sound quality of Columbia records.