Tidal - why only remastered versions?

To answer the above post - I haven’t any experience with classical remasters. I would guess that they are the best of the class of remasters given their discriminating audience. What I have heard is that the rock albums I listen to from the 70s and 80s are not as good that have been remastered. I have many of these on cd and the remaster is a different take on the original. Often as others have quipped in - less open, less real, more compressed. 

To me, what I would wish for is that all versions of an album are available. And I think it is a travesty that a remastered version takes the place of the original. 

Storage is cheap. Why does Tidal not offer all versions? I guess not too many people care, but I do. 

Since someone mentioned it, why are some Tidal albums no longer available? The Blue Note 75 for instance is gone (but it's still available on Spotify).

I noticed that Tidal offers remastered versions almost exclusively in the rock, pop genres. Sometimes an original release will show up in a search alongside a remaster. 

I love that Qobuz very often has both the original issue and a remastered version. They also include the release date on the cover art. If an album in the library has been remastered, the date is included. This is good info since some albums have been remastered several times. The only flaw in streaming these albums is the volume difference of the playback. Remasters are louder with heavier bass. Thanks, Loudness Wars.

I prefer original rock releases due to the low amount of mastering compression. Of course, some albums were poorly recorded and needed to be tweaked. 




 

With regard to classical releases, modern recordings are generally not remastered. They are already of high quality sound. Some record labels have issued hybrid versions containing a CD layer plus a SACD layer.

Many Deutsch Gramophone CDs from the early days of digital were remastered due to their terrible recording and mastering techniques.
This includes almost all the Karajan releases on DG. The word is he liked to be in charge of his productions.

Some are better and some are worse. Often the remastered version or original cd has been mastered with a compressed sound with lower bass and higher mids and treble. I suppose this is partly done to get a different sound that they can say has improved (false) clarity over the original.

Recently started to acquire vinyls again just to be able to listen to old favourites as they should sound. 

The Clash - London Calling, Lowell George - Thank's I'll eat it here, Supertramp - Crime of the century. Lou Reed - Rock 'n roll animal just four great examples.

Not all old vinyls are great though. Queen first sound as bad (distorted) on vinyl as on cd. It's a lottery.

My experience from newer recordings are so far that they seem more to be a direct copy of the cd. Same mastering. Same good or bad sound.