?'s about quality of audiophile recordings

I don't know what to tell you...I did an A/B/C on my old system of the Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil"...this was done with a neighbor that I borrowed the original disc (Hot Rocks I think). He is definitely NOT an audiophile and thinks what I have into my system is crazy...he usually uses a 20 y/o Pioneer el cheapo receiver and mismatched speakers. Anyhow...from the original disc to the Best of the Rolling Stones (not sure of the title...but the one that was remastered and all) there was a definite audible difference. Going from the remastered disc to the SACD "Sympathy for the Devil" single (the one with the original version + remixes by other bands) and once again, there was about the same level of improvement.

We went from worst to best, best to worst and it was obvious to both of us. Now I have to admit that this is just one song, but being able to listen to it in 3 different formats (hence the A/B/C instead of just A/B) showed the capabilities of technology as far as I'm concerned.

Will this hold true for all remasters? Well...I would have to say that it would be hard for me to give any semblance of an educated answer on that as I have no experience on them, but perhaps other people here can state their experiences with a specific disc...I wouldn't doubt that there are some that people prefer the original to...this will be an interesting thread if it catches on...good post.

Ellery

Even with cheap cartridge the differences are not to be neglected. In most cases these recordings do sound superior but in some cases not worth extra investment.

Viridian has this exactly correct, imo. The best of the reissues I've heard have been well recorded and simply miked acoustic LPs: jazz, blues, folk or classical. Many of the rock reissues (from all sources) have been problematical because the poor quality of source material or the boom/sizzle equilization that was applied in the remastering. On the other hand, the work of Hoffman and Gray from AcousTech (e.g., the Fantasy reissue series by Analogue Productions, the Cisco reissues of Doc Watson and Joan Baez) is superb, particularly the 45 rpm series. So is the work of Stan Ricker on the reissues from Pure Audiophile. And the work Willem Makkee is doing on the reissues of the Mercury classical catalog, and Tony Hawkins on the Decca catalog, from Speakers Corner.

Are these reissues better than the originals? Hmmm, I don't know that there is an across the board answer, and for many individual LPs the answer will depend on one's listening priorities. But one answer I AM sure of is that they are readily available, in superbly quiet pressings and, at least with respect ot the ones I've mentioned, are in incredibly excellent sound quality.

I've listened to the Rhino remasters of Elvis Costello and the Rounder remasters of Bruce Cockburn on CD and they blow away the original CD issues. I've not noticed much improvement with Mo-fi CDs, but some of their old LPs are amazing. The Beatles series, for starters, is phenomenal. They still represent the best you can get of the fab four in any format.