Has yone compared the US and Japanese version of the Beatles remasters -- or the Euro versions? In the past, some music has sounded better to me on Japanese versions. Thoughts?
No I have not heard the Japanese remasters. But I do agree with some that I think we sometimes convince ourselves a certain version sounds better if we had to pay more for it. We want to justify the cost, I guess.
As a teen, I bought my first Beatles vinyl as a US version. Wondering if there was a difference between US and the more-expensive UK albums, I bought a UK version. I found the UK vinyl to be superior to the US ones. The sound was so much more transparent that I only bought the UK ones after that. Later, I bought Japanese versions on CD and vinyl, and again they beat the US versions. Am I just a victim of effective marketing? Who knows?
Comparing different vinyl pressings is a whole different ballgame. It’s an established fact that the US pressings (also with different tracklistings in the early days) were mastered in the US from second generation tapes. These don’t hold a candle to the original UK pressings.
The cd remasterings are the same everywhere, so the only audible difference has to be attributed to the cd manufacturing process and perhaps materials. I usually prefer cd’s made in Japan, although the differences are quite small.
I’m not sure why this is the case, but one thing I have noticed - having a topload player - is that Japanese cd’s are usually better centered. This supposedly makes life easier for the laser unit and perhaps also the error correction, which could explain the better sound.
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