It all depends on YOUR ears brother. Not only how your ears decipher sound, but what type of sound pleases you. Give you an example. If your ears simply cannot decipher and process certain frequencies as well as others, then generally (remember i said generally lol) the sounds that you hear best and are produced really well by the musicians sound fuller, clearer, and crisper. Those that your physiology doesnt process as well often sound dull or muddied. No one else can for sure hear what you hear, so while looking for consensus might give you a proper lead, it may not. I’ve always just bit the bullet and buy several versions that i can compare on my gear, keep the best, and sell the rest. Personally, I’ve usually found the Japanese versions of most of my Rock recordings to pretty consistently provide the best listening along with some mofi and dcc. Some will say they’re too precise, analytical, etc. Well i would say if you’re a Rock fan and like the power bands (Zep), there’s a good chance depending on your age that you’ve lost a bit of your high frequency hearing. If accurate, you need precision or you’ll wonder why Bonham was using such shitty cymbals ! Hopefully, your hifi system can adapt to exactly what YOUR hearing preferences and adaptations are. Good luck my friend!
Question for those with “Golden ears”, and a frustration! (The Loudness Wars)
Hello! My first text! My user name, is short for my Companies name.
Anyway, I ALWAYS wondered, which sounds better to you with $$$$ equipment? The Led Zeppelin Rhino Black box of Japanese made, mini copies of the record album sleeves CD’s of ALL the albums? Or, the large sized four CD disk boxset with the crop circle picture on the front(1990 release?), and the later small box, that had the songs missing from the four box “crop circles” box? The mini-album Japanese CD’s sound pretty damn good to me! Any thoughts? Which sounds better to you? Those with CD based systems I can only dream of owning? As to my rant, I went to the Wiki article of: The Sound Wars! And there was a link where you can put in your CD or album title and artist, and it tells you if it’s been compressed(LOUD!), or, not. Specifically: CD’s, (if it’s compressed, the VU meters will stay locked in the red) My favorite Fleetwood Mac CD, The Dance, all in the RED, BAD! 😢 U2’s Joshua Tree (special boxed edt.) All in the GREEN (GOOD). But I swear, the drums/cymbals, IMO, sound awful on that CD! Especially the cymbals! NEVER could find a good sounding Joshua Tree CD that the drums and cymbals sounded good. 🙁 That was my FAVORITE concert!!! 4’th. row seats!! AWESOME! Other albums, NIN CD’s all in the red, Van Halen as well. And the worst, totally unlistenable, got it for Christmas many years ago, Led Zep., The Mothership CD’s. 🤮
Thank you all!!!
Anyway, I ALWAYS wondered, which sounds better to you with $$$$ equipment? The Led Zeppelin Rhino Black box of Japanese made, mini copies of the record album sleeves CD’s of ALL the albums? Or, the large sized four CD disk boxset with the crop circle picture on the front(1990 release?), and the later small box, that had the songs missing from the four box “crop circles” box? The mini-album Japanese CD’s sound pretty damn good to me! Any thoughts? Which sounds better to you? Those with CD based systems I can only dream of owning? As to my rant, I went to the Wiki article of: The Sound Wars! And there was a link where you can put in your CD or album title and artist, and it tells you if it’s been compressed(LOUD!), or, not. Specifically: CD’s, (if it’s compressed, the VU meters will stay locked in the red) My favorite Fleetwood Mac CD, The Dance, all in the RED, BAD! 😢 U2’s Joshua Tree (special boxed edt.) All in the GREEN (GOOD). But I swear, the drums/cymbals, IMO, sound awful on that CD! Especially the cymbals! NEVER could find a good sounding Joshua Tree CD that the drums and cymbals sounded good. 🙁 That was my FAVORITE concert!!! 4’th. row seats!! AWESOME! Other albums, NIN CD’s all in the red, Van Halen as well. And the worst, totally unlistenable, got it for Christmas many years ago, Led Zep., The Mothership CD’s. 🤮
Thank you all!!!
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- 53 posts total
Dear Psychranger, Thank you for your post!! You may not believe this, but I went for a hearing test at my ear Dr., just to see what’s what. Unbelievably, he told me, “you can hear all the way up to 14 KHz! Very impressive!” Someone your age shouldn’t be able to hear high frequencies that high at “your age”🙄. I’m 52. I’ve been very protective of my hearing, since, when I was a teenager, went to have a bang’n ALPINE stereo system put in my car, and the teenage installer had very bad hearing loss. That scared me. He has been partially deaf since about 18 y.o. That’s sad. Not from meds, or fever, but listening to LOUD music. Very sad. Permanent damage. But I’m very upset these great albums (CD’s) have been victims of the “LOUDNESS WARS”. No transients, bad sonics. I will try to buy Japanese copies. Or, bite the bullet, and dive back into LP’s. My Japanese Led Zep CD’s have AWESOME sonics of my favorite drummer Bonham! It’s the crappy drum/cymbals on “The Joshua Tree”. Listen to the opening drums/cymbal crashes being so muted on “Where the Streets have no name”. No bright cymbal crash/no decay. Drums muted. Have three copies of this album, all sound the same. Honestly, the drums/cymbals sound better on the YouTube video of that song, that they filmed on the roof of I think, a liquor store in LA. Listen to the difference, see if I’m right. But Bonham on 1,2,3, are AWESOME! God bless all!! |
Another vote for the 2014 remasters. They're not perfect but I doubt whether there will be a better digital set than them. The Barry Diament remasters were always well regarded but alas he didn't get to have a go at Led Zeppelin lV. The Mothership was indeed awfully compressed. Not really fit for audio playback. I've posted a link below to the results of a Stevehoffman music forum poll which I wouldn't argue with. https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/led-zeppelin-on-cd-poll.606937/ |
OP, look for early release German pressings; close to analogue sound, good dynamic range. You can hear Bonham’s tight deep kick drum and JPJ’s bassline. Bonzo is my favorite drummer and you can hear that he’s using a smaller kit on LZ I. I bought all my flat transfer Zep on Discogs. Also, found the best quality Jimi CDs and other classic rock. |
- 53 posts total