Why do the new 2009 Beatles CDs sound so good?


It seems a small (maybe big) miracle what they've done with the Beatles 9/9/09 cd box. These were always piercing and grainy (since 1987), and now they are just about the best CDs I have (and this includes SACDs). If it can be done here, it seems like this could be done with other popular music discs.
It seems that the problems in digital are not in the medium itself, but the way the recordings are made.
Companies like DCC and MFSL tried to improve things, but the Beatles box seems to surpass these by far.
A lot of people are quick to criticize digital vs. vinyl, but, to my ears, the Beatles now sound better than vinyl ever did. Anyway, if anyone could shed light on how this was accomplished, I'd be curious.
rgs92
If CDs had sounded this good from the beginning, I wouldn't have so much vinyl.
I still buy used vinyl for cost effectiveness in listening to a lot of new music for not much, but seldom pay more than $1-$5 for used vinyl in good condition.

I'll go higher occasionally for old stuff on vinyl I have to have that is not available with good CD quality but that's about it.

80% of my vinyl collection was acquired BCD (before CDs, in the early 80s or earlier).

I bought a nice Linn turntable back then in that I did not want to have to replace all my vinyl with CDs (expensive) to have good sound. That was one of the best audio investments I have ever made. The Linn is still going strong and sounds better than ever in my current rig.

I hope to convert some of my vinyl to digital music server files gradually over time, but that is still a time consuming process that I have little time for.
I gotta agree that the new Beatles CD sets sound great.
I bought the mono set, blocI am very impressed.
My two cents worth.
Thanks for the comments. I've got the stereo box and it sounds as natural as anything. There is one new song version that is great--Only a Northern Song on Yellow Submarine, which the accompanying booklet says was not remixed from a "faked" stereo version, as were all previous releases. Again, i can't get over how nice these sound.
I wish they would apply the same treatment to McCartney/Wings, Lennon, and Harrison's other material.
All Things Must Pass really deserves it...
Band on the Run was just released in remastered high resolution (24/96) format. It's available for $19.99 on Sir Paul's web site. There's also an interesting discussion about digital mastering that results in loud versus soft volume.