2. digital
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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
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
i borrowed the beatles set from my local library.

i would agree that there is an improvement in the current mastering vs the older discs.

however, i own many discs which i consider much better sounding than the beatles reissue.

i would give them a b minus in sound quality.

there are many small labels which offer better quality. many are very small labels produced in foreign countries which are classical recordings. there is a domestic label which concentrates on acoustic music , i believe it is music and sound, which is also worthy of consideration, if you like the type of music they record.

i did not find the beatles reissue sufficently high enough in quality to purchase them.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

Slanski,
is this what you're talking about?
josh358
286 posts
 
I don't like them. The stereo remasters have been compressed, which makes them sound louder and "better" in a quick A/B comparison, but that does violence to the music. The mono remasters weren't compressed, and to my ears, they are the better of the three (original stereo, mono and stereo remasters).
stefanl
296 posts
 
Yes,but all CD music is compressed if you are coming from analogue tapes especially.Anyway,George Martin himself put his foot in it years ago when interviewed about the original CD issue.Talked about only achieving a "harsher" sound than they would have liked and that the early stereo albums were terrible,not worthy of release.They did a pretty good job apparently to get them out,much like today.
unsound
7,329 posts
 
Mapman, I would suggest that the re-release of the Beatles material doesn't "fly in the face of the mantra often heard that all newer loudness wars CDs are bad recordings...", it further confirms it. Remember that even though these re-issues may have come from earlier re-releases, all those earlier versions were done without digital clipping so prevalent today. The newer versions are just able to use the greater dynamic range of newer technologies, just as todays well recorded classical recordings can. I don't think anyone is saying that all new CDs are bad, just way too many of them are bad.
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