What CD sound is the best?

Thanks Mapman, you answered my question. Specifically in regard to clipping.

I have the CD/SACD version of the Moodies album and the 40th Anniversary edition of the King Crimson and can recommend both of them. Neither album is overly compressed.

RE: In Search of the Lost Chord"
The song "The best way to travel" (I think it's this one)
This song has one of the highest notes I've ever heard on a recording. There is a passage where the instruments back down and some sort of extremly high pitched sound goes between the right and left speaker. Back and forth a couple times. My old hammered LP plays this sound supperbly. I used blow the tweeters on my Pioneer CX80's once a year on that passage. So much so, Pioneer ran out of spares.
Anyway, you know you have a great copy if this passage is extremely clear with no reverbrating except in your ears. We atre talking high pitched!
Good luck, John

Gave a quick listen to part of ITCOTCK last night just to refresh my memory regarding sound quality and to compare to other recordings for overall quality.

I think it is This One.

I listen to everything these days from lossless file (.wav in this case) ripped to music server, not the CD live.

I would say the recording quality is very good to excellent and not overly loud or artificially compressed at all.

Caveat is that I detect a lot of variation in sound quality from recording element to recording element within the mix. The best elements are very good, some are not as dynamic or detailed as one might like.

So I think this is a very good quality recording overall, but there are sonic flaws in specific elements that went into the mix for whatever reason. The good news is that you can hear the really good (which is most of the CD) and the sonically flawed mix elements quite clearly. That's a sign that this product in particular is of very good quality, even if some of the musical elements that went into it in teh recording studio originally had flaws.

Note that the flaws are more just imperfections, nothing horrible. IT actually adds a certain "earthy" element to the proceedings, rather than the whole production shining clearly from start to finish.

All in all, this particular product is a huge success, 8 out of 10 stars minimum overall I would say, probably more.

Just listen to the closing mellotron passage of Epitaph. The mellotron was a analog keyboard that predated synthesizers that used tape loops to produce sounds. MEllotrons are revered almost as much for their quirkiness and difficultly to maintain as they are for teh lovely sounds they can produce. The details of that quirkiness are on display in this recording. Were they intentional given the overall nature of this beast, or just quirky artifacts that happened? Listen and hear and decide for yourself.

THe music in ITCOTCK speaks for itself in this release. That's all that is really needed, but yes, audiphiles will find much to enjoy in hear. It is after all in teh minds of many the first and still maybe the absolute quintessential progressive rock release of all time.

While listening to "Epitaph", listen to these dystopian lyrics, soak in the album cover enjoy the musicianship and artistry (including majestic and somber mellotron and lovely accompanying guitar work) and see what happens next.

The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams
Upon the instruments of death
The sunlight brightly gleams
When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and with dreams,
Will no one lay the laurel wreath
As silence drowns the screams

Between the iron gates of fate,
The seeds of time were sown,
And watered by the deeds of those
Who know and who are known;
Knowledge is a deadly friend
When no one sets the rules
The fate of all mankind I see
Is in the hands of fools

Confusion will be my epitaph
As I crawl a cracked and broken path
If we make it we can all sit back and laugh,
But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying,
Yes I fear tomorrow I'll be crying