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Pink Floyd best CDs soundwise

Hello Goners. I have a nearly complete collection of Pink Floyd on vinyl, mostly regular pressing, mostly old pressings, and they sound really good. Recently I decided to get them on CDs to use in my car and to preserve my vinyl a bit. I was surprised to hear really crappy sound. These are regular versions. "Dark Side" is mediocre, "The Wall" is barely OK, so is "Final Cut", "Wish YOU Were Here" is plain unlistenable - dark, un-transparent with barely a hint on highs, "Animals" is the same way. Then I picked up a couple of either bootlegs or copies, probably made in Russia or somewhere near (:-)))). One is something called "Animals" with a slightly different cover, and it contains original "Animals", and it sounds like somebody tried to bring some life into it, but still "no cigar", BUT - it also contains original "Saucer full of Secrets" - and WOW! that sounds great! The other is something called "Complete Zabriski Point sessions" and it is a KILLER! I used to work in a studio, and this is by far the closest I have heard anything, whether on CD or LP, to studio masters. Now, music there is not really nuch to talk about, but the sound!

So I have two questions:

1) the latter shows that master tapes exist of excellent quality, then why production Pink Floyd CDs suck?

2) please somebody tell me which CDs or SACDs of Pink Floyd I should be looking for, if something of good sound qaulity does exist?

(I am not looking for anything they made after "Final Cut")

Thanks
markshvarts
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,491 posts
 
Try to get the EMI Harvest CD release done for the UK....this will be closest to your original Vinyl.

Since you only want CD layer and you clearly like the original Vinyl - I would stay away from more recent remasters.

I am lucky enough to own the UK CD version - it sounds great but I am no massive fan of Pink Floyd - so I never bought the SACD - so you may want to take that in consideration with other opinions. And no - even though I am no fan - I will NOT part with my UK version.
davemitchell
253 posts
 
A big part of what you are experiencing is due to the fact that a good LP issue of a given album will normally sound much better than the even the best digital version. That's not just Pink Floyd, but across the board (all things, e.g. playback gear, being equal and highly capable)

That's not to say that CD's aren't capable of very good sound, because they are. It's just that most of the time they are not optimally mastered. I find I can usually outdo the sound of commercial CD releases by a pretty wide margin with copies of LP's that I burn onto CDs. Sad but true.
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
all pink floyd cd's regardless of their country of origin(NO RUSSIAN BOOTS) are manufactured at facilities approved by the group. the masters for every territory are identical clones.
sol322
426 posts
 
Markshvarts:

It consists on applying permanent black marker in the "edges" outer and inner of your CD.
Some don't like the change ( can be reversed with a Q-tip moistened in alcohol provided the CD edge has not been roughened at the factory.)

If you would like to try it, and make your own judgment on this, try it on a copy of a CD you don't care to lose.
Play your CD as is first, then take it out and apply the marker to the external edge of the disk. (Carefully, try it slow and avoid getting it on the label side or the opposite side of the disk )
Allow to dry ( 30 seconds should be enough. Play it again and judge if the change in presentation, clarity stage are of your liking some people have reported no changes. In my case I'm treating my collection. YMMV though.

I think that this is one of the things overlooked and that has hindered the digital media to reach better acceptance inside the audio community.
Luis
olson_jr
19 posts
 
If you really want to know which PF disc's sound beter do a search at Steve Hauffmans site, the guys there are really into the different masterings, pressings, etc. I believe that there are some very knowledgeable folks there that could disprove Jaybo's comment.

click here http://www.stevehoffman.tv/

or copy this into Google
pink floyd site:stevehoffman.tv

As for the black marker tweek, I have also had luck with a CD treatment called Shine Ola on some discs that seemed very digital and too bright and brittle. It really seems to take a hard edge off of some of the discs I have used it on.

Happy listening........
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