Post by Chronic Insomnia on Sept 11, 2009 13:24:08 GMT -4
It's been over 20 years since The Beatles were released onto CD. At the time it was only necessary to get them onto the new format, so they didn't really clean up the masters and they just pressed them and put them out there for sale. Does this mean the old CD's sound BAD. Well not really. The older CD's sounded good, until I heard the new remastered versions. Let me explain a little about myself and the system I am using to listen to these CD's.
I consider myself an audio geek and I am very in tune with sound quality and separation in the music itself. I have to say I went out on Wednesday this week and purchased the entire set of Beatles Remastered albums. I have heard all these CD's literally hundreds of times over the years since I bought them in the late 80's. I know the sound of those discs like that back of my penis. However the new set is MUCH better. I was skeptical and bought only three CD's to begin with. I started with Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper and Abby Road. After listening to Rubber Soul I knew I was going to be pleasantly surprised at the sound quality of them all. I ran back to the store and picked up the rest.
Let me just explain what kind of system I have to play these CD's back on, and then we can get into the review of the music.
I have a Yamaha DSP-A1 receiver, which was $2700 in 1999 or so. It's a home theater type receiver, but the amplifiers in this are VERY VERY noise free and extremely powerful.
My speakers are KEF Reference Bookshelfs with a Definitive Technology Powercube, 10 inch subwoofer.
The CD player I use is by far my weakest link in the chain, but it's still much better than average. I use a Cambridge Audio DVD player, with SACD, DVD-AUDIO and DVD up-scaling to HD video. It also plays HDCD's and many other formats.
I have the speakers hooked up with Monster Cable Reference Speaker Cable. The interconnects between the DVD player and the receiver are also Monster Cable. Those are Z-Series interconnects with gold plated connectors.
Now onto the review. I was amazed at first with Rubber Soul when I put it in. The drums on Drive My Car are much more defined and full than on the previous release. When Norweigan Wood started playing I knew they had done a wonderful job. Over all the vocals were much richer and pronounced, the whole room filled with sound. To get an idea of what I mean about the vocals, have your friend talk to you while holding his/her hand up in front of his/her mouth, about six inches away. Have him start talking or singing, then have him remove the hand and put it back a few times. This is what closed off vocals sounds like on a bad CD. I am not saying the old CD's sounded bad, but in comparison, it was like all The Beatles suddenly lifted their hands away from their mouths to let us hear. It was much more open.
Sgt. Pepper sounded deeper and more full. The later disc's seem to have needed the least amount of work, as they were recorded using state of the art equipment for the day. However Sgt. Pepper always sounded a little stale to me and with this new remastered version, that staleness has been totally erased and filled in with warmth and clarity.
Abby Road needed the least amount of work and I wasn't expecting it to sound much different, but in the end it was improved greatly. The dynamics seem to be a little more aggressive, meaning the range from soft to loud seems to be greater; like the first CD's were compressed or limited in some way. The new versions just seem to explode more when needed.
If anybody out there is into the Beatles, then this is the set for you. Rush out and get your hands on your favorite Beatles CD and you won't be disappointed. Just one final request, play them loud, they deserve to be shown off.
Michael
I consider myself an audio geek and I am very in tune with sound quality and separation in the music itself. I have to say I went out on Wednesday this week and purchased the entire set of Beatles Remastered albums. I have heard all these CD's literally hundreds of times over the years since I bought them in the late 80's. I know the sound of those discs like that back of my penis. However the new set is MUCH better. I was skeptical and bought only three CD's to begin with. I started with Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper and Abby Road. After listening to Rubber Soul I knew I was going to be pleasantly surprised at the sound quality of them all. I ran back to the store and picked up the rest.
Let me just explain what kind of system I have to play these CD's back on, and then we can get into the review of the music.
I have a Yamaha DSP-A1 receiver, which was $2700 in 1999 or so. It's a home theater type receiver, but the amplifiers in this are VERY VERY noise free and extremely powerful.
My speakers are KEF Reference Bookshelfs with a Definitive Technology Powercube, 10 inch subwoofer.
The CD player I use is by far my weakest link in the chain, but it's still much better than average. I use a Cambridge Audio DVD player, with SACD, DVD-AUDIO and DVD up-scaling to HD video. It also plays HDCD's and many other formats.
I have the speakers hooked up with Monster Cable Reference Speaker Cable. The interconnects between the DVD player and the receiver are also Monster Cable. Those are Z-Series interconnects with gold plated connectors.
Now onto the review. I was amazed at first with Rubber Soul when I put it in. The drums on Drive My Car are much more defined and full than on the previous release. When Norweigan Wood started playing I knew they had done a wonderful job. Over all the vocals were much richer and pronounced, the whole room filled with sound. To get an idea of what I mean about the vocals, have your friend talk to you while holding his/her hand up in front of his/her mouth, about six inches away. Have him start talking or singing, then have him remove the hand and put it back a few times. This is what closed off vocals sounds like on a bad CD. I am not saying the old CD's sounded bad, but in comparison, it was like all The Beatles suddenly lifted their hands away from their mouths to let us hear. It was much more open.
Sgt. Pepper sounded deeper and more full. The later disc's seem to have needed the least amount of work, as they were recorded using state of the art equipment for the day. However Sgt. Pepper always sounded a little stale to me and with this new remastered version, that staleness has been totally erased and filled in with warmth and clarity.
Abby Road needed the least amount of work and I wasn't expecting it to sound much different, but in the end it was improved greatly. The dynamics seem to be a little more aggressive, meaning the range from soft to loud seems to be greater; like the first CD's were compressed or limited in some way. The new versions just seem to explode more when needed.
If anybody out there is into the Beatles, then this is the set for you. Rush out and get your hands on your favorite Beatles CD and you won't be disappointed. Just one final request, play them loud, they deserve to be shown off.
Michael
