Hello and welcome to this new post.
Some days after I got my new Jico stylus, my friend Panos dropped by and we listened to a new record I got. It was The Dark Side Of The Moon, Remastered, Parlophone / Warner, PFRLP8 5099902987613. "I think your copy provides more listening satisfaction" he told me, "when you come at my place, bring it for a comparison test with the copy I have". And so I did.
Different sound quality from same albums was not something new for us. Our first experience was with Barbara Streisand & Barry Gibb "Guilty" album; Panos had a Greek, Holland & USA pressing and guess what... the Greek copy was inferior from the other two. Strange thing was that we couldn't define why; it was just that listening to it was not as pleasant as listening to the other two. I mean it wasn't something like lack of bass or detail or soundstage - it was just not sounding involving, not letting you get into music.
Back to Pink Floyd, we were lucky to have three copies of the same album:
- One from Germany (EMI Electrola 1C 064-05 249)
- One from Greece (Harvest SHVL 804)
- My remastered 180g album (PFRLP8 5099902987613)
We started our listening session with the German EMI Electrola, we choose to listen to "Money" (track 1 side B). The sound quality was not very satisfying, I would say it was average minus. The low end was a bit wooden, the vocals (that are processed) were sounding more electrical than what they should, the high end was a bit harsh.
We continued with the Greek pressing. Things got instantly as they should at a Pink Floyd album: the low end had satisfying energy, the processing of the vocals gave them the meaning it should, the soundstage was well focused during all of the track. Overall, the sound was very pleasing.
We continued with the remastered version, but we couldn't say if it was better, however we understood that the recording was at a lower level. We listened once again to the Greek pressing and back again the remastered, making sure now to keep same volume. I noticed that the low end was just a little weaker (without meaning that this was something wrong) and the little details (like the sound of the guitar on the right speaker), although also present at the Greek pressing, now they were standing out somehow, away from the speaker, well focused in the air. Panos said that he found the remastered version just a little more pleasing overall, without being able to indicate something in particular. However, the difference was minor, having the Greek pressing he believes it is not worthy to buy the remastered album. But if he didn't had the album at all, he would definitely buy the remastered version.
Above results are a little different from what we got in comparing The Wall album, an issue that in the net has created much conflict which is pointless according to our humble opinion. Regarding The Wall, we have two copies:
- A German "original" from 1979 (EMI Electrola IC 198-63)
- A remastered 180g version from 2016 (PFRLP11)
We did the comparison test before I started my blog, so unfortunately I have not kept any notes about all the details. Still, I remember very well the conclusion: both albums provided equal high amounts of listening pleasure, even though we felt that they were sounding a little different. We couldn't decide which was better, not even define what this "better" could be.
So, apart from the German EMI Electrola Dark Side Of The Moon, all other albums are sounding great. Remastered of not, buy with confidence.
Let me just add that The Dark Side Of The Moon is the only album I also enjoy listening to at the 4.0 or 4.1 multichannel version coming from the original quadraphonic master tapes - as you may know, for music listening I am not a fan of multichannel, I keep them just for the movies.
That's all for now, happy listening as always!
Christos
Some days after I got my new Jico stylus, my friend Panos dropped by and we listened to a new record I got. It was The Dark Side Of The Moon, Remastered, Parlophone / Warner, PFRLP8 5099902987613. "I think your copy provides more listening satisfaction" he told me, "when you come at my place, bring it for a comparison test with the copy I have". And so I did.
Different sound quality from same albums was not something new for us. Our first experience was with Barbara Streisand & Barry Gibb "Guilty" album; Panos had a Greek, Holland & USA pressing and guess what... the Greek copy was inferior from the other two. Strange thing was that we couldn't define why; it was just that listening to it was not as pleasant as listening to the other two. I mean it wasn't something like lack of bass or detail or soundstage - it was just not sounding involving, not letting you get into music.
Back to Pink Floyd, we were lucky to have three copies of the same album:
- One from Germany (EMI Electrola 1C 064-05 249)
- One from Greece (Harvest SHVL 804)
- My remastered 180g album (PFRLP8 5099902987613)
 |
| Our various versions of Pink Floyd vinyl albums. |
We started our listening session with the German EMI Electrola, we choose to listen to "Money" (track 1 side B). The sound quality was not very satisfying, I would say it was average minus. The low end was a bit wooden, the vocals (that are processed) were sounding more electrical than what they should, the high end was a bit harsh.
We continued with the Greek pressing. Things got instantly as they should at a Pink Floyd album: the low end had satisfying energy, the processing of the vocals gave them the meaning it should, the soundstage was well focused during all of the track. Overall, the sound was very pleasing.
We continued with the remastered version, but we couldn't say if it was better, however we understood that the recording was at a lower level. We listened once again to the Greek pressing and back again the remastered, making sure now to keep same volume. I noticed that the low end was just a little weaker (without meaning that this was something wrong) and the little details (like the sound of the guitar on the right speaker), although also present at the Greek pressing, now they were standing out somehow, away from the speaker, well focused in the air. Panos said that he found the remastered version just a little more pleasing overall, without being able to indicate something in particular. However, the difference was minor, having the Greek pressing he believes it is not worthy to buy the remastered album. But if he didn't had the album at all, he would definitely buy the remastered version.
Above results are a little different from what we got in comparing The Wall album, an issue that in the net has created much conflict which is pointless according to our humble opinion. Regarding The Wall, we have two copies:
- A German "original" from 1979 (EMI Electrola IC 198-63)
- A remastered 180g version from 2016 (PFRLP11)
We did the comparison test before I started my blog, so unfortunately I have not kept any notes about all the details. Still, I remember very well the conclusion: both albums provided equal high amounts of listening pleasure, even though we felt that they were sounding a little different. We couldn't decide which was better, not even define what this "better" could be.
So, apart from the German EMI Electrola Dark Side Of The Moon, all other albums are sounding great. Remastered of not, buy with confidence.
Let me just add that The Dark Side Of The Moon is the only album I also enjoy listening to at the 4.0 or 4.1 multichannel version coming from the original quadraphonic master tapes - as you may know, for music listening I am not a fan of multichannel, I keep them just for the movies.
That's all for now, happy listening as always!
Christos
No comments:
Post a Comment