The many presses of Octavarium

[That dude]

Hi, I'm bored so I'll post something.

When I first got Dream Theater's Octavrium (E.U. press) like a week after it was released in Singapore, it looked like this:



That was before I got into audio and found out how important it was to take care of an audio CD. Anyway it ended up scratched up and skips every now and then. My friend (after listening to my album) proceeded to buy the newer E.U. version of Octavarium. It looked like this:



Strangely I found the recording less dynamic and slightly muffled. Seems "compressed" somehow.

I got tired of trying to repair my CD, so I got a new one, this time a Japan Pressed version. Which looked like this:



Now, after listening to the Japan pressed one, I can't really find much difference between the two that I own. I have to listen really closely just to find that little minute details in the music are somehow more apparent (probably placebo). Anyway, I have a few questions.

1. How does the US pressed Octavarium Disc look like and how does it compare to the rest?

2. Do you guys find any difference between different pressings of the same CD?

3. Which pressing should I avoid? (i.e. should I avoid cheap china pressings and local (singapore) discount CDs.)

Thanks!

[That dude]

Ok...

[mwallace573]

While I can't answer questions 2 and 3 I can answer number 1 with a quick, and I mean quick, photo I took of my US copy. Enjoy.



It's looks identical to the second picture you posted.

[monolith]

You should gather together all the versions you have and do EAC secure rips of them and compare the waveforms to see if they're actually different.

[soundboy]

Originally Posted by That dude

2. Do you guys find any difference between different pressings of the same CD?

3. Which pressing should I avoid? (i.e. should I avoid cheap china pressings and local (singapore) discount CDs.)

Don't know the CD you're asking about, but in general....

2. Yes, I do find differences between different pressings, even assuming the same master.

3. I'd avoid Chinese pressings, even when legitimate.

[That dude]

Originally Posted by monolith

You should gather together all the versions you have and do EAC secure rips of them and compare the waveforms to see if they're actually different.

Thanks, I'll be doing that soon. Will post the results when I have them.

[That dude]

Alright I've done a comparison between the ones I have which is the "White on Black" E.U. version and the "Shiny on Black" Japanese version of Octavarium. I just took a screenshot of part of the waveforms of part of "the root of all evil" [which is the first track] in audacity. The first two lines are from the E.U. pressed CD and the other two are form the Japanese one. I've circled some differences using black and maroon pen. But there are much more...



The files are ripped Using EAC and are in WAV lossless format. However, the E.U. pressed CD is has quite alot of minor scratches on it, however, even the worse CD player has no trouble playing this particular track smoothly. EAC also reported 100% quality rip [whatever that is, I'm noob at using the program].

I'll post a comparison between the newer E.U. version and the rest when I can get hold of one from my friend. My question now is, does the slight difference seen in the waveforms produce any audible results and which pressing is of superior SQ?

Thanks

[progo]

Sorry for the bump, but...

Is there actually a version that is not compressed to horseskit? I've tried several but they all suffer from that.