[whirlwind]

Gotta love Bonamassa.....everything is so well recorded.....live and in studio....awesome stuff

 

[Occy]

Semi-on-topic question...
I see a lot of albums advertised as "remastered"

How are these generally remastered compared to the original recording? For better or worse?
I assume they fix some of the flaws with the original (if there are any) but I'd also assume they're more compressed? Tuned more for iBuds etc?

 

[Claritas]

Semi-on-topic question...

I see a lot of albums advertised as "remastered"


How are these generally remastered compared to the original recording? For better or worse?

I assume they fix some of the flaws with the original (if there are any) but I'd also assume they're more compressed? Tuned more for iBuds etc?

It all depends. But this generalization might help: classical remasters are better because the source is old and metal remasters are worse because of loudness war.

 

[gr34td3str0y3r]

I really dont want to get into a torrenting good or bad argument. 
I used to own many of the CDs. I ripped them to MP3 YEARS ago. 
I since moved to Japan. I gave away, literally donated all my CDs when I moved. all I have is the MP3 copies. 
I buy SOME, FLAC when I can find. 98% of the flac I have now is from Rutracker or TPB. There is no telling the original source or the ripping quality. 
I am just not going to re-buy all this music. And in Japan a CD is 30$!!! Itunes is 2$ a song and so is amazon. How much of that cash do you think makes it back to the artists? 
Like I said, when I can buy direct from the artist or from Bandcamp. I try to support the little guys when I can. but I have around 50,000 albums (in mp3 format that I have been putting together since the late 90's). I make 22k a year. It would take my 15 years to buy all those albums and nothing else. At Japan prices, $150,000. 
 
I might get a tube amp soon. Japan has a lot of sub $400 models (ie somewhat in my budget). But some a-hole ran a light two days ago and wrecked my brand new (used) car. I only had 300km on it! I have to wait for the insurance adjuster to check the car out. I may be out a ton of cash. At 22k a year I don't have a lot of cash to throw around. and I just spent  just under 1k on headphones and equipment in the last 3 months. 
(I kinda of want to get a Bravo V2 and do some diy modding on it to make it not so.... crappy) 

 

[gr34td3str0y3r]

  Semi-on-topic question...
I see a lot of albums advertised as "remastered"

How are these generally remastered compared to the original recording? For better or worse?
I assume they fix some of the flaws with the original (if there are any) but I'd also assume they're more compressed? Tuned more for iBuds etc?

From what I have been reading: WORSE! 
The dynamic range is simply slaughtered even more. 
I am a huge NIN fan. so I am going to use that for an example. 
Pretty Hate Machine has an DR of 13
the NEW Remastered version has a DR of 6. I love Trent to death, but so disappointed that he is mastering his stuff worse and worse as the years go. He is so obsessive over every detail I don't know why he allows it. Off topic, but he recently released an "audiophile mastering" of his newest album. Hesitation marks. It went from DR5 to DR6. still in the "bad" category. Then vinyl has something like a DR of 12. 
But DR isnt everything. Like I said Conditions of my Parole is the cleanest sounding album I have listened to since putting together my rig, and its only DR6. Still sounds amazing to me.
I have some Coltrane I just got, massive DR, but not the best SQ... so there maybe a remastering of the A Love Supreme might have better SQ but lower DR. It all depends on the guy mastering it. but nowadays almost everything under the sun has a DR under 10, often around 5 or 6.   
 
Just for kicks I got Skillex vinyl rips which is like DR14 and I want to compare to his CD rips a DR of less than 5 usually. 
 
http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=&album=pretty+hate+machine

 

[Occy]

Yeah thats kind of what I thought was happening.

I'm always reluctant to purchase remastered vinyl for fear of the drop in DR/SQ even if it's advertised as "Audiophile Grade 180g" (lol), so I always go out of my way to find a NOS/MINT copy of the first pressing release. I picked up NOS 1st pressings of RATM and Smash! for this reason.

Does anyone know if there's a topic on remastering already? Maybe we should start one?

It's be great to know whats (usually) done, and also have people post up some good and remasters. 

 

[Claritas]

  Does anyone know if there's a topic on remastering already? Maybe we should start one?

It's be great to know whats (usually) done, and also have people post up some good and remasters. 

 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/595298/original-vs-remastered-albums
 
There are older threads to read (not to re-animate).

 

[Occy]

   
http://www.head-fi.org/t/595298/original-vs-remastered-albums
 
There are older threads to read (not to re-animate).

Thanks for that. Was a bit too lazy to use the search function before I'd had my morning coffee  

Anyways, sorry to drag this off-topic. Carry on as you were. :-D

 

[Currawong]

Slightly OT: There is the world's largest headphone meet (or still largest as far as I know) happening in Tokyo on May 10. 

 

[gr34td3str0y3r]

  Slightly OT: There is the world's largest headphone meet (or still largest as far as I know) happening in Tokyo on May 10. 

There is so much I like about Japan.... but I live Hokuriku area. Like 4 hours away from Tokyo. It costs nearly 300$ round trip! That is just STUPID expensive. I could take a miserable night bus 160$ round trip. 
I will make it to a Japan meet one of these days. 1

 

[gr34td3str0y3r]

Thanks for all the replys. At least I know I am not crazy.
Anyone know of Autechre? Their first album Incunabula is one I heard a lot of noise on. It was recorded in 1993 and probably in their basement. It is one of the best albums I ever bought in my life. I checked the old MP3 rip I had from the original CD I bought. The noise is still there just like the FLAC that I got from the internet. It can't be helped. 
Like a lot of your said I just have to learn to move past some of the imperfection I hear now. Otherwise I am going to have to put away a lot of great albums and I just don't dont want to do that. 
but also like a few of your said, the smiles when you find listen to an alubm for the first time on your audiophile setup and it sounds brand new like you never heard it like that before. It is more than worth it! 
but yeah. ignorance is bliss and the other day I kinda realized I wish I never got into this hobby because its going to ruin some good music, but now knowing how good, good music can sound, I can never go back. 

 

[Occy]

I used to listen to a bit of the love-metal band HIM in my younger days. I once put one of their albums in my old car (which had a pretty high-end system) and it ripped their mastering to shreds. They sort-of sound ok with my Intruder/HE-400 which has quite a dark/warm sound, so it's hiding all of their flaws reasonably well.

 

[houaiss]

I'm happy I found this thread. I'm passing through this at this moment where I have a much better setup than I had before and some of my favorite albums are more difficult for me to hear now.

the weird crispy voice in the album let love in from nick cave and the bad seeds
the sibilance of the bob dylan voices in blonde on blonde and the armonicas way high
the sudden loud screaming voice of joanna newsom in have one on me that pierces my ears

all albums I love and enjoyed listening in my earbuds that I didnt noticed all those things that now I'm noticing in my iems. Of course I got all other things that are much better now and that dont make me wanna get back to my old earphones. But a lot of times I get obsessed with those new perceived flaws on my favorite albums and I try to search for others masterings or equalize them them "to death", a lot of times stumbling in videos for music producers (that I wont watch since I'm not a music engineering and I dont now nothing about that haha), trying other iems with different "sound signatures" I then forget to just enjoy my songs like I used to. And it seems that even tho I sometimes mitigate my "issue", I never get that sound I "want" so that gets me even more obsessed, thinking that I can "have" that "sound"... the "sound" that I get from other beautifully produced albums

I guess I just need to accept those trade offs and focus again on my musics and ignore/get used to theirs perceived "flaws" (if I think they have for me).