[Caribou679]

I was planning on buying some Japan pressing of some Decca works and comparing with the same Decca pressing (not Japan) the price is 2 to 3 times more for the Japan edition.

With the rig I use now, Cowon D2, X3 and/or Atrio M8 IEM, encoded in Flac or Ogg level 2 or 6(96 k and 192k) I was wondering if it was worth it to put more money to get the Japan pressing?

In your opinion, will I hear a difference?

I was told the Japan pressing have "something more"...Is this an urban legend?

 

[monolith]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caribou679 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was told the Japan pressing have "something more"...Is this an urban legend?

In my experience with rock/pop and metal albums (working in a record store as I do), Japanese pressings usually have at least one bonus track, along with an insert containing lyrics and some information in Japanese. I own many CDs in both domestic (Canadian/American) and Japanese pressings, and I've never noted a difference in quality between songs common to both pressings.

Basically, Japanese pressings usually just have extra tracks and nicer packaging.

 

[Caribou679]

Yes, it's true that the Japan pressing I was thincking of buying has more tracks + added bonus.

Is it true for all? The Weather Reports albums sold from Japan pressing too?

How about sound quality? Is it true that the pressing is done with more care , etc, resulting in higher sound quality?

 

[Sasaki]

Interestingly, as a Japanese audiophile, I thought original version is better, Japan pressing is worse.
That is, if that Decca is originally pressed in Britain, we think that British version(import CD for us - 輸入版) is sonically better than the Japan pressing CD(domestic CD - 国内版).

This could be our side of urban legend, here is some discussions on this topic. (please use translation engine)

http://oshiete1.goo.ne.jp/kotaeru.php3?q=1225510

Actually it will be depend on the master version(for histric recording) but we never know how it was pressed. And sometimes we have special Japanese edition remastering version, this is another story.

 

[Caribou679]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sasaki /img/forum/go_quote.gif Interestingly, as a Japanese audiophile, I thought original version is better, Japan pressing is worse. That is, if that Decca is originally pressed in Britain, we think that British version(import CD for us - 輸入版) is sonically better than the Japan pressing CD(domestic CD - 国内版). This could be our side of urban legend, here is some discussions on this topic. (please use translation engine) http://oshiete1.goo.ne.jp/kotaeru.php3?q=1225510 Actually it will be depend on the master version(for histric recording) but we never know how it was pressed. And sometimes we have special Japanese edition remastering version, this is another story.

How weird! Imagine how the false idea are circulating. I think the business cie are the one benefitting financially.

 

[monolith]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caribou679 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, it's true that the Japan pressing I was thincking of buying has more tracks + added bonus. Is it true for all? The Weather Reports albums sold from Japan pressing too? How about sound quality? Is it true that the pressing is done with more care , etc, resulting in higher sound quality?

With older releases, the bonus tracks are more often comprised of live takes (particularly with jazz albums), as there often aren't as many unreleased tracks. I haven't seen a Weather Report Japanese pressing personally though, so I can't be sure. I'm sure a few minutes of googling will elucidate that.

As for sound quality, as I said, if there is a difference it's not universal. There are several albums I own in both domestic and Japanese pressings, and I've never found a difference between the respective pairs. Just extra tracks and packaging differences.

 

[tourmaline]

Japanse xrcd or even xrcd2 cd's are in general quite a bit better then normal cd's! You can replay them in ordinary cdplayers but the mastering techniques are much better controled, hence better sound! Some xrcd's can be quite expensive though.

LP or record, depends on the quality of the recording and the cutting of the masterplates. The plates will wear after a couple of 100 pressings and also good recordings can sound worse during pressing of thousands of records! So, it's all in the master cutting and how often they change the plates for the records to press!

So, in theory, a low volume pressing of a record(500) should yield more high quality records then a high volume high quality pressing of thousands. The chance you get a copy of warn plates is higher! So, in theory again a lesser recording can sound better if you get a sample within the first 500 copies pressed then with a high grade recording pressed in high volumes, wich does not automatically guarantee that you get one of the early pressings of the record, the last ones pressed, should sound considderably less good as one of the first lot.

so, in theory again, the best recordings and the best pressings should yield the best sounding records. Maybe that's why some are offered as low volume l(remastered) limited records.

Tangential recordplayers should sound better then recordplayers with a sidearm, since tangential follows the groves just like it was cut by the master.

 

[Caribou679]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tourmaline /img/forum/go_quote.gif Japanse xrcd or even xrcd2 cd's are in general quite a bit better then normal cd's! You can replay them in ordinary cdplayers but the mastering techniques are much better controled, hence better sound! Some xrcd's can be quite expensive though. LP or record, depends on the quality of the recording and the cutting of the masterplates. The plates will wear after a couple of 100 pressings and also good recordings can sound worse during pressing of thousands of records! So, it's all in the master cutting and how often they change the plates for the records to press! So, in theory, a low volume pressing of a record(500) should yield more high quality records then a high volume high quality pressing of thousands. The chance you get a copy of warn plates is higher! So, in theory again a lesser recording can sound better if you get a sample within the first 500 copies pressed then with a high grade recording pressed in high volumes, wich does not automatically guarantee that you get one of the early pressings of the record, the last ones pressed, should sound considderably less good as one of the first lot. so, in theory again, the best recordings and the best pressings should yield the best sounding records. Maybe that's why some are offered as low volume l(remastered) limited records. Tangential recordplayers should sound better then recordplayers with a sidearm, since tangential follows the groves just like it was cut by the master.

Thank you for that explanation. So it is a bit of a gamble if you hope for a great recording.

I do not have a XCRD player and will encode that music in Ogg to use on a DAP with fairly good IEM, is it worth the difference in price?

 

[tha_dude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sasaki /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually it will be depend on the master version(for histric recording) but we never know how it was pressed. And sometimes we have special Japanese edition remastering version, this is another story.

how do the special Japanese edition remastered versions compare?