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Topic: CD: same album, older or newer release? (Read 4066 times) previous topic - next topic
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CD: same album, older or newer release?

Hi,
The album is the same, but different release year (1988 vs 1998).  Both are recorded at 1973.  Both are ADD type.


Release Date: January 1, 1988 (Label: DG (USA))
http://www.tower.com/bach-sonatas-partitas.../wapi/106013644

and this one:

Release Date: February 10, 1998 (Label: DG The Originals)
http://www.tower.com/bach-sonatas-partitas.../wapi/106521070

Which one is suppose to be better in term of sound quality?

CD: same album, older or newer release?

Reply #1
Because it is classical music, I don't expect any difference in terms of dynamic range as the loudness war has had little impact on classical music. There haven't been any spectacular breakthroughs in mastering or converting from tape to digital either.

However, because there is a newer release, the older one has been out of print for at least 15 years. The discs might be suffering from CD-rot or something like that. If you buy the 1998 release, it might still be quite 'fresh'.
Music: sounds arranged such that they construct feelings.

CD: same album, older or newer release?

Reply #2
I have the first one. By memory (haven't it at hand now), the sound quality is good, with a barely perceivable tape hiss in the background. (By the by, it's a good "classical" interpretation). I don't expect any SQ difference between the two of them and today I'd surely buy the newest one (if the older doesn't come much much cheaper, of course! ).
... I live by long distance.

CD: same album, older or newer release?

Reply #3
I'd be a bit careful here. The 'The Originals' series is a remastering or even what you would call a remix. I would not generally rely on anything posted on stevehoffman.tv, but here's a quote from the liner notes boasting at how much the folks at DG have been processing it: http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/deut...ocessing.44669/

Cut+paste: makes it possible to remix older recordings in order to "recreate" the original sound image. This is achieved by employing physio-acoustical principles to compensate for delay factors such as the time required for sounds to reach the main microphone and by an extremely high-resolution processing of the musical signals....For the listener to these performances, the audible results will be greater presence and brilliance and a more natural balance that previously attainable.

(Is that a phrasing you would want to be a marketing lie? Or are they actually doing some sensible restoration?)

CD: same album, older or newer release?

Reply #4
I'd be a bit careful here. The 'The Originals' series is a remastering or even what you would call a remix.
[...]
(Is that a phrasing you would want to be a marketing lie? Or are they actually doing some sensible restoration?)

In this specific case, I don't think there's so much to remix about on a violino solo recording...

Generally speaking, I have a few "Original" issues from Archiv/DG and to me they sound just good. For some of them I have also the vinyl originals, but never actually bothered to carefully compare piece by piece.
It's possible anyway that on more complex orchestral multimicrophonic recordings, their engineers could have altered the relative gain of the different tracks, just to make them sound "different".
... I live by long distance.


CD: same album, older or newer release?

Reply #6
I don't think there's so much to remix about on a violino solo recording...


Watch out for a supposedly 'clever' algorithm auto-fixing the entire catalogue ...

It depends on how much "clever", actually...

Anyway, browsing the booklets of the "The Originals" issues I own, nowhere I found any reference to the "clever" algorithm those stevehoffmanners speak about in such details. Only, generically «ORIGINAL-IMAGE-BIT-PROCESSING Added presence and brilliance, greater spatial definition». But taking their words for true, must be known at least the exact spatial disposition of the different microphones used in each take to "compensate for the delay" etc... Does it seem feasible to you?
... I live by long distance.

CD: same album, older or newer release?

Reply #7
Hi,
The album is the same, but different release year (1988 vs 1998).  Both are recorded at 1973.  Both are ADD type.


Release Date: January 1, 1988 (Label: DG (USA))
http://www.tower.com/bach-sonatas-partitas.../wapi/106013644

and this one:

Release Date: February 10, 1998 (Label: DG The Originals)
http://www.tower.com/bach-sonatas-partitas.../wapi/106521070

Which one is suppose to be better in term of sound quality?

I don't think the date of the release directly says anything about the SQ, but as others have said beware anything remastered after the introduction of NoNoise software, which is often applied with a mindless heavy hand.

Reviews I have seen favor the early release, but also generally prefer many other performances over this one. I would be looking at the Ughi, Kagan, or Suk recordings.

CD: same album, older or newer release?

Reply #8
Reviews I have seen favor the early release, but also generally prefer many other performances over this one.

Could you provide links?