43 replies to this topic

[blacklikesunday]

just found that box-set of remastered cds on ebay for $50.00!
the only reason they're so cheap must be because they do sound horrible and are not selling.

http://www.ebay.com/...=item3f181ae3df

[Quark]

The 2011 CDs are from the same remastering effort as the SHM-SACDs.  The latter may have a little more resolution, but it will be marginal.

Some of the SHF members find the 2011 CDs acceptable - personally I like some bass, without an overdose of treble and dynamic range compression.  The original vinyl sounded good and that's my benchmark for these, not the thin tinny sound of the 2011 remastering.

A quick look on fleabay indicates there are some German target CDs, but they're commanding big bucks - for example.  While I haven't heard this series, the target discs tend to be very reliable for decent sound.  Of course there are probably sites on the net where you can find a vinyl rip, but that would be naughty...

[blacklikesunday]

i see what you mean by the price. i've not heard of target cds before, would brian or roger of had something to do with these discs?
are they completely different remasters than the ludwig ones?

i agree with you as far as having a decent amount of bass when listening to music.
i possibly may buy queen 2 of the ludwig specials, as this album seems far and away the best SQ according to what i've read on the SH forums. plus its my favourite queen album.
the original album always seemed a bit messy and not very bassy at all. the previous album had nice bass. you'd think roy thomas baker would of produced the 2nd lp to be similar to the first album. he must of heard the difference between them, maybe the group wanted it to sound like that.

[Quark]

The targets discs didn't tend to have any artist input into the mastering - just done by engineers who actually cared about decent sound.

The original production of albums varies so much in quality - often without rhyme or reason.  Some artists/producers don't give a rat's about production values.  I'm not across the history of Queen's albums.

[craigandkim]

Target discs were the first CD production runs of discs in the early to mid eighties from Germany and Japan before USA came fully online with their production facilities. The discs are treasured for their flat transfers from the master tapes.
This is a great target disc site

[Quark]

Thanks for the link C&K - always good to get some more info.

[craigandkim]

No worries, it is refreshingly surprising how good some of these old discs sound without all the compression and manipulation.
Possibly the rarest target disc is the Japanese edition of Led Zep IV. Usually sells for around $1000.

Edited by craigandkim, 27 June 2012 - 07:57 PM.

[Quark]

So is that your copy?

Edited by Quark, 27 June 2012 - 08:32 PM.

[craigandkim]

Yeah....I wish. I have seen 3 of these on ebay in the last 12-18mths...selling between $900- 1500

Considering the quality of the Elton John series of SACD's, I wished LED ZEP would release their catalogue on SACD or DVD-A instead we got Mothership

Edited by craigandkim, 27 June 2012 - 08:53 PM.

[Quark]

Seem to recall someone over on SH Forums picked one up for a song recently and went straight to ebay.

Yes, I understand that Mothership suffers all the modern mastering sins.  I have the Remasters abomination - just awful and best suited as a drink coaster.  Doubt we'll get a decent hi-res issue while Jimmy is alive - I gather Mothership is how he wants things to sound.

[blacklikesunday]

i'd love to get this disc, i have it on normal cd and the sound is great, if there was an improvement it would be amazing.
however the price is unbelievable, how can they warrant this much money for it?

http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/4379

[Quark]

It's worth what people will pay for it.  Most of the Genesis discs are meant to have excessive treble boost - I'm not sure about TotT.

[blacklikesunday]

i wish i could find a site with a list of all the sacds available. obviously not including classical releases as that music is crap and will never catch on.
i've tried a number of times but come with small lists of the same old titles by floyd, the band, and others.
there are meant to be over 3,000 and i want to browse these.
it no good going to a site that sell them as you have to search for particular ones. i just want to look thru the a-z of sacds.

[com5984]

black~the~sky, on 02 July 2012 - 02:23 PM, said:

i wish i could find a site with a list of all the sacds available. obviously not including classical releases as that music is crap and will never catch on.
i've tried a number of times but come with small lists of the same old titles by floyd, the band, and others.
there are meant to be over 3,000 and i want to browse these.
it no good going to a site that sell them as you have to search for particular ones. i just want to look thru the a-z of sacds.

I have been hoping for this to eventuate for years

[Quark]

Try this.

[com5984]

Quark, on 02 July 2012 - 03:50 PM, said:

Try this.

can't get in from work I'll have a look when I get home.

[blacklikesunday]

thats a good list, thanks.
i wonder why there is such a big price difference between the two deep purple's machine head?
most of the ones that i've seen which i'd like to buy a very expensive. still, i haven't seen the whole list yet.

[Quark]

As mentioned previously, the lower priced one is currently in production and sounds good.  There's a choice of 2.0 and 5.1 mixes.  Once it goes out of production you'll be paying through the nose.  US$42 here - with reasonable shipping.  Import CDs also have the Mobile Fidelity release of Billy Joel's The Stranger up for pre-order.

[blacklikesunday]

there were a couple of discs i wanted for play.com, however i just got an email saying they do not post to australia.
apparently its to do with either customs or postal restrictions. this seems ridiculous, its australia, not outer mongolia for god's sake!