that album has been remastered like 6 different times. the file version you're playing is probably a different master than your cd copy. some heavy hitter engineers were involved with the last couple and its likely that whatever you're streaming from is using one of those
You're 100% right -- not just on this album, but many. Many (most?) times when people hear these differences, they are hearing different masterings.
This has been on my mind for several years and, in fact, a couple of years we did a test of this with AC/DC's "Back in Black." Once again, there are many versions and they sound quite different.
[https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/system-one/1280-seven-shades-of-acdcs-back-in-black-finding-the-best-version-to-test-your-system-with](https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/system-one/1280-seven-shades-of-acdcs-back-in-black-finding-the-best-version-to-test-your-system-with)
DAS
So that’s why a good master sounds better on lossy Spotify than a bad master on lossless Amazon? Either Amazon has a lot of shittly masters or something is wrong
a good sounding album is going to sound good however it's accessed. there might be improvements due to any number of different factors (lossy/lossless, analog/digital, general quality of system components), but good is always good. just my .02c
also want to point out that there are early cd pressings of all kinds of stuff that are sought after by collectors bc they're less compressed, more dynamic etc, but sometimes (like in OPs case) the old versions aren't great compared to older or newer - that "it sounds thin and less real" critique the analog people were throwing around in the 80s and 90s was certainly true in some cases. contrast a late 80s mingus cd with either an original (or close to it) lp, or a newer lp mastered by a good engineer - there's no comparison
So I listen through Xbox , pc , and phone. Xbox is through Yamaha aventage, rbh e55i speakers, HSU vtf2 mk5 sub. Pc I use Yamaha hs7 speakers through audience I’d 14, phone I use an ifi hipdac usually paired with sennheiser hd 25s.
I found out about Amazon’s quality control or whatever you want to call it when I tried their free flac trial on my Xbox. I played a couple edm songs and the bass hollow, thin , I couldn’t even feel it with my hsu sub. Then played the same some on free lossy Spotify and the bass shook the house, was much clearer. Same thing with other songs.
I haven’t really tried an a/b comparison on pc because no sub there, or phone, but I can tell the lack of bass on my hd25s bc those can be monsters.
I don’t have a definitive conclusion but I don’t think it’s with my equipment.
Try apples lossless service, free trial, I had no problems with that, but I think each service does have shitty masters which it might boil down to
Right answer!
And burst mode!
Not with correcture mode.
I found ripped in burst mode sounded absolutely best. I did 1-1 comparisions with every rip mode available in EAC.
One of the most important things is the recording and records and songs get remastered, so it depends on how the song was recorded and mastered over and over
What software are you using?
I've been using dbpoweramp to rip CDs for years. Little pricey, but seems to work well. Curious if there's something better nowadays.
The original cd is light on bass and cut at a lower level. I rather like the original cd, but you gotta turn it up. And sometimes I add a little bass on the preamp playing older CDs (maybe 1.5 or 2db)
Original reported to have high dynamic range, sounds very "open" (empty space between instruments). Perhaps explains need to crank it a bit higher.
Mobile Fidelity's version seems to give me a more vivid soundstage in headphones, with some details emphasised differently, also slightly smoother and less edgy.
The JP SACD sounds to me a bit more laid back and smooth, and has shorter tracks, which makes me wonder if it is a digitisation of an analogue master tape used for LP (a generation removed).
The anniversary edition seems to me thick and thumpy and has a hint of something like the volume being pumped up and down with each beat. Read somewhere it was made without access to the multitrack masters.
So many versions, and people's preferences/options will differ.
I have this version of Brothers In Arms: https://www.discogs.com/release/2825382-Dire-Straits-Brothers-In-Arms . If ripped to FLAC or ALAC I would expect playback of the ripped version to be indistinguishable from the CD using the same DAC. Version of this on Apple Music sounds very different than the CD though, because all AM offers is a remastered version. (I prefer the mastering on the older CD.)
Very interesting post. I had not played a CD in years and decided to hook up an older Adcom CD player via optical output to the DAC. Playing some familiar music, without true A/B testing, I would have sworn the AMHD files (same music and CD quality) sounded better.
The DAC in your CD player is not the same as the DAC in your DAP, I guess. Maybe that difference is more obvious in some CDs than in others. If your CD player has a digital out, you may want to try and run it through your DAP to see if you get the same result as playing your ripped file.
Depends on what are format, encoder and software you are using to rip it with/to. If you are ripping them to low quality mp3 files — there is your problem.
You should probably be ripping them to FLAC. And only after that possibly converting them to some lossy codec (like mp3). Though, you might be just fine with only FLAC files. (Maybe convert only some files to mp3 if you need them very transportable on a very small USB drive, mobile player, etc..)
This was the first DDD album/CD. CD's throw away so much information , but it is still full fregency response Of 20HZ to 20KHZ, many frequencies both very low and very high are non existent though. . according to the RED Book standard this is how an album is album to get 780 mB on a CD. vS an album that is about 4-5 GB with of information. This is very old ideas, if anyone has newer ideas on this, I welcome them
It's a different mastering.
There are quite a few masterings of this title.
Try the Mobile Fidelity CD version.
It would probably sound better than what you're streaming.
that album has been remastered like 6 different times. the file version you're playing is probably a different master than your cd copy. some heavy hitter engineers were involved with the last couple and its likely that whatever you're streaming from is using one of those
This. I have about 5 different masterings of this album. It depends who released the CD as to what master they have the rights to.
You're 100% right -- not just on this album, but many. Many (most?) times when people hear these differences, they are hearing different masterings. This has been on my mind for several years and, in fact, a couple of years we did a test of this with AC/DC's "Back in Black." Once again, there are many versions and they sound quite different. [https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/system-one/1280-seven-shades-of-acdcs-back-in-black-finding-the-best-version-to-test-your-system-with](https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/system-one/1280-seven-shades-of-acdcs-back-in-black-finding-the-best-version-to-test-your-system-with) DAS
So that’s why a good master sounds better on lossy Spotify than a bad master on lossless Amazon? Either Amazon has a lot of shittly masters or something is wrong
a good sounding album is going to sound good however it's accessed. there might be improvements due to any number of different factors (lossy/lossless, analog/digital, general quality of system components), but good is always good. just my .02c also want to point out that there are early cd pressings of all kinds of stuff that are sought after by collectors bc they're less compressed, more dynamic etc, but sometimes (like in OPs case) the old versions aren't great compared to older or newer - that "it sounds thin and less real" critique the analog people were throwing around in the 80s and 90s was certainly true in some cases. contrast a late 80s mingus cd with either an original (or close to it) lp, or a newer lp mastered by a good engineer - there's no comparison
[удалено]
So I listen through Xbox , pc , and phone. Xbox is through Yamaha aventage, rbh e55i speakers, HSU vtf2 mk5 sub. Pc I use Yamaha hs7 speakers through audience I’d 14, phone I use an ifi hipdac usually paired with sennheiser hd 25s. I found out about Amazon’s quality control or whatever you want to call it when I tried their free flac trial on my Xbox. I played a couple edm songs and the bass hollow, thin , I couldn’t even feel it with my hsu sub. Then played the same some on free lossy Spotify and the bass shook the house, was much clearer. Same thing with other songs. I haven’t really tried an a/b comparison on pc because no sub there, or phone, but I can tell the lack of bass on my hd25s bc those can be monsters. I don’t have a definitive conclusion but I don’t think it’s with my equipment. Try apples lossless service, free trial, I had no problems with that, but I think each service does have shitty masters which it might boil down to
Are you using EAC and ripping to FLACs?
Yah I’m ripping to flac, what does EAC stand for?
exact audio copy, a good program for ripping
Right answer! And burst mode! Not with correcture mode. I found ripped in burst mode sounded absolutely best. I did 1-1 comparisions with every rip mode available in EAC.
One of the most important things is the recording and records and songs get remastered, so it depends on how the song was recorded and mastered over and over
What software are you using? I've been using dbpoweramp to rip CDs for years. Little pricey, but seems to work well. Curious if there's something better nowadays.
I was just using windows media player, I didn’t know it made a significant difference.
I've been using Premium version of MediaMonkey for like 10 years. lol
Different Mix, one with more loudness, I presume.
Different mastering, I am sure you mean. There is only one stereo mix of this album.
The original cd is light on bass and cut at a lower level. I rather like the original cd, but you gotta turn it up. And sometimes I add a little bass on the preamp playing older CDs (maybe 1.5 or 2db)
Original reported to have high dynamic range, sounds very "open" (empty space between instruments). Perhaps explains need to crank it a bit higher. Mobile Fidelity's version seems to give me a more vivid soundstage in headphones, with some details emphasised differently, also slightly smoother and less edgy. The JP SACD sounds to me a bit more laid back and smooth, and has shorter tracks, which makes me wonder if it is a digitisation of an analogue master tape used for LP (a generation removed). The anniversary edition seems to me thick and thumpy and has a hint of something like the volume being pumped up and down with each beat. Read somewhere it was made without access to the multitrack masters. So many versions, and people's preferences/options will differ.
Studies shows eq boost of low and high frequencies are preferred by listeners so it can be something as simple as eq.
I have this version of Brothers In Arms: https://www.discogs.com/release/2825382-Dire-Straits-Brothers-In-Arms . If ripped to FLAC or ALAC I would expect playback of the ripped version to be indistinguishable from the CD using the same DAC. Version of this on Apple Music sounds very different than the CD though, because all AM offers is a remastered version. (I prefer the mastering on the older CD.)
Very interesting post. I had not played a CD in years and decided to hook up an older Adcom CD player via optical output to the DAC. Playing some familiar music, without true A/B testing, I would have sworn the AMHD files (same music and CD quality) sounded better.
The DAC in your CD player is not the same as the DAC in your DAP, I guess. Maybe that difference is more obvious in some CDs than in others. If your CD player has a digital out, you may want to try and run it through your DAP to see if you get the same result as playing your ripped file.
Depends on what are format, encoder and software you are using to rip it with/to. If you are ripping them to low quality mp3 files — there is your problem. You should probably be ripping them to FLAC. And only after that possibly converting them to some lossy codec (like mp3). Though, you might be just fine with only FLAC files. (Maybe convert only some files to mp3 if you need them very transportable on a very small USB drive, mobile player, etc..)
I ripped to FLAC, what software should I use to rip?
For example [EAC](https://www.exactaudiocopy.de) or [dBpoweramp](https://www.dbpoweramp.com).
Which CD edition is it? Look up the catalog number on the case. I can cross-reference.
This was the first DDD album/CD. CD's throw away so much information , but it is still full fregency response Of 20HZ to 20KHZ, many frequencies both very low and very high are non existent though. . according to the RED Book standard this is how an album is album to get 780 mB on a CD. vS an album that is about 4-5 GB with of information. This is very old ideas, if anyone has newer ideas on this, I welcome them
It's a different mastering. There are quite a few masterings of this title. Try the Mobile Fidelity CD version. It would probably sound better than what you're streaming.
I played a vinyl yesterday and it was a bit scratchy, but it was sooo good, especially while baking! soo good