stratocat99's profile

Best sound ever! Just beware of bootlegs.

An awesome set, but if you are still on the fence about getting it because of individuals posting luke-warm or negative reviews, please read on. Almost 5 years after it's release, there are still a whole host of wanna-be audio engineers that are still finding faults that do not exist. Or worse, there are knuckleheads posting negatives because they can't locate all of the songs in the set, or got stuck with a Chinese bootleg. My point is, ignore these people and get this set! If the stereo versions of The Beatle's music is the definitive version to you, you need this set! Compared to any vinyl versions, or even pre-recorded open reel versions, it becomes obvious that this is the best version of the catalog to date. Audiophiles have posted little treatises as to why their old EMI or MFSL vinyl sounds better and Blah blah blah...fact is, the majority of audiophile opinions are subjective at best, based on a belief system rather than what a particular medium actually produces audio-wise. Again, these sound great; totally analog sound on a good system. Understand one thing: this is a re-master of the original two channel master tapes, not a remix. So the sound stage will not be different, but with better overall mastering you get broader dynamics, smoother mids and highs, reduced harmonic distortion and all around warmer sound, not to mention clarity. And to the vinyl addicts; the LPs you are listening to have had heavier compression/limiting than what was employed on these CDs. The limiting applied on these CDs was very judiciously used to control transient peaks that would not have been audible in any event. As a mastering engineer, I have to be open, neutral, and critical of my own preferences. I'll be the first to admit there are a lot of great sounding LPs out there, and I enjoy some coloring that high end systems provide, but these CDs smoke their analog counterparts! The only way this will get better is if they, one day, remix the catalog, (the first two albums would not benefit from a remix, as they were recorded with a 2 track recorder, hence, there is nothing to remix). My understanding is that Giles Martin has archived all of the pre production masters to digital, so much of the conversion labor is done. Remixing from these recordings would give us, for the first time, mixes from 1st generation sources. This has been done on Yellow Submarine Songtrack, The Anthology, and Love. If this set sounds bad to you, you either have an over-optimized system (audiophiles tend to build systems that emphasize a particular instrument or vocal as opposed to overall sound and rarely have a decent CD player), a crap system, or you are in severe need of a Q-tip. Bootlegs are the other problem. If the seller posts that the Box was Made in EU, it is most likely a bootleg! I recommend looking up the set on Amazon, as there are photos posted showing the difference between a legitimate copy and a boot. If you find the set and its well below the suggested retail price, proceed with extreme caution! As a lifelong Beatle fan, audiophile, mastering engineer and musician, this has been an extremely thrilling listening experience, and I am still excited! Just a side note, if you want to hear just how much better it could get, get a copy of the Yellow Submarine Songtrack CD, (not to be confused with the soundtrack album from the movie), or the Love album, and hear how remixing would affect your overall experience. Cheers!

Great set, but be sure you know why you want it.

First, the mono mixes are different. These are true mono mixes, not someone combining the left and right from a stereo mix. In some cases, the mono version is a completely different take! As such, you will hear things on some tracks that are missing in the stereo mix. In the early years, The Beatles and George Martin did prefer to mix for mono, and stereo was an afterthought. This did change as time went by, but while they still did mono releases, these were always a separate mix and process. The sound quality is excellent, and is worthy to take a place in your Beatle library. Second, there are a lot of completely clueless people reviewing this set. Those that find fault aren't listening closely enough or are incapable of understanding what they are hearing. A really clueless comment is that the set lacks the albums that followed The White Album. Yellow Sub, Abbey Road, and Let It Be were never mixed or released in mono. Duh! Others seem to think that stereo itself was something unheard of at the time these recordings were made. Note: Commercial stereo recording has been around as early as 1952, and stereo records came into being in 1958, and many stereo players and releases were available from the outset. Initially a stereo version was a dollar more than a mono version. Stereo records really picked up by 1963 and started out-selling mono records by 1966, in the US at any rate, at the peak of The Beatles' career. But, while mono record buyers were still a substantial part of the market, mono mixes were necessary. To a non-audiophile or non-musician, or someone that isn't old enough to remember the mono mixes, they may decide they've been ripped off and will warn others not to buy this set. Well, I am a musician, an audiophile, as well as a mastering engineer, and a life long fan of The Beatles, and I can declare that this set is AWESOME! The best ride in this set , I would have to say, is Sgt. Pepper, but all of it sounds great. A nice bonus on this set is the inclusion of the original 1965 stereo mixes for Help! and Rubber Soul. Before the initial release of the Beatles catalog on CD in 1987, George Martin decided that the original stereo mixes weren't up to snuff on these two albums and remixed them from the final pre-production master for the CD version. If the mono mixes are the definitive version to you, you will need this set. For me personally, I prefer the stereo versions for the most part, but sometimes I am nostalgically drawn to the mono mixes and have to hear them again. Great set!