Best sounding Pink Floyd A momentary lapse of reason CD

What is the best sounding CD of this Pink Floyd album?

 

Bumb

 

Hello?

 

Considering all the Floyd-heads on this forum (me being one of them) I'm surprised you haven't gotten a single response, however I'm very sure this has been discussed in the past and probably even has its own thread or two if you do a search you'll surely find an answer. I can tell you though that the original US pressing sounds great and is among the favored CD versions of this album. I personally have a Japanese pressing that sounds good as well.

 

I have the 2011 remaster I'll have to check out the original Cd

 

Two distinct mastering's for this title.
The Euro's levels (db's) are much louder than it's US counterpart. Almost equal with the 2011 but with more dynamics
If you enjoy compression for portable use I'd go with the old Euro, for home listening the early US, if level matched I probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart.
This album in my opinion wasn't that great of a recording in the first place, The Division Bell sounds audiophile grade next to it...
If bcaulf can provide his Japan peak levels we could see if another mastering exists

 

These are the peak levels for the Japan disc:

Track 1: 64.1
Track 2: 100
Track 3: 93.0
Track 4: 89.2
Track 5: 85.1
Track 6: 99.9
Track 7: 40.8
Track 8: 99.8
Track 9: 39.7
Track 10: 93.1

 

Pretty neat, they match closer to the euro than the US
Thanks!

 

My US original copy sounds great to me

 

No problem. I've heard both the US cd and this Japanese pressing and thought they sounded similar, I'm assuming the European issue sounds similar to both of them. The album itself has a little bit of a cold sound to it, typical of most albums of that era.

 

"Crash-bangy and loud!"

- David Gilmour

 

There is no such thing as a poorly mastered Pink Floyd disc.

 

I think the west germany issue and Doug Sax 1992 Shine on by Columbia Records

 

I own..........
Original US
US remastered Doug Sax (1997)
2011 Guthrie Plante (Discovery)
All three sound good, and one can't go wrong with any of them. The differences in sound sure aren't monumental by any stretch.....just some changes in eq, which will help determine ones preference. My favorite seems to be the original as it seems to be a little softer around the edges. The 2011 has nice detail, but perhaps a tad too bright for my liking.

 

The Doug Sax 1992 remaster sounds great to me

 

The Japanese 1st press CD sounds better than my 1st press UK. Different mastering, I presume. Both are good, though.
A great sounding CD.

 

Thought there only are three digital masters in general? (Original '87, Doug Sax 1992, James Guthrie 2011?) There's a different master made in Japan as well?

 

There are more than three in the U.S. alone, according to the PFA site: Pink Floyd Archives-U.S. CD Discography

 

1st Japan has Sony Mastering. 1st UK has EMI Mastering.

 

That's right! & I know 2 of them. The first one - & my favourite - is the same master as 1st Sony one, with the same peak levels as bcaulf said, & is very dynamic. As far as I remember, once I've compared it digitally with 1st Sony and it's bit-perfect the same master indeed.
The second one's rather silent (36.9 / 57.5 / 53.5 / 51.3 / 48.9 / 57.5 / 23.5 / 57.4 / 22.8 / 53.5), but quite dynamic, too. I don't know Doug Sax remaster.
European "Shine One" issue, on the other hand, contains AMLOR in the EMI mastering, the same same as since 1987, while all the other albums in this box are Sax remasters. EMI mastering also sounds good, though I prefer the 1st Columbia/Sony master. But that 2 masterings - Sony & EMI - sound very similiar.