Bowie - Diamond Dogs: Blind listening test

David Bowie – Diamond Dogs (1974): Blind listening test



Previous threads: 1. Young Americans (votes are closed; see post #4 for a correct download link). 2. The Man Who Sold the World (votes are closed), 3. "Heroes" (still open to votes!), 4. Scary Monsters... and Super Creeps (still open to votes!).
Next thread: Probably Space Oddity.

tl;dr: FLAC samples below, please listen, vote on your own, and tell us why you made this choice.

>> Goals

You'll find below a link to a ZIP archive containing various FLAC samples of this album, from most of its existing digital masters. They are mostly around 35 seconds each (fair use), but they try to capture some “interesting” segments to help you make some fair-enough comparisons.

To avoid bias, you don't know which masters are included, and you don't know which master you are listening to, apart from some letters (A, B, C...) which were randomly attributed. The samples come from straight EAC rips, and were only “hard” level-matched with foobar2000's ReplayGain tool. When there are enough votes, I'll tell you which sample is which.

>> What to do: vote and explain your choice(s)

Download the archive and extract it, concentrate and then listen to the various samples with your prefered setup. Listen track per track, or sample per sample – really, just use your favourite method. Then, chose your favourite master(s), vote, and please also tell us why you like it. The more precise (e.g., a particular instrument at a particular moment) the better.

It may also be interesting to know how much better your favourite master is, compared to the others. Is the difference that big or is it quite subtle? This could help people in case your favourite master happens to be rare and $$. Your second favourite master might be 90% as good, and much cheaper.

Please don't read the other replies before voting! Really. There's nothing “right” or “wrong” with your own particular choice, nothing to check, no need to vote like somebody else, nothing. We don't want bias, we want you to tell us what you really prefer. Please!

>> Download

The samples are hosted on Google Drive.

You might need to move your cursor on the upper side of the web page to see a download button appear near its upper-right corner (look for an arrow). PM me if you still have troubles downloading this.

Blind Test - Diamond Dogs.zip (100 MB) (if this link is dead, please look for a newer post of mine below! also, PLEASE reply to this thread and tell us WHY you made this choice!)

>> Early results

This thread will probably remain open for a few weeks. If you really “need” early results you need to: 1) Vote, 2) Tell us why you made this choice, 3) Send me a PM asking for early results (please give the link to your own reply to the thread in the PM, that will save me time) and 4) Promise you're going to keep them for yourself.

>> Spread the word!

The more votes this gets, the better. The poll will remain open as long as it's necessary, in order to reach a meaningful number of votes (usually a few weeks). So please help me and spread the word! Thanks!

 

I know lots of people do do read other people's opinions before voting. Please don't . We want to avoid bias, so please really vote on your own. Thank you!

 

I like B – has the most clarity.

C is OK.

A is muffled, as is D.

E is too loud and shrill.

 

Original UK RCA vinyl.

 

Just maybe you've misread (or not read) the thread title or description.

 

Well, maybe his opinion is that all the digital issues are far behind the original UK RCA vinyl, so that would be an interesting additional opinion here, but my problem is that it's an opinion with no details or explanations. It's written at least four times that we'd like to get the whys as well, but oh well... I'll write it size 72, bold, uppercase and red the next time, then

 

not downloaded anything, heard it before and agree, uk rca vinyl

 

OK, but, again:

why?
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A: transparent, balanced, natural
B: too bright, some noise reduction, no warmth, weak bass
C: far too bright, noise reduction, shrill, unlistenable
D: muffled and warm, huge dynamics
E: cold sounding, also with some top end boost

Both A and D are very good sounding, I am voting for both. I do enjoy D a bit more because of its extra layer of warmth, but some of the in A are lost.

 

A is the winner for me, sounds the most balanced with good clarity and good bass. B is bright and lacking bass, C is even more bright and very shrill, D is much too dark for my tastes, and E doesn't sound as natural as A, though it would probably be my second choice.

 

Best to worst, in my opinion:

A - Good. Nice and clear with a decent tonal balance.
E - It's OK, I could live with it. It is a bit on the bright side however.
B - Bass shy, can only mean one thing.
D - A touch too dark, lacking in air and muffled sounding for me.
C - Complete stinker, Mewtilated I'm guessing. Delete.

 

What I meant to write is: I do enjoy D a bit more because of its extra layer of warmth, but some of the details in A are lost.

 

This is one of my favorite Bowie albums so I know what I like.

A. Lots of room for the music to breathe. This is the best one.

B - not horrible but not enough bass.

C - kill it with fire (please don't be Parlophone, please don't be Parlophone....)

D - sounds the album was passed through Audacity and given an artificial increase in room size. I don't like this.

E- too much high, not enough lows.

 

Bet I voted for the one most hated on this forum! , - not going to change vote. I've had another listen and I can see why people like A - it's definitely more balanced than D!. The bass is less prominent on B, and I think that makes it sound less muffled than either of the other two mentioned here.

Someone needs to do this and include an original RCA vinyl sample in with the test, see if their choices are in line with the mantra.

 

I've heard some versions of Bowie's 70s albums where the SQ was so poor that being deaf might have been preferable to undertaking a "blind" test.

 

A was my choice, still some "bite" on the treble while being pretty balanced, whereas D was second-best but a little too dark with the lead vocal too recessed... although on the title track, I thought that this darkness helped the blend of instruments against the vocal on D better. The others were all too shrill, except B which was occasionally passable and especially good on "We Are the Dead", which had a nice almost 3-dimensional image. As usual, I'm listening on headphones through foobar2k with all EQ and other DSP plugins disengaged.

 

A is the winner for me. It's well balanced. Good amount of low end. Not muffled or dull sounding. And not thin either.

 

I picked D, especially for the title track. It was tough to tell which was best with the other samples. None were terrible.

 

It's all subjective, but if D is your preference, I can't imagine that you would tolerate C.

 

A - Not bad, audible tape hiss on Candidate and We Are The Dead
B - Virtually no tape hiss on Candidate, maybe a tad bright on Big Brother and Diamond Dogs
C - Too bright on Big Brother, to the point of hurting my ears on Diamond Dogs, thin on Rock 'N' Roll, virtually no tape hiss on Candidate
D - Warm, dark on Big Brother & Diamond Dogs, sounds creamy and pleasing to the ears on Rock 'N'Roll, especially following sample C, snare is a bit muffled on Sweet Thing compared to the others
E - Audible tape hiss, kick drum quite pronounced on We Are The Dead

The bass levels didn't vary as much on this test, and none of the tracks were especially unpleasant to my ears except for C. Overall I pick D for it's darkness and warmth while retaining most of the detail and clarity.

 

voted A. enjoyable. As is . bravo, thank u. I'd even appreciate a PM to confirm it is what I think and play the whole CD.
When I saw the results I wished I also voted for E which is quite OK and deserves a vote. I dare say I prefer the heavily bashed C over D that seems to confirm that what I think it is was made, like the rest of the set, of dubious sources, which quality varies from track to track

 

E is the winner for me, I found it the more balanced of them, with some nice bottom end.
D, more punchy sounding, comes in second.
I didn't like C.

 

Here's for me... with my DT770s and my samples being randomized again for me.

I tried to go through an "elimination" path, this time.

Easy to kill:

• Sample C: extremely painful with the guitar on the Diamond Dogs track, ouch. Hi-hats are harsh on all the samples as well, so kill this one with fire. A really unpleasant sound, overall.
• Sample D: too muffled, especially on Sweet Thing. aka "blanket over speakers", not "pleasantly warm". The low-end can be nice (e.g. the drums on Big Brother) but the top-end is really missing. Not engaging.

Requires more attention:

• Sample B: needs a bit more bass. Still listenable, though. Something feels missing on Candidate, compared to samples A and E.

Quite similar and quite good:

• Sample E: sounds a bit wider and more detailed (e.g. the guitar on Rock 'n' Roll with Me).
• Sample A: a bit warmer than E (first seconds of the Diamond Dogs sample). I think I'd like it a bit warmer than that, though (but not to the point of sounding muffled like D).

So I've voted A and E. E sounds like a slightly more detailed transfer, but A has a slightly warmer EQ that I prefer. I could enjoy both, though.

 

This was a tough one.
I should say that I like sample D the most, since that's the one I have at home. I still love the natural sound, but it is a bit muffled compared to the others in this blind test setting. Still a fan. On one of the samples this was the one I preferred (we are the dead). Maybe on Diamond Dogs and Big Brother too.
Sample B was way too bright for my taste. Sometime painful.
Sample C sounded too compressed and painful.
Sample A was pretty great and on par with sample E. I had a hard time figuring out which one was the best sounding. I did find that sample E was lacking on Diamond Dogs, so to pick a favorite I think that A is the best one. E is second.
D is the most natural, but a bit dark. Listening to the complete album without comparing to other versions makes it a very comfortable listen. Comes in third in this blind test.
B was just ahead of C, who was the worst one.

 

C is a torture, a shrill, piercing sound made on evil purpose by a company of hearing aids sellers

D sounds over-processed and artificial to me

B is quite Ok but is lacking bass

A and E are very similar, and quite beautiful, E being a little clearer than A, but also brighter.
I think i prefer A as the most natural sounding, but in real listening conditions (I mean : listening for pleasure and not to discriminate one sample from another) i think A or E would make no difference to me, so I vote both A and E

(Again : what the hell is sample C ? I think it's the 1999, but none of the 1999's is strident noise to this extent)
(On the note side : i had convinced myself that the Parlophone was as good as the US RCA, i hope i'll be coherent and have not dismissed it here (i haven't tried to identify the samples, just tried to feel which one feels best, and now i'm questioning myself))