Bowie's Young Americans blind listening test

i always recommend the German edition over the US because the latter is missing the first two drumbeats on the title track which is reason enough. however having listened closely to these samples i think the US might sound a little smoother... so get both and splice the drumbeats from the German onto the US! the Japanese R32P edition is mastered a bit louder (some tracks have peak limiting) but has a bit more bottom end than the other RCAs, but is usually the most expensive option. i'm happy to send you tracks from each if you do seriously consider getting one... none are cheap "in the current climate".

 

Perhaps another workaround using the two beat missing US RCA CD is to use the Changeonebowie CD for Young Americans ( the track). What do you think of the US Changesonebowie RCA CD for this purpose?

 

i'd have to go back for a listen... i know it's mastered too low and i prefer the german master of ChangesOneBowie overall.

 

Thank you so very, very much. When the poll ends and your predictions holds true, I´ll send you a pm.

One thing puzzles me though... If D is indeed the standard Ryko, it should sound almost identical to one of the other (Ryko gold). Maybe I´m tricked by the sequence, but I don´t hear any of the other samples as similar to D?
Should check this on my system...

 

Tough call for me between A and C. I think C wins - just. Can't wait to learn which all of these masters are. I have the German RCA, Ryko/EMI UK, Parlophone with DVD and the Who Can I Be Now? box. Out of them all I prefer the German RCA, which to me sounds like the vinyl I remember.

 

I cannot seem to download the samples, nor can I play them in my browser.

 

Same problem here, but I'm on my phone. Are you on a computer?

 

Yes.

 

Well, I wonder if it's just a matter of not enough people seeing the thread. This forum really lacks categories, Music Corner is this giant thing where almost everything happens: "what if..." threads, "your favorite <weird thing>..." threads, Sgt Pepper/Revolver/Pet Sounds threads, interesting threads about artists you like, interesting ones about artists you're not interested in, threads anticipating a release for too long (so it's already 100-page long before release, but you don't know where's the precious info, because there's way too many people telling the status of their shipment everyday, ha ha), and so on.

I wish this forum were using more categories and subcategories. So there'd be one for Blind tests, and/or one for Bowie. Things might be easier to see, this way.

But I see there's a good bit of Bowie stuff going on at the moment here. I could do a bit of "publicity" in the A New Career in a New Town thread, but I know it's going to quickly sink between dozens of other posts

I'd like to do The Man Who Sold the World after this one (I'm avoiding any chronological order on purpose), the differences between the masters sound quite big to me, so the outcome would be... interesting IMO. The votes I'm getting here are motivating me for at least a second thread, but of course more votes would be better, so don't hesitate to spread the word! It might just need a bit of time...

Ah, I guess that's Google Drive's poor ergonomy, sorry.

On the top-right-hand corner of your screen when you open the link, there's an arrow, just click on it.



(This screenshot is in French but you get the picture)

 

OK I see it now. That download arrow didn't show up last night when I tried it.

I'll test the files later when it's daytime.

 

I don't listen to Bowie on anything other than original vinyl or RCA CD. Mostly WG for the latter. There are some cases where the Japan RCA releases have some variation but never significantly so. They did a really good job with the RCA releases. There's nothing better.

 

I don't have any Gold Ryko, so it's the only mastering absent from this set, sorry for this (gold CD + limited + "Audiophile" = $$$ on Ebay, no matter if it sounds good or bad). Rykos are my least favourite Bowie masters by far, but I've never heard the AU20s (nonetheless I trust karmaman's opinion about them, so there's no way I'm going to buy them at their ridiculous price). But the set of samples I'm providing shouldn't have any bias... So, if someone who has an AU20 of The Man Who Sold the World wants to help me for the next thread, that would be extremely nice, thanks.

Considering that the silver Ryko is probably the closest match to the AU20 (except for the tracks where the silver Ryko used the wrong master... but I didn't chose these tracks)... I'll promise that if the silver Ryko wins for this Young Americans thread, then I'll add the AU20 in a second round Ryko, all you've got to do is win, he he...

And I'd like to thank everyone who's voted so far. That's very much appreciated!

 

same master on standard and Au20 for this album.

i can provide anything you need, i'm sure.

 

A and C are very close. Chose A.

 

Just got
"Sorry, the file you have requested does not exist.

Make sure that you have the correct URL and the file existed."

 

Look down to Post #4.

 

Can you tell us, is there going to be an upset when all is revealed?

 

Ah, I had read a few times that the AU20 fixed Win/Fascination/Right, but that's wrong then? Interesting, thanks...

Thank you very much! I'll PM you when I'm about to start it.

I think at least 2 or 3 people didn't vote for the one they thought they liked the best (myself included), and one sample here has a bit more success than I'd have expected. I wish all the people who gave their opinion about the different masters over the years on this forum could see this thread and vote! More votes = more interesting results.

 

AIUI the AU20 mastering migrated to the standard edition in many cases.

Tim

 

Puzzle solved then! Thanks

 

I could be in for a bit of trouble here...

[I only listened to YA samples]

From worst to best:
3. Both B & G being my least favourite by a big margin and similar sounding. Lots of treble.
2. D, E & F - I thought were joint OK and similar sounding, much more natural than B & G
1. A & C top but only slightly better. Sounded a bit more balanced and warmer than D, E & F

 

To further air myself out, I did not enjoy any other samples, including A.

I only have this on Japan-for-US RCA, so I wonder if I've invested wisely for my ears, or wasted my money. Thankfully it's one of the cheaper RCAs.

 

it depends how much the missing drumbeats on the title track bother you. spoiler alert (and my reputation on the line), but you've chosen wisely.

 

i've read this but can only go on what i own myself where that is not the case. not being a fan of the Ryko sound i wouldn't be willing to buy later issues to verify this. the bonus tracks were left untouched on the Au20s i believe, at least in the cases i checked some time ago.

 

As for the JPN for US RCA CD... There's the missing opening beat, quite a lot of hiss and some tape noise between tracks, and some pre-echo here and there (for example just before Across the Universe, but you probably need headphones to hear it). That's something that doesn't appear in the samples here.

I have my own "fixed" version of the JPN for US CD, but I'm not really satisfied with it... would need to do it again.

(I also have a "fixed" Hunky Dory, which is a RCA WG with the tracks re-splitted, Changes from Fame and Fashion and O!YPT from the JPN... level-matched, of course. Then, some big pops and clicks manually removed because there are some big ones on this album... Same thing for Ziggy, where I tried to fix the dropouts... Then Reality, where I did my own downmix of the 5.1 SACD layer. Then a needledrop of Man in the Middle, because I couldn't find a digital version that didn't suck... Yay, I'm spending too much time on Bowie).