I personally think the SHM-SACD editions sound excellent, granted not everyone is willing to spend that kind of money.
I could live with the WG or the SHM SACD. Just turns out that I went with the SHM SACDs as I am a huge Dire Straits fan. I have pre-ordered Brothers In Arms to complete my set.....Can't wait
I prefer the originals over the remasters for the debut and Making Movies. Love Over Gold remaster sounded very similar to the original (remaster was just a tiny bit brighter). Have not compared the others
Apparently no one knows. Except for a Russian pressing from 2006 and a Japanese one from 2008, all pressings are from 1995: http://www.discogs.com/master/view/23804 From my experience I'd assume all 1995 masterings to be the same, but of course that's pure speculation. I'll see if I can find my European Vertigo/Mercury pressing and will post the EAC levels.
All peak levels of my pressing (Vertigo/Mercury 528 323-2; Matrix: 07314 528 323-2 02 / 50984105 MADE IN GERMANY BY UNIVERSAL M & L) are 100%: Code: Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011 EAC Auslese-Logdatei vom 4. März 2014, 23:43 Unbekannter Künstler / Unbekannter Titel Benutztes Laufwerk : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GH24NS90 Adapter: 3 ID: 0 Lesemodus : Burst Leseoffset Korrektur : 6 Überlesen in das Lead-In und Lead-Out : Nein Fülle fehlende Offsetsample mit Stille auf : Ja Lösche führende und nachfolgende stille Blöcke : Nein Null Samples gehen in CRC Berechnungen ein : Ja Benutzte Schnittstelle : Natürliche Win32 Schnittstelle für Win NT/2000/XP Pausenbehandlung : Nicht erkannt, daher hinter dem vorigen Track angehängt Nur ein Test-Auslesen durchgeführt TOC der ausgelesenen CD Track | Start | Länge | Startsektor | Endsektor ------------------------------------------------------- 1 | 0:00.32 | 4:10.08 | 32 | 18789 2 | 4:10.40 | 3:47.40 | 18790 | 35854 3 | 7:58.05 | 5:29.37 | 35855 | 60566 4 | 13:27.42 | 5:12.33 | 60567 | 83999 5 | 18:40.00 | 6:38.67 | 84000 | 113916 6 | 25:18.67 | 5:26.38 | 113917 | 138404 7 | 30:45.30 | 3:20.55 | 138405 | 153459 8 | 34:06.10 | 11:56.22 | 153460 | 207181 Track 1 Dateiname C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Unbekannter Künstler\Unbekannter Titel\01. Track01.wav Spitzenpegel 100.0 % Auslesegeschwindigkeit 7.9 X Test CRC E8F9038D Akkurat gelesen (Zuversicht 23) [6193A6D3] (AR v2) Kopie OK Track 2 Dateiname C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Unbekannter Künstler\Unbekannter Titel\02. Track02.wav Spitzenpegel 100.0 % Auslesegeschwindigkeit 7.9 X Test CRC 8B290DA2 Akkurat gelesen (Zuversicht 23) [CEEA67B9] (AR v2) Kopie OK Track 3 Dateiname C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Unbekannter Künstler\Unbekannter Titel\03. Track03.wav Spitzenpegel 100.0 % Auslesegeschwindigkeit 7.9 X Test CRC 85F3891B Akkurat gelesen (Zuversicht 22) [11BB2EE1] (AR v2) Kopie OK Track 4 Dateiname C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Unbekannter Künstler\Unbekannter Titel\04. Track04.wav Spitzenpegel 100.0 % Auslesegeschwindigkeit 7.9 X Test CRC 4F4F3708 Akkurat gelesen (Zuversicht 23) [A7B0009E] (AR v2) Kopie OK Track 5 Dateiname C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Unbekannter Künstler\Unbekannter Titel\05. Track05.wav Spitzenpegel 100.0 % Auslesegeschwindigkeit 7.9 X Test CRC 158E12E4 Akkurat gelesen (Zuversicht 23) [E1C3360D] (AR v2) Kopie OK Track 6 Dateiname C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Unbekannter Künstler\Unbekannter Titel\06. Track06.wav Spitzenpegel 100.0 % Auslesegeschwindigkeit 7.9 X Test CRC ED09FA6B Akkurat gelesen (Zuversicht 23) [8D520161] (AR v2) Kopie OK Track 7 Dateiname C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Unbekannter Künstler\Unbekannter Titel\07. Track07.wav Spitzenpegel 100.0 % Auslesegeschwindigkeit 7.9 X Test CRC D38C20E2 Akkurat gelesen (Zuversicht 23) [6832193F] (AR v2) Kopie OK Track 8 Dateiname C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Unbekannter Künstler\Unbekannter Titel\08. Track08.wav Spitzenpegel 100.0 % Auslesegeschwindigkeit 7.9 X Test CRC E7C85EA4 Akkurat gelesen (Zuversicht 22) [0DE73E07] (AR v2) Kopie OK Alle Tracks wurden akkurat gelesen Keine Fehler aufgetreten Ende des Statusreports ==== Report Prüfsumme F4ED5A569EC2787764505F09A503BE25FFB4E3B97B2B0089DB124E545870729B ====
Here's the EAC from the Windsong label release: Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector --------------------------------------------------------- 1 | 0:00.32 | 4:10.10 | 32 | 18791 2 | 4:10.42 | 3:47.40 | 18792 | 35856 3 | 7:58.07 | 5:29.38 | 35857 | 60569 4 | 13:27.45 | 5:12.32 | 60570 | 84001 5 | 18:40.02 | 6:38.68 | 84002 | 113919 6 | 25:18.70 | 5:26.37 | 113920 | 138406 7 | 30:45.32 | 3:20.53 | 138407 | 153459 8 | 34:06.10 | 11:56.22 | 153460 | 207181 Track 1 Filename Down To The Waterline (Live In Concert 22-07-1978).wav Peak level 100.0 % Track quality 100.0 % Test CRC 48E67EDE Accurately ripped (confidence 10) [F8C4F0CA] Copy OK Track 2 Filename Six Blade Knife (Live In Concert 22-07-1978).wav Peak level 100.0 % Track quality 100.0 % Test CRC F812F354 Accurately ripped (confidence 10) [CAC243D7] Copy OK Track 3 Filename Water Of Love (Live In Concert 22-07-1978).wav Peak level 100.0 % Track quality 100.0 % Test CRC 9DDB9B70 Accurately ripped (confidence 10) [DA52798E] Copy OK Track 4 Filename Wild West End (Live In Concert 22-07-1978).wav Peak level 100.0 % Track quality 100.0 % Test CRC EF67A7EB Accurately ripped (confidence 10) [F774366A] Copy OK Track 5 Filename Sultans Of Swing (Live In Concert 22-07-1978).wav Peak level 100.0 % Track quality 100.0 % Test CRC 69246B59 Accurately ripped (confidence 10) [D2DFA4B6] Copy OK Track 6 Filename Lions (Live In Concert 22-07-1978).wav Peak level 100.0 % Track quality 100.0 % Test CRC B8672A63 Accurately ripped (confidence 10) [2DC86AAC] Copy OK Track 7 Filename What's The Matter Baby (Live In Concert 22-07-1978).wav Peak level 100.0 % Track quality 100.0 % Test CRC 998D98C7 Accurately ripped (confidence 9) [68A37E8D] Copy OK Track 8 Filename Tunnel Of Love (Live On The Old Grey Whistle Test 31-01-1981).wav Peak level 100.0 % Track quality 99.9 % Test CRC 51184708 Accurately ripped (confidence 8) [B02B06E6] Copy OK All tracks accurately ripped No errors occurred End of status report
When all values are 100% EAC Peak levels can not be used to determine the if the masterings are the same. Of course they could be the same, but other methods need to be used to correctly determine. BAU when dealing with modern Dynamically compressed discs.
I agree that the 1996 remasters aren't bad, and a DR of 12 for the BIA remaster looks good on its face. But ... I thought I was burned out on Money For Nothing after hearing it so many times. But the original version of Money For Nothing has a DR of 18(!) and it grabs me in a way that the remaster just doesn't. I'm loving the song again which is the point of this (sometimes tiresome) exercise of seeking out the best available mastering. On the other hand, I think I prefer the remastered Private Investigations (one of my favourite Dire Straits songs) to the version on the original W.G. red swirl. That surprises me but I try to listen without being swayed by my prior expectations ;-)
Thoughts here... I have the red fan design Vertigo cds for Dire Straits s/t thru Love Over Gold. Two are W Germany pressings (Communique and Making Movies). Two are Germany pressings s/t and Love Over Gold and the latter has an 08 ending matrix). Am I okay SQ-wise?
I'd say you are, especially if you don't want to spend too much on SACDs, Japan discs or similar stuff. The only severe disadvantage of the blue/red swirls is that quite a few songs are some (up to 22) seconds shorter than the '96 remasters.
Thank you. I do have the Japan target of the first album which gives me the album with the song lengths intact. Just need the WB cd of Communique for the full length songs due to the slightly shorter songs on the WG Vertigo.
Don't forget that there are also some differences on "Making Movies", for example "Romeo And Juliet" (5:52 vs. 6:02), "Skateaway" (6:19 vs. 6:41), "Expresso Love" (5:03 vs. 5:12) or "Solid Rock" (3:19 vs. 3:27). Also "Heavy Fuel" on "On Every Street" (4:56 vs. 5:11).
I agree with Shaboo, sq wise -I have Love Over Gold Japan Target and a Canadian Red Swirl, I have not needed to search further for sound quality
2013 Platinum/non-Platinum SHM-CDs of Dire Straits & Lover Over Gold (based on 2013 DSD flat-transfers of UK analogue master tapes) are getting high praise (especially the former) as arguably the best digital releases of these albums to date.
Nope, DS' SHM-SACDs (with the exception of 2014 SHM-SACD of Brothers In Arms) used non-flat 2010-11 DSD transfers from Japan analogue masters, IIRC.
Oh, you're right, there were only platinum and non-platinum SHM-CDs with the same mastering (which sounds very good). I mixed up Supertramp and Dire Straits ( they both have a "BIA" album).
Guys, This may have been answered here. I know the Vertigo pressings are recommended for certain titles. If I can recap some of them S/T : Vertigo/JPN target = full length songs Communique : ditto Making Movies : Vertigo/some prefer JPN 4 US (remaster has longer track times on some songs) Love Over Gold : Vertigo/JPN target (I like this one also) Brothers in Arms : JPN 4 US I need to get Alchemy and On Every Street What is wrong in general with the Warner Bros nonremastered cds? As I said, I know the Vertigos are prefered, but are the WB cds really that bad?
There is nothing wrong with them. BTW the US WB s/t is identical to the Japanese Target. It's the WG Target that matches the Vertigo. The WG Target/Vertigo has the shortened songs.
I don't have a problem with the 1996 remasters - I've heard MUCH worse - but the originals just sound that bit more natural, for want of a better word. I have the red swirl CDs of 'Making Movies' and 'Love Over Gold' and I'm just waiting for the red swirls of the first two CDs to drop through my letterbox (paid just over £4 each). 'Telegraph Road' on the original CD genuinely raises the hairs on the back of my hands, particularly the last three minutes or so (erm, along with the first eleven).
Once again, like the first album...see if I am correct masteringwise... Communique WG target = Vertigo Japan target = regular WB cd
