Eurythmics 2018 Vinyl Reissues

If they're that compressed, they aren't much of an improvement over the 2005 remasters. The original CDs were in the DR12-14 range.

 

I don’t think the sampling rate of an instrument has any bearing on the engineering or recording medium. An album utilizing the Synclavier on analog tape, like Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love, shouldn’t be “downgraded” to 16/44.1 downloads. Most of our favorite 80s records were recorded to tape, but often used 12-bit delays or effects. Downgrading the files because of some early digital devices isn’t the way to go, imho.

 

Nice to see they fixed the click!
Thanks for the review, i'm going to skip these. (I wasn't all that impressed with Touch)- Me being a casual fan my old hodgepodge of Japan for US and US's are fine

 

There's very little point in mastering something to a "high-res" format if it's already been degraded during the original recording process down to CD standards (or worse) by being recorded via or processed-thru a 44.1/16-bit (or worse) chain. Unless you're conducting some kind of major restoration or something - or doing a full remix from the multitrack masters - you'd likely be better off just re-releasing the original master and calling it a day, because there isn't going to be any audible improvement.

I guess if you go crazy with the EQ or the compressors you might squeeze a miniscule amount of extra "resolution" out of a higher-res format. On the other hand, if you're compressing a lot, you're already degrading the fidelity so much I'm not really interested in the results, high res or otherwise. It's like putting a cherry on a steaming pile of dog crap and calling it a sundae.

 

The syclavier is not part of a “recording chain”, it’s an instrument.

The human voice is all-analog if it was recorded to tape.

I know nothing else about the recording of Savage, but if it was tracked and mixed to tape, there would be a whole lot to gain from high resolution transfers.

If it were recorded and/or mixed to 16/44.1, then you’d have an argument. But because a Syclavier (or a Fairlight or any other early digital keyboard) was used? That’s just silly.

 

I got the downloads direct from Eurythmics.com (from the vinyl download codes) and they are all DR12-DR15 for the three new albums (just like the first three albums were)... not sure why yours would be different. I've never seen a band offer two different digital remasterings at the same time (aside from a few weird 192k vs 96k HDTracks titles).

 

Uploaded the new releases to the DR database. I'm quite irritated that the download providers obviously have other files than those provided with the vinyl (wish I had bought this - at least for BYT, but I'm not willing to shell out another 20 EUR).

 

For We Too Are One I will return to the Vinyl, especially since this is one of my favourite Eurythmics album. Whether I‘ll buy Peace I‘ll decide later. It was never one of my favourites but maybe it‘s worth rediscovering.

 

It's is an electronic instrument though, and one of its key functions was to be used as a sampler. So much of Savage was actually recorded into the Synclavier, including Annie's vocals, or they were processed thru the device. There might have been some stuff that made it thru onto analog tape without having gone thru the Synclavier first - or some other digital gadget operating at far less than "high-resolution" - but I'm betting there wasn't a lot of that based on the sound of that record.

Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love has the same issues, only worse - it was virtually all done on the Fairlight. And the Fairlight - while I kinda like the gauzy sound of it - wasn't nearly as acoustically transparent as the Synclavier.

Not if it was sampled on the Synclavier, processed thru it or passed thru some other 16-bit / 44.1kHz (or less) gadget first.

Again, not if that material in whole or even in large part came out of a sampler, passed thru it for processing, or was passed thru some other circa '86 digital gadget before hitting that tape.

We had this same issue with Touch in the last batch of releases - most if not all of the record had been recorded onto analog multitracks, but was mixed down to two-track digital back in '83. The label opted to not even release a "high-res" remaster, because it would just be an upsample...

 

W. T. H.???

Are the download links for the albums universal, or are there separate links in Europe and the US?

 

Well, our host’s vinyl master of Hounds of Love is the definitive version. I maintain that A LOT can be gained from high resolution sources on these recordings, despite the involvement of early digital sampling keyboards.

 

I got the downloads direct from Eurythmics.com and on mine, "The Last Time" from Revenge, has a digital dropout/skip at 2:52 - anyone else getting this in their digital copies and/or is it present on the vinyl too? I can probably repair it in RX6 but I shouldn't have to (this is the only copy of this album I've ever owned so I have nothing else to compare it to).

 

"High resolution" has nothing to do with what our host accomplished on Hounds Of Love. It's having golden ears and knowing how to best equalize and compress (or not compress) the source material. You could deliver his master of Joni Mitchell's Court & Spark on 256kbps MP3 and it would still sound better than any other version, including the high res download from HDTracks.

 

Yes, I know that.

My point: in mixing, EQ, compression, delay and reverb contribute a lot to a mix. Soundstage. Depth. Disregarding that because of the Syclavier isn’t what I would do.

 

No glitch on the Japan For US Alan. Odd this happens from time to time, a Pixies MFSL SACD has one also (IIRC)

 

Very disappointed with the 24/96 version of BYT and 24/44 of Revenge from HighResAudio. Both are horribly compressed as @Limopard mentioned. The first batch of reissues from April were pretty good, but this one is brickwall hell again.

@AlanDistro: no dropout in the HighResAudio DD version at 2:52.

 

For a simultaneous release-
Goo Goo Dolls-Magnetic, 2013 -The 24/88 averaged an 11
The compact disc and funnily enough the Mastered for Itunes were crushed to a 6, i've seen quite a few slip through over the years. Pure marketing crapola

 

If those gadgets were all digital as well - or if most of that were done in the Synclavier itself, which was certainly possible - there'd be nothing to gain from upsampling the original master to a "high-res" format. And there'd be very little to gain even if those were analog gadgets, with so much of Savage having gone thru the Synclavier to begin with.

I'd be curious to see the spectrum of the "high-res" Savage, to see if there's any ultrasonic content at all besides obvious noise.

 

Has anyone confirmed the downloads offered with the vinyl are in fact different, less-compressed masters? I didn't see anything out in the DR database when I checked earlier in the day.

 

Can you buy just the downloads?

 

On various hi-res sites, yes, I got the downloads from the band's site because I bought the vinyl, which includes hi-res download cards.

 

I would too. My argument hasn’t been specifically about Savage, which probably has been why we’ve had this back and forth. I’ve made my opinion clear, in general terms, and will leave it at that. Not knowing the recording specifics of Savage firsthand, I cannot comment further.

 

I can confirm they are less compressed than those mentioned here. The downloads offered with the vinyl are all DR12-DR15. I run the DR report in JRiver, I guess I could download the tool from the DR Database and get entries up there later today.

 

Okay, added the DR logs for the downloads that came included with the vinyl purchases.

Be Yourself Tonight: Album details - Dynamic Range Database
Revenge: Album details - Dynamic Range Database
Savage: Album details - Dynamic Range Database

 

Wow! Dramatically different - comparable to the original CDs.

Well, won't be buying these from any of the websites, that's for sure.

How do they sound compared to the original RCA CDs would be my next question? Because I thought the original discs sounded pretty good - the were quite similar to the vinyl up thru Revenge, but with fewer of vinyl's awful high harmonics - and I'd be surprised if a remaster could extract much more detail or clarity from them.