Pink Floyd '67 singles on CD

Just did a comparison of the 'Early Singles' disc that was sold w/ the Shine On box and the 'First 3 singles' disc that was sold with the EMI Limited Edition Mono Piper CD. The disc that came with the mono Piper was unlistenable IMO. The percussion on Apples and Oranges was like an ice pick to the brain. Mastered way too hot and compresseed. I literally could not listen to it. The disc that came with the Shine On box was much better but still no great shakes. Has anyone compared See Emily Play and Arnold Layne on Echoes to the 'Early Singles' disc that came w/ thhe Shine On box? I'm guessing that the Ecohes comp is the first time that the '67 stuff was mastered w/ tubes in the mastering chain.

Chris

 

Just trying to get this post back near the top.....the only reason I'd buy Echoes is if Arnold and Emily sound better.

Chris

 

Chris,

I have the Echos cd and all I can say is don't waste your money. Over compressed, ear crushing garbage. IMHO I've heard every available version on cd that they've ever released of Pink Floyd and the only decent ones (lack of compression-wise) are the 3 MFSL's and the Mastersound gold cd of Wish You Were Here. All others sound like the same masterings with subtle differences.

 

Wow, I definitely don't hear that. I suppose that's why I rarely respond to posts about sound quality and am sometimes dumbstruck by what others think sounds really good or really bad. Oh well.

 

Well maybe I was a little strong. It is over compressed and causes audio fatigue due to the very bright top end.

 

Well....I'm only interested in the quality of Arnold Layne and See Emily Play. I already have the MFSL's but if Arnold and Emily are improved I'll pick Echoes up.

Chris

 

Well Chris, all I can say is it is really compressed. I just compared my Echos "Another Brick In The Wall" with my MFSL version and I still find Echos unlistenable. The songs you want may be better than previous issues but I have nothing else to compare your 2 songs with.

 

FWIW, I thought SEP and Arnold Layne sounded a bit more natural on this set...you're right, they are INCREDIBLY bright on the "The Early Singles" disc, which is somewhat indicative of EMI's mastering of Floyd during that period. I enjoy the Echoes versions more.

-D

 

Well, something can be compressed and not have a very bright top end, and vice versa.

I think it would be an interesting exercise to add some compression to a DCC CD and see what happens. I bet it wouldn't be as bad as you'd think.

Take for instance the new Who CD. While I'm sure the compression isn't helping anything, what really ruins the sound is the noise reduction and the EQ.