Rolling Stones Vinyl Box 1971-2016 Sound Quality Thread

You're going to stub a toe.

 

Listening to Emotional Rescue- sounds fantastic.
You can hear so much detail- espeacially in Indian Girl. Guitar picks on the strings, snare drum, etc.
I also gave my GHS another listen through speakers (Harbeths) and it sounds better than when I auditioned it through headphones.
The Harbeths tend to be a bit more forgiving to the distortion.
MD claims they are working getting me a replacment.

 

First of all: I'm into vinyl for about 3 months now, and I'm not a audiophile listener. So this is just my personal opinion, without pretention that I'm an expert), it's just how I feel about it.
I have the box now for about a month and listened to all discs 3 times (some more). I only have the 2009 (remastered) CD's as a reference. I know the Stones catalogue very good, all albums are programmed in my mind.
My simple conclusion is that the vinyl can't compete with the CD's, and I know that these 2009 ("Marcussen mash ups") are not well received here. I agree that on the CD's on some songs, or fragments, the loudness is really significant and distortion is noticeable. But it is still much better than the LP's in this box.
Maybe the vinyl is how it 'should' be heard and is aligned to the original records, but for me the new box is simply not good enough. Don't misunderstand me, I like the box, especially the looks and build of it. But sonically I'm not convinced at all. The albums up to IORR are very muddy, with a lot of distortion. My copy of GHS is practically unlistenable. A lot of non fill, especially on Star star, that one is really very bad. Also non fill on BaB, VL. But I can live with that. My CD's are just brighter (in a good way), I hear the lyrics better, (besides from the fragments I mentioned), instruments are much more audible and almost no distortion (also not on GHS). On the first few albums (SF, EOMS, GHS), I constantly hear a rumbling sound between the tracks. Furthermore a lot of crackles, whooshing sounds, and other sounds I don't want to hear on a record. Later on in the catalogue (early 80s), the sound of the LP's is getting better and almost comparable to the CD's. But over all: not a very good rating sound-wise. Still happy with it because of the looks of the box and like the ritual of putting on records (brushing, looking at the cover, etc).

I just can't understand why people say these LP's sound great and are almost the best LP versions available. If that's true, how terrible the previous LP editions must be. I have a decent audio system (not high end, but amp/speakers/turntable cost around $4000, so wouldn't call that a 'entry' set), that should be sufficient to get a decent sound out of these albums, right?
Do you know the fairytale ''the emperor's new clothes"? Reading this topic (and reading reviews of Michael Fremer etc), makes me think of that one.

 

Are you sure your turntable is properly set-up?

 

Originals for the most part still best these (haven’t listened to them all yet) but I give them the edge over CDs. System dependent I assume.

 

agree with the other replies. you must not have your system set up correctly. I have UK Decca originals, London originals, RS originals from US and UK, the Virgin and CBS cds, and this box is right there with the original vinyl. Granted the Decca and London's aren't part of this box but I knows me stones lol. Blows the cds away for sure. I lucked out with a box that has a perfect GHS so even that sounds great.

 

Turntable is set up properly, 100% sure. As I said in my post, the newer albums tend to equal the sound of the CD's, so they are fine (although I prefer the CD's because they have no crackles at all). The first albums including SG are just not up to the standard I expected. Too much weird sounds in between tracks and non fill during tracks (2 or 3 times). Furthermore, maybe I expected too much of the new vinyls and I'm more a ''CD man''.

 

You're obviously more of a CD man if you prefer the 2009 remasterings. You should at peast get the '94s.

 

It sounds like you prefer CD rather than vinyl with your comment about weird sounds between tracks. There is nearly always going to be some background “rumble” or “swooshing” when playing a piece of vinyl but with proper setup this should be minimal if at all, though some pressings can exhibit more than others. Personally I would check my setup again checking that the weight has been set correctly. I am not dismissing what you are saying. A search of the thread will show I have had some issues with the set as well particularly with non-fill and I have had replacements from Amazon until I am satisfied. I am not a vinyl Luddite by the way. I will listen to music on CD and download plus streamed from Tidal through Roon and many variations of Hi resolution. What I never did was ditch my records or deck in favour of shiny discs back in the eighties. It seemed fairly obvious to me that as long as I had a good enough turntable I would extract loads of enjoyment from my records, and I do. Good luck!

 

I am up through Black & Blue, and aside from one spot on SF and the distortion on "Star Star" my copies have all been perfect.

 

I suspect your cd /dvd/sacd player is much better than your vinyl set up. I think you would need to upgrade the turntable, cartridge and phono stage as they are just a step above entry level. I have GHS and Tattoo on the 2009 cd and I actually think they are quite good. I have no original vinyl to compare them to but imo they are very acceptable and I regularly spin them. And my system is not entry level.

 

I think you're right! Turntable is almost new, so I'm not going to replace that. But maybe the cartridge next year. I have ortofon OM10 now. Does it make sense to only upgrade this part?
Still what makes me wonder is why only these new Stones records sound like this. I have some Pink Floyd records and Dire straits that sound crystal clear.

 

Checked the setup of the weight and it's calibrated fine. Think the problem lies in the fact that turntable (although not entry level) is less in quality than my CD player. See previous post.

 

Well at least in my case, the problems are not with my set up. I'm hearing distortion on most the 70's albums, and in the instances where I have other copies to compare (SF, Some Girls) the distortion is only present on the vinyl from this box.

There are two issues I've had: (1) Tons of non-fill, which I've mostly been able to fix with a replacement box, and (2) something similar to non-fill but not as bad, i.e. "kinda-fill". It's a high frequency crackle that's separate from the music, i.e. it's similar-but-not-quite-the-same as what you'd hear with a worn out cartridge. The distortion pops up here and there on SF, GHS, B&B, SG, and ER. It's annoying because once you hear it, you start waiting for it to happen again (and of course it does). To me this really seems like a pressing defect, something went wrong, maybe they were rushing these to meet the release date?

If others are not hearing anything, then congratulations on getting a perfect set. However I suggest listening on headphones to confirm you don't have the same problem.

 

I think they did an incredible job with the packaging, so my plan going to forward is to replace the crap pressings in this set with decent copies I can find in the used bins. Thanks to this box I already have mint covers, so now I just need vinyl to go with them!

 

Remember the earlier albums in the set, Exile in particular are not well produced albums, Pink Floyd and Dire Straits were, so your turntable is probably set up fine. I may be a little harsh but a better rig would help these records, in time you may get a chance to upgrade. Change the records with non fill etc. and keep the set, with an upgrade in time it will be fine.

The best advice is to enjoy the music, your set up as is, the upgrade path can destroy your wallet and one really is never satisfied.I don't think upgrading the cartridge will make a huge difference. Hold onto the money and save for a better deck, remember you can get great value second hand if you have access to a good dealer. Half my kit is second hand including my deck, arm and phono stage, new it would cost 10k to buy all these, I got the lot for approximately 2.5k. Look out for a second hand Rega, Linn or Clearaudio. They regularly get traded in.

 

Like I said before, in the cases where I have originals, the original plays fine while the version in the box has the "kinda fill" distortion.

My original Dutch pressing of Some Girls plays perfect start to finish, the new one starts off good (if a little bright) but then has this distortion turn up at various points. If this is caused by my rig, I don't get it -- why is the original fine? Why don't I hear these issues all the time with other records? Why is it just a problem with this box?

 

Suggestion if you have the $$- update that cartridge to at least a Ortofon red or better.
I went from a red to a bronze (really nice and warm) then I went to a Black MM
Last year I made the switch to MC with the MC red.
I am considering going MC bronze next year.
Each upgrade improved the sound (with the minor exception of the Black MM which was very revealing).

This set made me double check my set-up and a few minor adjustments (VTA, VTF) made a nice diffrence in a good way.
good luck.

 

How are you 100% sure? Your cart alignment, VTA, VTF, antiskate and azimuth are spot on? What did you use for alignment? You measured VTF at record height, not some other height? Is your platter level?

 

OM1o is nothing to be ashamed of...….sounds like vinyl issues if PF/DS are good to go.

 

Just as an aside, I’m running the 2M Bronze, and have been looking at the MC Red. I was always curious how much difference it would make from the Bronze. From your post it seems to have made a difference for the better, which is good to know.

....

A lot of issues with the new LPs sound like IGD to me (if it’s toward the end of the record). In my own experience, after exhausting all attempts to get rid of mine on my turntable, it eventually came down to the less than rigid surface the turntable had been sitting on. Once I ditched the rollout shelf, and sat it on a stationary shelf, the bottom end increased and either fixed that annoying distortion problem, or made it so it wasn’t so pronounced any longer. Something to look at if all else fails.

 

Ok finally got a chance to listen thru. I must be lucky because I have no non-fill, very flat records. I listened on headphones. I am impressed with all of the detail I now hear. I am enjoying the overall improvement of SW thru ABB. I LOVE the presence of killer low end on almost all of these records.

One thing: Does anyone else notice that the volume level of SG is lower than the rest? Maybe I am imagining this because it’s a rather stripped down record?

 

My set sounds great but at least three albums are going back on account of those issues.

 

Just a little comparison...

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I think you are talking more about pressing quality (which apparently ranges from poor-excellent depending on your luck with this set).

If the vinyl playback sounds lacking to you compared CD's (other than pressing quality), I would say you might look at upgrading you cartridge, and perhaps the PhonoBox. When you compare, make sure that your volumes are close for CD and Phono.