I got weak and bought the box set in hope for a great mastering - and I am blown away...!!! At the time, I am listening to "Ring Ring" and enjoy a nice and balanced sound with an average dynamic range of 10 !!! Unbelievable, but true. I started ripping all CDs for my FLAC archives and I hope the rest will be the same. I am curious about "Dancing Queen" (I hope they didn't include ANY of the bad restoration jobs from previous remasters) and the whole "The Visitors" (I hope they used the right master this time). The box set looks fantastic. The LP replica CD sleeves are very nice. Good job so far, POLAR !!!
Great news. Please continue to post your findings. You may help sell a few more copies of this boxset.
Just some values for the statisticians -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analyzed: ABBA / Ring Ring -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR9 -0.10 dB -9.55 dB 3:08 01-Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal) DR9 -0.10 dB -11.20 dB 3:12 02-Another Town, Another Train DR11 -0.10 dB -12.82 dB 3:05 03-Disillusion DR10 -0.10 dB -10.88 dB 2:45 04-People Need Love DR10 -0.10 dB -11.70 dB 2:34 05-I Saw It In The Mirror DR9 -0.10 dB -11.39 dB 2:52 06-Nina, Pretty Ballerina DR11 -0.10 dB -12.03 dB 2:55 07-Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) DR10 -0.10 dB -11.67 dB 2:50 08-Me And Bobby And Bobby's Brother DR10 -0.10 dB -11.18 dB 3:19 09-He Is Your Brother DR9 -0.10 dB -10.09 dB 3:04 10-Ring, Ring DR10 -0.10 dB -11.42 dB 3:03 11-I Am Just A Girl DR9 -0.10 dB -10.86 dB 3:11 12-Rock 'n Roll Band -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 12 Official DR value: DR10 Samplerate: 44100 Hz Channels: 2 Bits per sample: 16 Bitrate: 928 kbps Codec: FLAC ================================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analyzed: ABBA / Waterloo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR9 -0.32 dB -10.06 dB 2:44 01-Waterloo DR12 -0.24 dB -13.73 dB 3:39 02-Sitting In The Palmtree DR10 -0.25 dB -11.19 dB 3:13 03-King Kong Song DR9 -0.25 dB -10.92 dB 3:09 04-Hasta Manana DR13 -0.28 dB -14.16 dB 3:14 05-My Mama Said DR10 -0.26 dB -11.85 dB 3:12 06-Dance (While The Music Still Goes On) DR9 -0.37 dB -10.94 dB 2:55 07-Honey, Honey DR11 -0.36 dB -13.47 dB 3:46 08-Watch Out DR10 -0.33 dB -11.93 dB 2:55 09-What About Livingstone DR11 -0.38 dB -14.31 dB 3:37 10-Gonna Sing You My Lovesong DR10 -0.36 dB -12.31 dB 3:11 11-Suzy-Hang-Around DR9 -0.18 dB -10.14 dB 2:45 12-Waterloo (English version) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 12 Official DR value: DR10 Samplerate: 44100 Hz Channels: 2 Bits per sample: 16 Bitrate: 975 kbps Codec: FLAC ================================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analyzed: ABBA / ABBA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR10 -0.10 dB -12.24 dB 3:32 01-Mamma Mia DR11 -0.10 dB -12.33 dB 3:17 02-Hey, Hey Helen DR12 -0.10 dB -14.03 dB 3:04 03-Tropical Loveland DR8 -0.10 dB -10.86 dB 3:22 04-S.O.S. DR10 -0.10 dB -11.65 dB 3:02 05-Man In The Middle DR9 -0.10 dB -9.68 dB 3:04 06-Bang-A-Boomerang DR9 -0.10 dB -10.17 dB 3:15 07-I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do DR9 -0.10 dB -10.69 dB 3:05 08-Rock Me DR9 -0.10 dB -10.06 dB 3:46 09-Intermezzo No.1 DR9 -0.10 dB -11.11 dB 3:41 10-I've Been Waiting For You DR8 -0.10 dB -9.26 dB 3:06 11-So Long -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 11 Official DR value: DR9 Samplerate: 44100 Hz Channels: 2 Bits per sample: 16 Bitrate: 971 kbps Codec: FLAC ================================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analyzed: ABBA / Arrival -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR10 -0.10 dB -11.71 dB 3:02 01-When I Kissed The Teacher DR9 -0.10 dB -11.51 dB 3:52 02-Dancing Queen DR9 -0.10 dB -12.04 dB 3:52 03-My Love, My Life DR11 -0.10 dB -12.95 dB 2:53 04-Dum Dum Diddle DR11 -0.10 dB -12.48 dB 4:02 05-Knowing Me, Knowing You DR11 -0.10 dB -13.61 dB 3:06 06-Money, Money, Money DR11 -0.10 dB -12.80 dB 3:15 07-That's Me DR11 -0.10 dB -12.73 dB 3:21 08-Why Did It Have To Be Me DR10 -0.10 dB -11.99 dB 2:55 09-Tiger DR9 -0.44 dB -12.99 dB 3:02 10-Arrival -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 10 Official DR value: DR10 Samplerate: 44100 Hz Channels: 2 Bits per sample: 16 Bitrate: 932 kbps Codec: FLAC ================================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analyzed: ABBA / The Album -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR9 -0.79 dB -11.42 dB 5:51 01-Eagle DR8 -0.27 dB -9.29 dB 4:06 02-Take A Chance On Me DR8 -0.20 dB -10.15 dB 4:32 03-One Man, One Woman DR11 -0.20 dB -12.87 dB 4:52 04-The Name Of The Game DR7 -0.20 dB -9.57 dB 4:41 05-Move On DR6 -0.20 dB -8.26 dB 3:41 06-Hole In Your Soul DR8 -0.20 dB -10.80 dB 3:49 07-The Girl With The Golden Hair - A - Thank You For The Music DR9 -0.20 dB -12.12 dB 4:31 08-The Girl With The Golden Hair - B - I Wonder (Departure) DR7 -0.20 dB -9.40 dB 4:05 09-The Girl With The Golden Hair - C - I'm A Marionette -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 9 Official DR value: DR8 Samplerate: 44100 Hz Channels: 2 Bits per sample: 16 Bitrate: 922 kbps Codec: FLAC ================================================================================
The Ring Ring deluxe has better DR numbers but hopefully this new box is good enough so that I can retire some of the old Polydor discs.
ARRIVAL: "Dancing Queen" is included with the original 1976 edit )) Not another bad restoration job here )) I am happy ))
DR numbers are mostly for the people who prefer statistics first. Most important thing is the SOUND itself.
THE ALBUM: "Eagle" seems to be sourced from either a lossless source (???) or has frequency cut above 17 kHz...it has also some more limiting applied and was slightly reduced in volume. Rest of the Side A tracks seem to be from non-distorted source tapes, but I have to check further.
It’s just a shame the main single discs (ie the 2001 set) have such great booklets so we have to keep those no matter how much better later remasters might be.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analyzed: ABBA / Voulez-Vous -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR10 -0.22 dB -13.25 dB 3:23 01-As Good As New DR9 -0.20 dB -10.55 dB 5:08 02-Voulez-Vous DR12 -0.23 dB -14.62 dB 4:45 03-I Have A Dream DR10 -0.30 dB -11.57 dB 4:23 04-Angel Eyes DR9 -0.20 dB -12.37 dB 3:34 05-The King Has Lost His Crown DR9 -0.30 dB -11.39 dB 3:15 06-Does Your Mother Know DR10 -0.25 dB -12.05 dB 5:10 07-If It Wasn't For The Nights DR10 -0.80 dB -14.01 dB 5:26 08-Chiquitita DR10 -0.30 dB -11.94 dB 3:29 09-Lovers (Live A Little Longer) DR10 -0.10 dB -13.36 dB 3:17 10-Kisses Of Fire -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 10 Official DR value: DR10 Samplerate: 44100 Hz Channels: 2 Bits per sample: 16 Bitrate: 922 kbps Codec: FLAC ================================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analyzed: ABBA / Super Trouper -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR11 -0.22 dB -12.57 dB 4:11 01-Super Trouper DR10 -0.22 dB -14.04 dB 4:55 02-The Winner Takes It All DR11 -0.22 dB -13.68 dB 3:40 03-On And On And On DR12 -0.22 dB -14.50 dB 4:39 04-Andante, Andante DR12 -0.10 dB -13.42 dB 4:54 05-Me And I DR11 -0.22 dB -14.93 dB 4:24 06-Happy New Year DR10 -0.22 dB -12.33 dB 4:20 07-Our Last Summer DR11 -0.22 dB -12.54 dB 3:26 08-The Piper DR11 -0.22 dB -12.72 dB 4:35 09-Lay All Your Love On Me DR11 -0.40 dB -14.23 dB 2:54 10-The Way Old Friends Do -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 10 Official DR value: DR11 Samplerate: 44100 Hz Channels: 2 Bits per sample: 16 Bitrate: 920 kbps Codec: FLAC ================================================================================
SUPER TROUPER: "Lay All Your Love On Me" has clean ending, not the "live" transition with "The Way Old Friends Do"...sad, but true ((
Possible these may end up being the final mastering's used for streaming services, where the transition wouldn't work. They do this with live albums quite often.