SQ of Rolling Stones "Beggars Banquet" 50th Ann SACD

I speed corrected a rip of my London CD so now it's like listening to a warbly, hissy, narrowed, copy tape full of dropouts.

 

I compared these again yesterday because the SACD always struck me as a little thin and bright - Ludwig seems to push the top end up on all of his Stones remasters - and I hadn't heard the London CD in a very long time so I couldn't remember how it sounded.

There's absolutely no way anyone should recommend the London CD for the reasons stated above. It's clearly mastered from a crappy dub. Everything seems to drag because it's at the wrong speed. It's substantially narrowed much to its detriment - the original master is pretty amazing to hear in how spacious and wide it sounds. And just listen to Mick's vocal on the opening cut, "Sympathy for the Devil," it sounds so processed on the London CD from whatever compression or EQ was originally applied to that cutting dub. Even with the questionable EQ applied to the 2002 SACD, his vocal is so much more lifelike.

 

Indeed. The best thing to do in these situations is to find samples of the various masterings and compare for yourself. There are a lot of self-appointed "experts" on this forum with highly questionable opinions based around an odd belief system of “older, rarer and more expensive is always better” and various other snake oil.

 

ALERT: it is currently down to $14.93!

https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Banquet-Anniversary-Rolling-Stones/dp/B07JYQNHV7/

 

With the price dropping like that, I'd guess there's a lot of stock left and I'm surprised (but happy) they're moving ahead with the Let It Bleed set!

 

This SACD is clean and clear but is definitely compressed. Street Fighting Man and Stray Cat Blues made my head ache. Why more care was not put into the mastering. What a great album but this should sound better.

 

Does anyone know if the Abcko DSD vinyl (from around the same time 2002), is tamed in the highs compared to the 02 SACD?