Best vinyl pressings - Pink Floyd albums

I'm most interested in WYWH, DSOTM, The Wall and Meddle. Read through the 2016 pressing massive post, but it's hard to make something out.
It seems these are the best:

WYWH: Mastersound
DSOTM: A3/B3
The Wall: TML
Meddle: 1u/1u

Do any of the reissues sound better? Or is it more of a bang for your buck kind of thing. All opinions appreciated!

 

Well depends on your budget I guess.
I have all the originals you mentioned
and for WYWH find a nice Uk first issue or second and you won't go far wrong.
TDSOTM A3/B3 my go to copy, again find a good one and enjoy.
The Wall I have Uk first and Dutch first
Issue, I like my Dutch copy a little more very quite playback and nice bass.
Meddle 1u/1u , good choice mine a little noisy but a great pressing worth hunting out.
As for Reissue Remastered I have 2016 vinyl and they are very good for a small outlay to start a Pink Floyd Vinyl collection.
Good luck and hope I helped you on your vinyl Pink Floyd journey, Floyd.

 

I'd say the new reissues win on lack of surface noise alone, but for real, the reissues of More, Meddle, and Animals that I picked up are arguably 'better' sonics-wise than my originals. YMMV.

For around $22 each, you can't go wrong, imho.

 

My original Meddle ain’t so great. I think I’ll go newest reissue, now.

 

Mine isn't either, the Doug Sax remaster on CD from 1994 is better than my original Harvest, which is surface-noisy and kind of...muffled and 'subdued'. The new reissue LP blows my original out of the water, truth be told. Haven't heard the new CD, fwiw.

 

Thanks for that analysis. Yep, Meddle is muddled...glad there’s a good one out there!

 

Never heard a UK Harvest, so maybe that one is as good as they say...but for half the price, I'll take the Grundman cut every time.

 

I'm just going to straight up state that new re-issues are very good. They are comparable to best pressings. Are they better? Well, you've all ready found out the most of us have our favorites. These albums are well recorded and there really are any bad ones if you stick with the major pressings. If the MoFi DSotM better than the 30th Anniversary? I don't think so. But others will argue for the UK Harvests. I'm probably in a minority, but I like the '97 EMI a lot, even though I tend to listen to the 2011 Sax cut. The 2012 TML Wall is very good, even though I haven't a clue if it's better than the new Grundman cuts. Regarding Meddle, no idea but the Grundman cut is really good, but so the MoFi gold CD.

 

Being a Floyd fan is not a sonic handicap!

 

Do you know which stamper number for the WYWH issue? How does it compare to the Half-Speed Master?

 

Also, in my first post I meant half speed master, not mastersound. I don't know how to edit posts.

 

Ive tested a lot of reissues and and originals against each other. By Reissue I mean 2016 BG Cuts.

For:

• DSOTM - Early UK (A2/B2-B3/B3) and MFSL beat reissues. Japanese PRO USE also good if you like high end and less bass but expensive. Reissues are EQd too high but still good starters.

• Meddle - Tie sort of. UK 1U up to 4-U sound identical to me, latter is cheaper. Reissue has less sibilance, less system demanding, but is also a little more laid back, still pretty close and cheaper.
• Animals - similar to Meddle above
• WYWH - I prefer the reissue becaused its EQd a little higher so voices and things sound more realistic than UK originals. UK has a bit more bass because of it and sounds smoother but less in the room.
• AHM - UK 1U wins hands down. The reissue has pretty much no advantage and the UK has better bass and vibrancy.

Still looking for a TML Wall so I cant say yet, reissues are good but Ive heard the TML is better.

Remember, if your system is already very bright it might balance out the WYWH UK and vice versa for DSOTM.
You can read my more extensive reviews on each releases respective Discogs page.

My system:

Rega RP1 with Nagaoka MP-200 Cartridge
Cyrus 2 Amplifier
System Fidelity SF-3050 Tower Speakers
Custom made HQ Speaker Cables

 

Some like the half speed, but its about the only valid half speed they did, the wall half speed is terrible for example.
Also, if you get that one, look up if its the good one or not also.
There are 2 versions, one is good, the other is as bad as their other attempts, EQ set wrong or something.

 

I have the latest vinyl re-issue of The Wall and the Mobile Fidelity CD set. I normally prefer vinyl these days but the MFSL CD is maybe the finest in my collection. Amazing.

 

In my opinion the TML is sonically better than the 2016 (The Wall)……...but my TML is on US vinyl which can be distracting because of surface noise. I've heard the US promo is where it's at for quiet vinyl....but they have become very expensive. Maybe UK or German??

 

German and UK tended to be quieter at the time yes. I think there are also TML stamped German pressings no?
Might be a good combo.
Never pop up in my store though, just Swedish copies.

 

@Leonthepro....Yeah, I'm almost positive there is a TML German pressing.......there is a recent thread that is still open that discusses the best vinyl options for The Wall (you've probably read it). I've owned around 5 or 6 different US copies of The Wall, and the ones stamped with TML sound best. But everyone of them has been noisy to some degree, which is why the 2016 Grundman is a nice option.......good sonics with quiet vinyl.
If you happen to come across a US copy, I prefer the later pressings (1980's barcode)....very light flexible vinyl (very interesting compound), but seem to have less noise than the earlier thicker vinyl, and are easier to clean. I have one with TML on all 4 sides, and is my first choice for this title. If you own the 2016, it should suffice until you find a nice TML.

 

I have late 70's HTM copies of DS, M and WYWH. They are all wonderful.

 

Btw I listened to Meddle -4 -3 and 1U/1U, couldn't tell the difference. But I thought they sounded a lot better than the 2016 BG.

 

My observations too, except not A LOT better, but noticably so, with the drawbacks mentioned.

 

A3/B3
A2/B2-B3/B3

Can someone expain what above mentioned symbols mean? How can one identify a release through these?

 

Those identify which Laqcuer was used. Do you know how the whole vinyl creating process works and what matrix runouts are? If not then its hard to explain simply, but basically if its a lower number it means it was earlier.
Same for 1U and 4U.

 

Yes I am familiar with the technology of cutting/pressing vinyls.
So what does the letter and a digit stand for.
So you're saying when there's A letter it means the first pressing? And then every subsequent repress gets B, C, D etc? What about the digits then?

 

A and B are usually the sides.

 

GENIUS !!!