Black Sabbath Deluxe Editions January 22, 2016

The 2016s are a giant leap up from the Black Box - and I'm not a Black Box hater like a lot of people here are - but the 2016s are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better. Especially TE and NSD in comparison to the Rhinos, just crushes them.

 

Yes, all of the 2016 (which are using the 2012 remasters for HD tracks ) are very good SQ wise. You can't go wrong here.

 

How does the 2016 cd for Volume 4 compare to the 86 Castle for the same title? I already own the Castle, but was wondering if the 2016 remaster was worth picking up....

 

Imho, if all you've got is the old Castle or WB cd's, the new 2016< or the 2009's> are worth picking up for the excellent packaging and booklets alone since they are around $7 each at Importcds.com and Amazon marketplace sellers. Those early cd's may be favored by some here sound-wise, but that was some skimpy, lousy cd packaging, you have to admit! They just look cheap and shabby. I have a combination of the 2009 and 2016's after some great advice here and I'm all set.

 

Care to elaborate?

I ask because I'm avout to pull the trigger on all eight albums from Amazon US which includes Paranoid deluxe with the live discs.

 

Even as Black Sabbath fan I disagree. The first six are very good to great, but TE is weak and NSD also.

 

There's some replies to my very same question back in this thread. Might be worth your while to read back and find them. Page #'s are in the 20's, I think. Since I already had all the 2009's, I asked which of the 2016's I should get that were significant upgrades. The reply was the 1st S/t and Paranoid. Fwiw I didn't ask about Never Say Die and Tech. Ecstasy. The 2009 of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath sounds better than the 2016 but has the channels reversed, but I didn't care so didn't upgrade that one either.

 

Thanks.

 

Paranoid is the biggest upgrade, the Super Deluxe with the live disks has the same mastering as the 2016 reissue, so you will be good to go with that. NSD and TE are upgrades as well. I think the 2009 is better for Vol 4 and SBS.

 

Thanks, I was just reading through the thread regarding the differences between the 09's and the 2016 discs. It's quite time consuming keeping up with the various topics and then deciding what to purchase.

 

I'd rank the first six as great and TE/NSD as good.

 

I'm hoping WB/ Rhino will continue the trend with new remasters for Heaven and Hell, and The Mob Rules. I apologize for going a bit off topic here, but I have the 2008 releases for both these titles. However, there does not seem to be much mention of them on the board. Are they "any good" from an audiophile perspective? Thanks in advance!

 

There's a good deal written about them but off the top of my head I can't remember where - in short, HAH and MB the 2008 reissues are both pretty well regarded here - apparently the original plane jane us release of Mob Rules is very good as well but I can't speak to that since I don't have it and it's been years and years since I heard that version.

Edit: reading rnranimal's post below, want to clarify the well regarded reissues I'm talking about are the DE's

 

I don't care for the 2008 Rhino CDs, but the 2010 DEs are great and my favorite masterings. New Rhino releases would surely source from the HDtracks masterings and I also find those inferior for these two albums (but love the Dehumanizer).

 

Do the 2008's use the same mastering as the black box? They sound overly compressed when I listen to them in comparison with the 2010's Pierce mastering

 

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Is that a yes?

 

It was either laugh or faint. Laugh was up thread. Search engine is your friend in regards to your question.

 

Thanks lol! Much appreciated!

 

You're welcome. And to save you some time, just stick with the 2016 releases (2012 remasters) and you will be fine.

 

Just ordered the four 2016 cd remasters I don't have <of the 1st 6 albums> since they are so inexpensive :
Master Of Reality
Vol. 4
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Sabotage

From Deep Discount for a total of $28.70. Couldn't resist at that price. They are having a 15% off sale until tomorrow with code HOLLY15.

 

I forgot - free shipping on orders over $25 so that was free for me. Ordered last night and got my shipping confirmation today - very quick for DD!

 

Good deal. Hope you enjoy them.

 

Today I received the 2016 editions from Vol.4 to Never Say Die! (I didn't buy Master of Reality because it was not immediately available and I wanted to avoid more than one shipment from Amazon. As I own the latest Deluxe Edition of the debut album, and also the Super Deluxe Paranoid, I skipped those two as well). These remasters are trully excellent! I haven't listened to all of them, but I gave a try to at least two tracks from each album.

• Vol. 4: I have the good old reliable Castle and the 1996 remaster. The new one seems to be the winner. I still love the old Castle, anyway.
• Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: I have the Creative Sounds cd, the 1996 and the 2009 remasters. The latter was the best, but the stereo image was inverted (no big deal if you're using headphones, just switch them!). Anyway, the latest one seems to be the chosen one now.
• Sabotage: I have the Creative Sounds version and the 1996 remaster. The chose oneused to be the former, even with the alterations in the original tracklist, but it has been replaced at last by the new one.
• Technical Ecstasy: in this case, I only had the 1996 remaster (a bootleg version that reads Technical EKstasy in the front cover, to be more precise). The 2016 cd is great. I'm listening to it while I'm writing this and I'm changing my opinion about the album. It had always been the black sheep in the original line-up discography, but I'm seriously changing my opinion about it. In fact, I'm loving it. It's not only a mastering issue, of course, but it helps, doesn't it?
• Never Say Die!: I have the 1996 remaster, and I used to own a very old Argentine cassette version. The new master sounds great to these ears.

Even though I don't have The Black Box, I've listened to those remasters, and they were a pain in the eardrum.

Regarding Master of Reality, I have my beloved old Castle, the 1996 remix, and the 2009 Deluxe Edition (which I like quite a lot). Is it worth getting the 2016 cd?

 

I have the 2009 deluxe remaster of MOR as well, and it's very well done. For what it's worth, I've heard that the 2016 version is a bit brighter than the 2009. So for that reason, I opted to skip it. On another note, how would you say the 2016 of Volume 4 compares to the 2009 Pierce?