Interesting that this one is getting the "Sound Lab" banner treatment. I can't imagine why they wouldn't have access to the original master, digital or not, for this release. I mean, we are talking 1989, it's not like it's from 1963 and the master tapes are ruined or lost (one would hope!)
You don’t have your gear listed in your profile, which helps in answering these kinds of questions, but assuming since you said it wasn’t a great stereo yet, why don’t you buy hybrid SACDs (making sure they have both CD and SACD layers) and play the CD layer for the time being. You are then getting the best mastering in a lot of these hybrid SACD situations either CD or SACD layer, including Dylan MFSL for the most part as was said earlier. You are then up and running with great sounding CD and you’ve future-proofed yourself for when you’ve updated your stereo where then adding a SACD player might become more of a difference maker. The CD vs SACD can make a difference to me, but it depends more in some cases than others on some technical factors like DSD etc.-- most of it above my head-- and even then I’d admit I have to put a little focus on listening for the differences first; the differences between CD and SACD of the same mastering are often cumulative to me, not a 2x4 smacking you in the forehead. Better mastering, that can be a 2x4 across the skull by comparison. I’m not a vinyl guy, but I wonder if a cheap vinyl setup would wreak havoc on expensive vinyl; but of course if you are going vinyl you are getting great sounding stuff from these Dylan MFSL or so everyone seems to say.
They could very well have used the master tape, that banner just means that they can't confirm that it is the master or not.
Definitely not. If they don’t use Original Master Recording as banner, they knew.... they got a copy from Sony.
Still seems strange to me. Many of the other Dylan titles in this series (SACD and vinyl alike) have the Original Master Recording banner, including the recent SACD of Love and Theft. If Sony decided to provide a copy for this release instead, I wonder why. I mean, like what changed? Perhaps because this is the first one released that was mixed digitally? I know that Love and Theft was actually recorded analog.
All that tells you they used the CD PCM source and converted to DSD. Maybe it was mixed to digital and analogue which is not an unkown practice at the time.
Kind of a bummer someone isn't willing to go back to the original analog recordings and do an all-analog mix/master from it, sticking as closely as possible to the original.
Don't trust the banner on the online photos. Wait to see the actual product. They occasionally have one banner online and the opposite one on the physical product.
Good point. I'd go a step further and say ignore the banner altogether. A few of my favorite Dylan masterings use the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab banner.
Agree to my ears the Columbia SACD sounds infinitely better than the original CD. I’m sure the same can be said for the MFSL based on previous Dylan SACD’s which are gems in the collection. Nothing better than Bob in glorious DSD SACD!
Agree. As of now, my preference in order is 1) Original US pressing vinyl 2) Sony SACD 3) Original CD I also have the 4 Men With Beards vinyl, but I never play it and I wouldn’t recommend it.
Why is this SACD a limited edition of 3000? I have the other mfsl SACDs and a far as I know they were not limited.
Agreed! The original CD always sounded a bit dull to me. I don’t know if it was just the analog to digital converters they were using, or if they didn’t use the master tape for the CD, or if all their expertise was still tied to vinyl and they just were not getting the most out of the CD format.....But the original US vinyl pressing sounds very good, and the Sony SACD sounds good too. It will be interesting to see how different the MoFi issue is compared to the Sony.
Maybe. But it wouldn't be a selling point like with some of the 60's/70's albums being redone, the original mix is great. It'd just be cool to have it fully analog.
Was going to order the SACD today but after listening to the splendidly mastered (by Greg Calbi) original CD, I am not going to bother.
