The Official "Apple Digital Masters / Mastered for iTunes" Thread*

Can anyone recommend - or not - the Kinks MFiT releases?

 

I noticed a couple of Hall & Oates albums MFIT---Beauty on a Back Street and Big Bam Boom.

 

Hi everyone, I was recently given an iTunes gift card and purchased a few MfiT albums. One of which was Something / Anything? by Todd Rundgren. This is my first digital copy of this album. It’s a little loud, but it sounds great. Crisp and clear sounding. Another MfiT album I noticed while surfing through iTunes was Octopus by Gentle Giant (Steve Wilson Remix). I think next time I have some cash for iTunes I will get Back to the Egg by Wings. Older mastered CDs of this album seem to be kind of hard to track down or cost a lot. And I’m not familiar with the album enough to spend current asking prices on an old cd. Does anyone have any opinions on the sound of the Wings/McCartney MfiT albums?

 

Also, for those that have purchased the MfiT Monkees albums, what do you think of them? I’m thinking about springing for Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones LTD.

 

Not sure if you guys have access to it, or would want to, but you can hear all of the albums in MFiT format you are talking about in Apple Music...you can do a 3 month free trial and cancel if you want to. They are not badged as MFiT in Apple Music, but by doing a quick check of the copyright info and release date you can match the same version available the iTunes Store and try it out. Just a thought....

 

The Wings MFiT albums sound very nice, but only the newer remasters carry the designation. “Back to the Egg” has not been rereleased yet and the version for sale is the old ‘93 remaster, not MFiT. Still a good album, though, and on sale for $7.99 this week—along with most of the Wings titles, including some MFiT—to coincide with the release of McCartney’s new album.

 

Thank you for letting me know I will check that out. Thanks!

 

Not so much has been happening MFiT wise lately but, coming up during October and November we have:

The Beatles "The Beatles" (White Album) 2018 Mix - Deluxe and Super Deluxe versions
The Rolling Stones "Beggars Banquet"
The Kinks "The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society" 2018 Stereo Master including a Deluxe version
Chic "The Chic Organisation 1977-1979" Box set (including Sister Sledge "We Are Family" along with "Chic"; "C'est Chic"; "Risque" and "Original Remixes and Edits") - this one at a bargain price on pre-order currently.

Plus the new album from Julia Holter "Aviary"

No sign of the new Kate Bush remasters coming yet, but expect they will follow the physical releases at some point.

 

Appreciate the heads up on the Chic box set. Was planning on getting this anyway; hopefully the mastering will be good. Already looking forward on hearing I Want Your Love from the set, one of the all time great bass lines if you asl me.

 

Glad to help....look forward to hearing it myself

 

Big MFiT News: The Kate Bush Remasters Part 1 and Part 2 Digital Box Sets (£29.99 each in the UK) and individual albums (£8.99 each) are all up in MFiT in the iTunes Store. Runs from "The Kick Inside" up to "The Red Shoes". Presumably Parts 3 and 4 to follow on Nov 30th. No sign of streaming versions as yet, but the original releases are still available on Apple Music.

 

One thing I note - it’s actually cheaper to buy the 3 individual albums in Part 2 of the MFiT Digital Box Set (at least in the UK). Also disappointed at the way they’ve been presented - the physical sets look to be far better value at present.

 

I’m seeing the two remastered digital box sets as MFiT but not the individual albums in the store. Might just be a case of a lack of patience on my part with waiting for the store to update.

Will see if any of the Kate’s MFiT albums make it to Apple Music.

Thanks for the heads up though!

 

No problem - I had to do a separate search using “2018 remaster” as key words to find them initially as they didn’t appear in the list of her albums when I first looked. Also just noticed that HDTracks and Qobuz have them up in 24/44 but again cheaper to buy the individual albums in Part 2 (and art work on the separate albums is better too). The physical package appears the way to go, though I do like the MFiT and Hi-Res availability.

 

And there they are! Thanks

 

Yet another new remaster for Whitesnake's Whitesnake album, the 2018 remaster, on iTunes in the US. Contains the original US running order, plus the 2 tracks previously only found on the original UK version. Have only done some sample comparisons to the 30th anniversary version from 2017, but this remaster sounds much better - higher frequencies shining through (so less of that playing in a tunnel sound) and the bass also seems a little more distinct to my ears. A definite improvement over the 30th anniversary remaster.

Also seeing some early Primus (Miscellaneous Debris EP and Pork Soda) on HDTracks, so hoping MFiT versions coming soon.

 

Don't know when it was added, and it is not yet listed on his page here but Tom Petty - Pack up the Plantation is available in MFiT. c.2018

 

Has anyone heard the Black Sabbath - MFiT stuff?

 

I'm no audiophile but enjoy the very reasonably priced Ten Year War box. Maybe it's different in other stores but think I paid like $15-ish. DR seem to be about 11 for the hires files so normally I would expect the MFiT to be maybe 10. Sample via Apple Music to check how your ears like it

 

13 (Deluxe Version) [Mastered for iTunes]

DR Peak RMS Filename
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR5 over -6.37 dB 01 End of the Beginning.m4a
DR5 over -6.07 dB 02 God Is Dead_.m4a
DR5 over -5.75 dB 03 Loner.m4a
DR9 over -11.34 dB 04 Zeitgeist.m4a
DR5 over -5.52 dB 05 Age of Reason.m4a
DR5 over -5.70 dB 06 Live Forever.m4a
DR5 over -6.27 dB 07 Damaged Soul.m4a
DR5 over -6.12 dB 08 Dear Father.m4a
DR5 over -5.57 dB 09 Methademic.m4a
DR4 over -5.39 dB 10 Peace of Mind.m4a
DR4 over -5.22 dB 11 Pariah.m4a
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of files: 11
Official DR value: DR5




13 (Deluxe Edition) [HighRes BluRay]

DR Peak RMS Filename
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR5 over -6.38 dB 01 End of the Beginning.m4a
DR5 over -6.06 dB 02 God Is Dead_.m4a
DR5 over -5.76 dB 03 Loner.m4a
DR9 -0.01 dB -11.34 dB 04 Zeitgeist.m4a
DR5 over -5.51 dB 05 Age of Reason.m4a
DR5 over -5.70 dB 06 Live Forever.m4a
DR5 over -6.27 dB 07 Damaged Soul.m4a
DR5 over -6.11 dB 08 Dear Father.m4a
DR5 over -5.57 dB 09 Methademic.m4a
DR4 over -5.39 dB 10 Peace of Mind.m4a
DR4 over -5.26 dB 11 Pariah.m4a
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of files: 11
Official DR value: DR5




Black Sabbath (2009 Remastered Version) [Mastered for iTunes]

DR Peak RMS Filename
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR10 -0.68 dB -13.50 dB 01 Black Sabbath.m4a
DR11 -0.74 dB -13.18 dB 02 The Wizard.m4a
DR11 -1.41 dB -13.43 dB 03 Behind the Wall of Sleep.m4a
DR11 -1.21 dB -13.23 dB 04 N.I.B..m4a
DR11 -0.97 dB -13.70 dB 05 Evil Woman.m4a
DR10 -1.26 dB -13.64 dB 06 Sleeping Village (2009 Remastered Version).m4a
DR11 -0.71 dB -13.47 dB 07 Warning (2009 Remastered Version).m4a
DR10 -2.06 dB -14.67 dB 08 Wicked World.m4a
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of files: 8
Official DR value: DR11

 

Songhoy Blues - Music in exile. Not MFiT but only €2 right now at least here and UK. Worth it.

Songhoy Blues: Music in Exile review – a Malian band to watch

 

Gotta be worth checking out cheers

 

Santana - Santana MFiT sounds very good if you don't want to spend the money on the MFSL. I'm not sure if the MFSL SACD/LP is still in print.

 

I've really been learning a lot thanks to everyone on this board. I really enjoy MFiT, but found some albums just were not as pleasing as the others. After lots of reading, I decided to check clipping (using afclip) on my MFiTs. I found lots of clipping on the ones that were bothering me, Alice Cooper-Poison alone gave me over 30 points of clipping.
Would I be better off getting rid of those files from the library and keeping only ones that come back with no clipping? Examples of ones with no clipping are the Zep, Aerosmith, etc. Going forward at least with the MFiT's I can buy one track first and check for clipping.