The Smiths - CD comparison thread

I'm gonna have to burn these and listen on my stereo. The japan issue is obviously "louder". Here are the wav forms in the same order of the three samples. Rough Trade, Sire, Japan. Thanks a lot Craig for posting those.

 

I knew it was too good to be true. Dang - guess I'll still be hunting down those scarce Rough Trade cds. Damn!

That being said, I'm sure those Japanese reissues are pretty sweet, I'd like to have them, if the sound isn't any worse than the current WEA cds....

 

C'mon, Jsayers, the sound is 10 times better, unless you listen to waveforms rather than music! The japanese mini-vinyls are sure louder but the loudness level is VERY moderate by all standarts, the same as most Vic Anesini remasterings and less than most Bill Inglot's work. I'm very sensitive to compression myself (and my system sure is) but I cannot hear a single sonic artefact of it - but I do hear huge 3D soundstage and the sound that fills the room effortlessly - hardly what we hear with compressed CDs, right? The sound of japanese mini-vinyl is VERY easy on the ears. The main difference though is the tape source - they simply had a much better tape to work with. Thus all the smallest details are heard and all the instruments (and the voice) are stunningly natural. I don't own many SACDs that sound as good as this so my biggest advice is to stay away from comparing waverforms and soundsamples on computer speakers and get yourself at least one of the mini-vinyls. At least, if you don't hear what I hear you can always sell it for a good price or wait when it goes OOP and sell it for more!



P.S. Judging by the waveforms the Sire must sound teh best but we all know it sounds like crap , don't we?

 

Actually, I'm not considering waveforms. I just wanted to know if the Japanese got ahold of better sources or actually DID re-remaster what we have now. As far as I can see, the verdict is still out. Believe me, I'm ready to jump all over the Japan cds if they sound better than the current issues.
My, you're pretty insistent that these sound better - I just need a "tad" more evidence of that before I drop a bundle picking these bad boys up....

By the way, that "track listing" for the rumoured Rhino boxed set someone posted earlier is bogus, big-time! I searched the various Smiths/Morrisey forums and that single "Australian" - sourced rumour has been dismissed out of hand.

So, like the existance of UFO's, until there is more proof....

 

The only reason I'm pretty insistent is because I heard it with my own ears and on my own system and my jaw was on the ****ing floor for a while. I used to own all WEA's and never liked what I heard. I traded WEA's of Meat, Queen and Strangeways for Rough Trade/Sires and heard only a small, marginal improvement so I was as hesistant as you are to pick up the mini's. Before that I never heard a truly great sounding Smiths CD ( I even thought they were lousy recorded in the first place) so it was a revelation to my ears as well as a couple of my friends, who also happen to be Smiths fans - I invited them over and played them both WEA and mini lately and they were as shocked as I was. In fact they both allready ordered the entire bunch of mini's. Go figure!

P.S. There's nothing wrong with being causious about this stuff. I am most of the time. Too bad some of the latest japanese mini's have a nasty habbit of going OOP pretty quick (as it happened to Doobies).

 

what a classy, erudite description:thumbsdn:

 

I just checked the 30 sec sample of "Stop Me" from the Japan Mini LP against "Stop Me" from my regular WEA disc and they are definitely derived from the same digital transfer, i.e. they stay in sync perfectly.

 

So it's likely that we're just looking at a remaster OF a remaster?

I've never heard any of the WEA pressings, only the Sire/RT ones.

 

I listened to all three on my system. Guys, the UK Rough Trade disc came out on top for me.

The Rough Trade is open and breathes nicely. It sounds like a master tape (which I can't say with certainty, but in comparison to the other clips, it certainly sounds that way).

The US Sire is the same as all the US Sire discs... the soundstage is not as wide. It sounds like a tape dub of the master. Which it probably is...

The Japanese disc is compressed, so everything is up front and in your face. The acoustic guitar and cymbals are competing. The reverb trails and ambiance are more pronounced. Either the compression is making the cymbals and acoustic guitar more pronounced, or there's an EQ boost in the 10k area. To me, this is what people like about compressed stuff... it's the illusion of a bigger sound.

Just my two cents... no offense to anybody who likes the Japanese discs. As for me, I'll be looking for the Rough Trades in the used market.

 

No.

 

If you tried to read my several original posts more carefully you would probably notice more traditional descriptions of the sonic differences.

 

I'd say it's very likely. This seems to be the same thing done with the Led Zeppelin mini-sleeves... they are the Page/Marino remasters with more compression/limiting.

 

The sample of the mini sure sounds compressed - however the real stuff sounds nothing like it and I"m not the guy who likes compressed discs one bit.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "the real stuff." Isn't this sample taken from one of the Japanese discs?

 

Can you please make your conclusions based on the CDs you heard and compared on your system and not on your suggestions? For starters the japanese mini uses much better tape than WEA if not the original one. No matter how you try you cannot re-EQ the lousy CD like WEA and make it sound like a sonic masterpiece that the japanese mini is.

 

The real stuff is what you hear once you put the disc into a decent CD player on a decent system at home. And I hear nothing like the compressed crap on that sample.

 

So you're saying that the sample doesn't sound like your disc?

In all fairness, I'm still in the dark even though I posted the samples. The Japan sounded better to me, but that was ONLY on my computer speakers. I haven't compared these on a real stereo system, so I'm relying on you guys here too.

However, if these are burned to CD-R and played through whatever you play them on, they should be extremely close, if not exact. The compression factor should be the same.

 

My disc doesn't sound compressed at all.

 

Here is the same 30-second clip wav form from the needledrop I just did. I'm still trying to post the audio sample. Maybe I can e-mail it to you Craig and you could host it?

The vinyl is Rough-106 from the 3 LP set Half A Person I just purchased. Deadwax ROUGH-106-A1, ROUGH-106-B1. Sounds is superb!

I'm not sure about the Japanese CD. It just seems like the sound is up front and in your face compared to my needledrop and the Rough Trade CD. The sire is definitely worse than the Rough Trade.

 

Can you rip a WAV file so we can take a look at it?

 

I'm sorry - I don't know how to post samples or waveforms.

 

I don't know what you mean by "your suggestions." I'm not suggesting anything, I'm giving you my conclusions based on the clips burnt to a CD-R and played on my home system. The difference between my CD-R clip and the original shouldn't be THAT different.

Anton, as I said in an earlier post, I do not intend to offend you or anybody who likes the Japanese discs. Judging by the one sample posted here (which is all I can comment on unless you want to post some), I do not like the mastering. I understand that you like the Japanese discs. That's fine. But please don't tell me that my opinion is not valid. Post more clips! I'm willing to give them a fair shot. But I'm not about to buy a copy of each version (especially the $35 Japanese discs) just to make a comparison.

 

I'll try to put up another one tonight - maybe something like "I Won't Share You" - it starts with vocal and the whole thing is pretty quiet, so maybe it's a good contrast to "Stop Me".

On a side note (but still related), I got an original Rough Trade HATFUL OF HOLLOW. The peak levels are different from the ones posted here though. More stuff to sort out...!

 

Mind posting 'em when you have a chance, semidetached? And thanks for doing the clips. Really digging this thread...

 

Me too - it actually boggles the mind that this band isn't very well represented on cd, so until the "rumoured" Rhino box comes out these Japan reissues are the only glimmer of hope out there right now...that being said, I doubt they are what we were hoping for....