Yes - Tales from Topographic Oceans on CD/Digital Poll: Blind Listening Test

One more week left.

 

Listening on Sennheiser HD 579 headphones (with EQ):

I think I'll vote A > D > B > C.

Sample A has louder bass compared to B and C, which I feel gives it a more full-bodied sound without detracting from the rest of the music. Vocals sounded good as well.
On Sample B, the bass ends up feeling scratchy in spots compared to A, which detracts from the music for me. The vocals also seemed a tiny bit muffled (especially on Ritual).
Sample C is just too shrill, almost painfully so in spots. Don't know if I could listen to the whole album like this.
Sample D sounds smiley-faced, but like A, the powerful bass makes it listenable.

On my first time listening, I had just played the Rush AFTK samples, and I almost picked D because A & B were so much darker. Interesting how the mind works...

 

Finally managed to take part in one of Diablo's fabulous Blind Listening Tests again. Missed the Police and Peter Gabriel sadly.

Over time Tales has become my favorite Yes album. There's just so much going on. It has its flaws, I agree, but when I'm in the right mood and put on my headphones, close my eyes and relax and listen to the whole thing, it just takes me on a journey like no other album. It's also in my view the closest a rock band has ever come to composing a symphony, without the use of any orchestration.

Anyway, back to the test. I listened through my trusted Sony and Sennheiser headphones and D just sounds a little more revealing (no pun intended) to me than the other three. Maybe it's the treble boost others have referred to, but on my headphones it doesn't sound shrill at all, just a bit more detailed. A and B are very similar and would be next. C I didn't like too much. A bit flat and shrill.

 

Problem with this really nice idea of blind listening tests is that you have some biasing as soon as the first comment is made. Comments should be only allowed after revealing of results.

 

It's clearly recommended in the opening post to avoid reading them beforehand.
I don't really read them. I just open the thread to make sure notifications still arrive. And even if I do in part, by the time I'm doing my own test I have forgotten them already.
On the other hand, reading them after my test helped me sometimes to spot things I had overlooked. I call that learning, not bias.

 

That may be so for you, but as soon as the comments are out, you loose control of the process.

 

I am listening on Sennheiser HD 202 headphones. I don't really have the vocabulary or sensitive ear to describe what I'm hearing in a technical sense. I found samples A and D, overall, more enjoyable to listen to than B and C. B sounds "claustrophobic" to me, and I would describe C as "fatiguing." A and D don't elicit these reactions. I went back and forth, and ultimately voted A, perhaps because it sounds most like what I have imprinted in my brain from the first copy of the album I owned. D is a little clearer and perhaps more natural sounding, like A with a veil removed. I don't find it unpleasant, but different compared to what I'm used to--although I'd be happy to listen to the whole album in whatever version D represents. Final results: A or D >> B or C

 

What a terrific album! Unfortunately, listening to these samples on a computer just won't cut it for me.

 

Only 2 more days to vote!

 

It surprises me that Tales from Topographic Oceans has over 30 votes and Rush's A Farewell to Kings has only received 12 in the same time period. I would have expected it to be the other way around.

 

My think it could be the following things:

1. Tales is an album where there doesn't appear to be a consensus as to what version of the original mix sounds best. As such, there's probably a decent amount of interest in making comparisons and seeing which one comes out on top. Unless I'm mistaken, the Steven Wilson remix seems to be preferred over the old mix for this album.
2. Several people taking part in these polls aren't keen on Rush and have stated so before. With that said, Kings has the lowest turnout of any blind test I've made on the band so far. I'll see how it goes over the next week, but I think it'll likely be my last Rush poll for a while (though I've already prepared the samples for Power Windows).

 

Just one more day!

 

Going with "C"
Overall I found consistently in order the samples were C, B, D,
Although "B" and "D" were very good as well.
"A" was loud through out the samples outside of The Ancient which came third in my scoring.

 

This is tricky, I'm having a hard time deciding as they're all quite listenable. D is definitely not my speed. A and B are similar. I'm going to go with B (and simply move my treble knob if compelled). Thanks for your efforts.

 

Here is my verdict after listening on little speakers :

A : bass a bit forward . The voices sound muffled
B: similar to A
C: very clear mediums but not enough bass
D: the better balance

My choice is D

 

I listened on my Focal near field monitors.

A and b were very close. Not really a fan of either. C seemed to have a strange EQ on it, maybe a bit too bright. I like d D the best. I have the Steven Wilson mix of this and it is amazing.

 

[I'm afraid I'm not in my best analytical mind to do this, this time around]
[Lazy headphone listening]

C and D are a treble feast compared to A and B (or A and B area muffle feast compared to the others).
There should be something in between, but it's a mix matter I guess.
Is D compressed?
Both EQs makes the acoustic guitars sound too unnatural for my taste.

So muffle it is.
At this point, A seems a tad more clean, but B has more body?
None are ideal.

So I'll go with A just because it's a tad less muffled and the original mix seems to be a bit too much that.

 

About one more hour left for voting. There's a tie right now, so I'm hoping someone can break it!

 

Sample D = Rhino remaster - 13 votes
Sample A = Original Atlantic - 12 votes
Sample B = Joe Gastwirt remaster - 8 votes
Sample C = HDTracks (24/96) - 7 votes

Such a close call between these. My recommendation for the original mix is the 80s mastering. I think it ticks most of the boxes people are looking for (dynamic, warm, not harsh). The only thing is that some people think it's muffled, but that may come down to equipment and taste. The Gastwirt has more hiss than the other CDs despite having less highs, so I'm guessing that it came from a copy tape. I wouldn't recommend it over the original since it suffers a bit from limiting. Looks like this is the first time one of the Rhino remasters came out on top, albeit by a single vote. I can understand why; it's cleaner, more detailed, and uses the original mixdown tapes. However, I feel that the tonality and compression would make it fatiguing when playing the entire album. YMMV on that. I was expecting the HDTracks version to be a slam dunk, but unfortunately, it has lots of energy in the upper mids, and this may make it too harsh for some people. IIRC, it's a flat transfer, so you can probably make it more palatable with some EQ'ing.

I left off the following editions since they aren't easily (or affordably) available to most people:
Japan HDCD
Japan SHM-CD - This is just the Rhino, but with additional EQ and compression. Adding these mastering moves to an already EQ'd and compressed source likely can't be a good thing. Unlike the other versions in this section, the SHM is still in print.
High Vibration SACD
Flat transfer from the Steven Wilson set - Apparently it's different from the HDTracks flat transfer, though I don't know if people think it's better or worse. I don't own it, thus it had to be excluded.

The Farewell to Kings poll is still going if anyone wants to join in for that one.

Thanks for participating!

 

Very interesting results!

I have C and some days before the poll started I listened to the whole album, with loud volume, with my headphones. Didn't feel tiresome, at all. Which is surprising, actually, after this poll ahah

Thanks for this, Diablo! Looking forward to the next one!

 

I voted for D and thought it could be the Rhino. Even though I'm sensitive to too much compression, I never found this one fatiguing (and usually I would listen to the whole thing in one go). I also like the extended intro of TRSOG on the Rhino. Before the Rhino I had either the Atlantic or the Gastwirt. Don't remember, but it sounded fine, so I guess it was the Atlantic. However, since acquiring the Steven Wilson remix, that's hands down my go-to version.

Thanks DiabloG! Great poll. I won't be doing the Rush as I'm just totally not into them. My fault and loss, I know.

 

I recognized B as the Gastwirt and guessed D as the Rhino. Wasn't sure about the other two. I've never heard the original Atlantic disc.

Aside from the characteristic Rhino treble peak, the thing I dislike about the Rhino remaster is the inclusion of extra material at the start of "The Revealing Science of God". The band chose to leave that stuff out back in '73, so it should have stayed left out. It would have made an interesting bonus track, but it shouldn't be added to the album itself.

These days my preferred versions of all the 1971-74 Yes albums are the Steven Wilson remixes.

 

This is not good

 

[QUOTE="Jamsterdammer, post: 29676102, member: 114952"However, since acquiring the Steven Wilson remix, that's hands down my go-to version.[/QUOTE]
Ditto, dudes.

 

So interesting--thank you! I had a set of guesses about what was what, based solely on my knowledge of physical media. It looks like I was correct about A and B, but assumed C was the Rhino and D was the Kikuchi HDCD. In some ways, finding out that C (which I voted for, with some reservations) is a flat transfer makes me feel better than when I thought it was the Rhino, as I have generally disliked the Rhinos in the past.

On the other hand, I just did a shootout of various versions of Drama (the original Atlantic CD, the Gastwirt, the Rhino, an early Canadian LP, and the recent Kevin Gray LP), and was shocked to find that (at least without making any tone control adjustments), I preferred the Rhino CD and the Canadian LP, with the Rhino being very transparent and not edgy at all, though perhaps a bit lacking in the lower end, and the Canadian LP being a little on the dark side, but not nearly as dark/muffled as the original Atlantic CD or as trebly as the Gray LP. A listen to the Rhino version of Going For the One quickly disabused me of the idea that I might be having a change of heart about the Rhinos more generally, as it had that same trebly character we hear on sample D of Tales.

Back to Tales, it's good to know that I shouldn't bother to track down a used copy of the Rhino, as I found the treble on that sample to be too much. I wrote this before, but just to reiterate for those people who have the ability to play vinyl and who are interested in a mastering that is somewhere between A and C/D, the original UK vinyl sounds pretty wonderful to my ears and on my system--very natural, and better balanced (IMHO) than the Wilson remix LP. While early UK Yes vinyl can be expensive, this one didn't cost me much at all despite being in true near-mint condition, so I suspect used copies of this album are simply more available than most other Yes albums of its vintage (though I bought it well before the pandemic-era vinyl craze, so things may have changed more recently).