I have both of these and just started listening to the Abbey Road Remasters from the Crown Jewels. Do any expert ears out here in the zone know the details of contrast between the two sets? By the way, link
The supposed Abbey Road remasters are compressed to fuck, distort, some of the lower frequencies have been cut and they have been eq-ed very badly. They sound like they were "remastered" using the production masters for the original remasters, not the stereo master tapes. Because theyve very compressed, therefore they are much louder, people instantly think theyre better.... strange. The '94 remasters are much closer to the original productions.
The Crown Jewels versions were absolutely diabolical in terms of sound - I remember thinking that it was like hearing a Queen album being played with a cushion infront of the speakers.
Go for the Japanese Mini LP versions - A1 quality IMO.
i think queen dont do a very good job re-mastering there albums, i was listening to m-jacksons re-mastered back catalogoue and the sound quality just leaves queen's behind(sadly) sometimes i do think this is deliberate so they can re-release it again possibly re-re-re-remastered lol,
Negative Creep wrote: The '94 remasters are much closer to the original productions.
That's what I believe when comparing the old and the new remasters. The new ones are different sounding to how I've always heard Queen tracks. The 2001 remasters being the latest, change the sound and are not better than the 94 remasters in that respect. If you like more bass and treble, then yaay! But if you're going to miss the mid-range, especially where Freddie's voice is concerned, give those a miss.
However, what our own testing here told us is that any of the albums, pre 1982, will sound decent from the 2001 remasters. Another however though, is that as Deacon Fan showed us, the newest remasters are far more compressed than before and therefore take some of the dynamics away from what the 94 remasters actually have intact.
It's a damned shame. But hey, go with what you like. Not what we're telling you. Try and A-B these and see which you prefer.
Peace,
Adam.
Pink Floyd's remasters were done well. Listen to the 1995 and 1996 remasters of PatGoD to DSotM and they all improved on the original US Capitol CDs. The 1997 Columbia and 2000 Capitol remasters bury the original CD issues of WYWH - AMLoR. The 2003 Hybrid SACD of DSotM is the best sounding version yet. The 2004 Final Cut is amazing. The 1998 Crown Jewels and the 2001 EMI issues are the best Queen remasters. The 1994 sound faint to my ears and the Hollywood sound eh!
Well, the 1998 remasters are crap. They relied on a defective tape machine, so the tracks have (very subtle) speed differences. Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy has the worst variation.