DSOTM 50th Remasters and Atmos Mix Reviews

[rontoon]

I just played the CD version of the new remaster and I'd be hard pressed to hear any differences than previous versions besides some slight EQ changes that I could have done at home. Will listen to Wembley tonight and the HD versions tomorrow.

Looking forward to reading everyone's thoughts on this.

[YASHA]

The expected happened, it's a pity ... Thank you for confirming the guesses.

[aybesea]

Yeah... really nothing to see... just move along

[blauwdruk]

Right… next!

[daemonspudguy]

I'm excited for the Atmos version to be released on Apple Music because surround sound Dark Side is definitely something I'm interested in.

[rontoon]

Please don't take my opinion as the end-all to this discussion. That's all it is, my opinion - and my ears are pretty old and burned out.

[svaerige]

I'm excited for the Atmos version to be released on Apple Music.

I am absolutely sure that it will not be an Atmos but the regular stereo mix

it is quite common for Apple Music and others streaming services to make mistakes in the credit

[svaerige]

just checked https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/th.../es45w03nwb5eb

no difference from 2011

[OrlandoSimmo]

Listened to a few of the tracks in Dolby atmos on Apple Music using my AirPod Pro 2’s. so far it’s disappointing

[OrlandoSimmo]

the drums on Brain damage and Eclipse sound terrible, almost out of phase with each other.

[rontoon]

aphexj posted the following review on SHF.

This morning I did a quick comparison of downloads and CD rips from these previous digital editions of the stereo album:

1. 1983 'Black triangle' CD (a FLAC rip applying the proper de-emphasis curve)
2. 1992 Doug Sax-remastered CD
3. 2021 Hi-res download (resampled to 44.1kHz for the sake of easy comparison — should also note that this is the corrected one with the proper version of "Money", not the one accidentally included from A Foot in the Door that fades out instead)

And finally, #4 the new 2023 remaster also resampled to 44.1kHz from a hi-res download. Listening on my usual digital rig with Adobe Audition, I level-shifted #2, #3 and #4 (after resampling), in order to match the integrated loudness of #1 — which, if you were curious, measures -20.96 LUFS. None of these peaked at 0dBFS and after level shifting most were peaking around -6dBFS

The 'black triangle' CD runs the longest at just shy of 42m57s (after eliminating a few seconds of digital silence at the beginning of the Doug Sax remaster, which otherwise would be very close in length). This being the earliest CD, it is also the quietest one of all and the only digital edition I know of that does not cross-fade between the piano chord decaying at the end of "Great Gig" and the cash register sound that opens "Money". Aside from being inverted in polarity compared to the others, the 'black triangle' also has significantly more background noise (including that 50Hz power mains hum which becomes rather audible at the quietest parts), perhaps because it's mastered from a production copy tape. As a tradeoff, however, there are several moments across the album where the stereo image stays pretty solid on it even where later remasters don't, presumably due to tape wear on the stereo master

After eliminating the cross-fade (ie. splitting each version into Side One and Side Two), I lined up everything in Audition's Multitrack editing view, using the first snare hits in "Breathe" and "Money" as a reference, and went back and forth between them with the Exclusive Solo buttons to A/B/C/D compare different points in the album. Overall, the '83 seems to emphasize the upper midrange and the '21 has more of a low-midrange bloom extending downward to the bass frequencies, while the '92 is the most neutral sounding. The 2023 seems to shift a lot more from track to track, some songs have more midrange emphasis, others have the bass up but without the blooming mids that are characteristic of the '21. I still hear some distortion in the cymbals and high frequency vocal range, and I think that's simply the way the mix hit the tape in 1973. You can see saturation lighting up ultrasonic parts of the 192kHz spectrogram, particularly in the left channel of "Us and Them"

I agree with other early reports saying that this is done well. It's a subtly different approach from previous masterings, going for surgical detail without sacrificing the analogue warmth... and I think it does a good job of making the album 'pop' a bit more without going too far overboard into loudness. None of the four versions stay in sync very long, so chances are this is a new transfer. The speed differences are small, less than 1% up or down over the course of the entire record so it's not like one is obviously 'more correct'. Like I said, the entire spectrum is active at 192kHz, so the new one was likely transferred at that resolution or better

Stream with confidence!

[xdreduardx]

Thank you for the technical breakdown!

[creamcheese]

Thank you for that detailed comparison and its documentation, Ron.
One thing I always wonder about (I just did recently during discussions around the upcoming MQR thing) is that the MFSL CD is mostly ignored during that kind of comparisons.
To me, this is still the CD version to get if one is interested in listening to Dark Side in CD format...
There are aspects about the 2011 remaster included in the immersion set, that I like even better than MFSL (it's a bit warmer and more compact, not meaning loudness compression).
An impoprtant aspect maybe that the 2011 remaster was the available in a Hi-Res PCM format.
The 2003 SACD mastering was nice but to me it sounded more "technical" than the 2011 one...
In the end I always get back to my great old (and incredibly sexy, if that can be a word for a record) 1979 german white vinyl pressing.

https://www.discogs.com/de/release/2...de-Of-The-Moon

I believe it's made from the same master and matrices as the german 1st pressing (german vinyl pressing were rather great in those days), and it sounds warm, detailed and pristine.
As you wrote "Stream with confidence!" as a conclusion and as I respect your sharp ears and your knowledge and dedication for this thing here (the band, the album), and as I didn't listen to the new one yet and having heard many versions of the album over the years, I'd like to know you personal opinion about this one (open) question:

Is this remaster necessary?

EDIT: Just saw your post in the DSOTM@50 thread. Question answered, I think. Thank you.

[rontoon]

Thank you for that detailed comparison and its documentation, Ron.
One thing I always wonder about (I just did recently during discussions around the upcoming MQR thing) is that the MFSL CD is mostly ignored during that kind of comparisons.
To me, this is still the CD version to get if one is interested in listening to Dark Side in CD format...
There are aspects about the 2011 remaster included in the immersion set, that I like even better than MFSL (it's a bit warmer and more compact, not meaning loudness compression).
An impoprtant aspect maybe that the 2011 remaster was the available in a Hi-Res PCM format.
The 2003 SACD mastering was nice but to me it sounded more "technical" than the 2011 one...
In the end I always get back to my great old (and incredibly sexy, if that can be a word for a record) 1979 german white vinyl pressing.

https://www.discogs.com/de/release/2...de-Of-The-Moon

I believe it's made from the same master and matrices as the german 1st pressing (german vinyl pressing were rather great in those days), and it sounds warm, detailed and pristine.
As you wrote "Stream with confidence!" as a conclusion and as I respect your sharp ears and your knowledge and dedication for this thing here (the band, the album), and as I didn't listen to the new one yet and having heard many versions of the album over the years, I'd like to know you personal opinion about this one (open) question:

Is this remaster necessary?

EDIT: Just saw your post in the DSOTM@50 thread. Question answered, I think. Thank you.

Just to reclarify, I'm not the one who posted this and did the research. I just shared it here. All credit goes to aphexj!

For my taste I prefer the flat HD transfer from a short while back and, of course, the Black Triangle CD which has always been tops!

[rontoon]

Listening to the HD files of the Wembley remaster. Fiio M11>iFi Hip DAC>Fiio FH9 IEMs. I haven't compared this to the Immersion version yet but the dynamics on this and detail are wonderful!

[plegault]

Currently listening to the Atmos mix on a home theater via Apple Music. I think it’s really well done: Speak To Me feels like being trapped in someone’s head. The intro to Time is well done, thunderous. Any colour you like is very airy. I like it.