|
Rocky Road From Classic Rock to Progessive to hip hop to today's hot new tunes! |
|
|
|
Rocky Road From Classic Rock to Progessive to hip hop to today's hot new tunes! |
|
In Reply to: Can anyone fill me in on the Dr Ebbetts Beatles cd's/vinyl? posted by artemus on August 29, 2006 at 09:18:16:
From:**ap@b...
Date:* Sat*Oct*13,*2001* 2:17 am
Subject:* A Beatle MFSL ComparisonIn my never-ending quest to listen to the world's greatest band in the
absolute finest sound quality available, I would like to share my
observations on the some of the various Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
(MFSL) disks currently floating around. I'm strictly basing my
comparisons and observations on the audio only. The artwork and
packaging is very impressive on each of the four sets I sampled, but
my interest and focus is on the music. My "experiments" were based on
the following four series and the disks I have in each one (all disks
for the basis of my comparison are the stereo UK versions.):Fabulous Sound Lab (FSL)
*Please Please Me FS-1001
*With the Beatles FS-1002
*A Hard Day's Night FS-1003
*Beatles For Sale FS-1004
*Help! FS-1005
*Rubber Soul FS-1006Mirrorspock (MS)
* Please Please Me
* With The Beatles
* A Hard Days Night
* Beatles For SaleMFSL - Japanese issue (the ones with the cardboard covers) (MFSL)
* Revolver (MFSL 1-107)
* Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (MFSL 1-100)
* Magical Mystery Tour (MFSL 1-047)
* The Beatles "White Album" (MFSL 2-027) (2cd)
* Yellow Submarine (MFSL 1-108)
* Abbey Road (MFSL 1-023)
* Let It Be (MFSL 1-109)Dr. Ebbetts Sound System Disks (DE)
* Help! -PCS 3071
* Rubber Soul - PCS 3075
* Revolver - PCS 7009
* Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - PCS 7027
* Magical Mystery Tour - SMAS 2853 (UK and US mix is identical)
* The Beatles "White Album"- PCS 7067/7068
* Let It Be - PCS 7069
* Abbey Road - PCS 7088I, like many Beatle fans, feel that EMI's original release of the
Beatles catalog on CD in the late 1980's was extremely disappointing
(flat sound, shoddy artwork, mono only choices, unnecessary remixing,
etc, etc…) Today, I also find it inexcusable and unconscionable that
it has taken over a decade now to correct this wrong, especially since
we're talking about the world's most popular, talented, and
influential recording artists of this century. Since there are no
current plans that I'm aware of to re-master and upgrade the Beatles
catalog, I have preferred listening to these various disks, all
transfers from the original MFSL stereo vinyl series. It probably
bears mentioning that none of these sets are ACTUAL MFSL CD's as the
"real" MFSL (which sadly went out of business a couple of years ago)
never released any Beatle albums on CD…only vinyl. So all the CD's in
my comparison are sourced from vinyl. And in the case of the FSL, MS,
& DE disks…meticulously transferred for the best possible
reproduction. But there are some significant differences between the
different sets nonetheless…1) I first compared the first 4 titles (Please Please Me to Beatles
For Sale) between FSL and MS and the next 2 (Help! & Rubber Soul)
between FSL and DE.Note that FSL only released the first 6 titles (PPM -RS, plus a
seventh bonus disk of the Swedish Radio concert from 1963). As far as
I know, they came out a couple of years ago and claim to be mixed and
mastered in 20-bit HDCD (High Definition CD). I should state at this
time that I do not consider myself an audiophile or "techie" when it
comes to sound fidelity. I have no idea what the specifics are of HDCD
or whatever number you want to put before the word "bit". I am a
musician who has spent many hours in recording studios (on the "other
side of the glass'), but my main love is listening to music and my
observations are strictly based on what I'm hearing and not the
knowledge of knowing what "went into" making the recording.It is also my understanding that MS is releasing one title at a time
chronologically and just recently put out Help!, which I have yet to
hear. It is also worth noting that the DE series includes both stereo
and mono versions of UK and original US Capitol titles. I have heard
and seen these US DE disks and they are fabulous. But again my focus
here are the UK stereos, so back to the first 6 titles...Both FSL, DE, and MS are all excellent mixes. All are far superior to
EMI's official releases of the first six titles. Not only are the
first four in wonderful stereo, but both Help! and RS are thankfully
restored back to their respective original glorious mixes (I
personally found EMI's re-mixing of these titles on the official CD
releases to be more offensive than the first four in mono only
issue.). Great time and care has gone into all of these mixes and I
would have no reservation(s) recommending all three. Having said that
I did find the FSL disks to edge out (slightly) MS on the first 4
titles, and DE on 5 & 6. I found the MS and DE disks to be very
similar with negligible differences. The instrumental sound (meaning
all non-vocal parts) on the MS and DE disks were their respective high
points. Both had an overall crisp and bright sound which was a joy to
hear. But there was something about the sound of the vocals on both
the MS and DE disks that lacked the depth and warmth of the FSL's.
They sounded thinner, even "tin-ey" at times. The FSL's mixes I know
have been criticized as being too muddy, because the bass seems to
have been boosted somewhat (though I do feel that the first 2 titles
especially, benefit from the "extra" bottom without compromising the
original mixes. Macca's playing is almost non-existent on some of the
PPM and WTB tracks and I don't feel that the "muddy" tag is fitting.).In addition, the FSL disks DO have some very minor vinyl noise in some
of the quieter passages that are absent on both the MS and DE sets
(but I was only able to hear them in headphones, listening very hard
and TYRING to find them, and did not in anyway feel that it negatively
got in the way.). But the extra "bottom" in the FSL's does seem, to my
ears, to give the vocals a more organic, fuller sound. Again…the
instrumental mix does sound better on the MS's & DE's and not to take
anything away from the incredible musicianship on Beatle records…but I
do feel that the vocals take president in the Beatle listening
experience. And it's not as if the non-vocal parts on the FSL disks
were unpleasant in any way…the FSL instruments still sounded great to
me (after all we ARE talking about listening to Beatle musicJ) it's
just that credit must be given when credit is due, and the non-vocal
parts did sound cleaner (again, slighty) on the MS and DE disks. And I
guess you can also say that my preference for the FSL's is rooted
somewhat in my belief that the "inferior" non-vocal sound on the FSL's
didn't "bother" me as much as the "inferior" vocal sound on the MS
and DE disks (again probably my preference for vocals). So until we
get a "combined" MS/DE instrumental mix with a FSL vocal…I'd give the
edge (by a whisker) on the first six titles to FSL (which has no plans
that I know of to continue pass RS.).The next test was between:
2) Revolver through Abbey Road on both DE and MFSL.
Here there was no comparison. The DE disks blew away the (Japanese)
MFSL's. The MFSL's sounded like they were nothing more than a straight
vinyl to digital transfer. Some clicks and pops were audible (though
not many, but more than on the FSL's that I mentioned previously). In
fact I would recommend the official EMI CD's over the MFSL's CD's. (I
should point out that the EMI CD's on the titles after Rubber Soul
don't seem to suffer as much as the first six. But I still find the
"official" versions to be harsher and flatter sounding than the DE
disks. This is in no doubt do to the "primitive" analog to digital
equipment that was available in the late 80's.).The DE Sound Series disks though were another matter. Since there was
no comparison between the DE and the MFSL, the only "competition"
that's valid with the DE CD's is with the official EMI releases. Again
great care and time was put into the DE disks and it was evident on
the first listen (which has only grown stronger with repeated plays).
There's no question in my mind that the DE series sounded warmer
(there's that word again) and less processed than the original EMI's.
The DE disks are the original UK mixes sourced from MFSL virgin vinyl
and sound like listening to pristine vinyl without any "noise".
Revolver was especially mind blowing.I'll be looking forward to hearing the MS disks when he gets into
these titles… maybe they'll be an upgrade over the DE series. Or maybe
by that time EMI will FINALLY get around to remastering and upgrading
(NO REMIXING!!!) the entire catalog and all of this would be a moot
point. In any event… I hope this was of interest. Please feel free to
e-mail me if you need any further clarifications….Peace and love,
ap
For those who are interested in such things- I conducted my
"experiments" at home (primarily), on my computer speakers and in the
car with the following:
NAD C350 Stereo Integrated Amplifier
NAD Monitor Series Compact Disk Player 5000
B&W DM600i Bookshelf Speakers
Paradigm Performance Series Mini Speakers
JBL Computer Speakers (don't know which model number, but they sound
good to me)
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- A review lifted from elsewhare - LWR 09:21:24 08/29/06 (0)
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
