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Thread: Jean Michelle Jarre old or new Cd releases ?

  1. #1
    Join Date: Sep 2016

    Location: The Netherlands

    Posts: 54
    I'm Johan.

    Default Jean Michelle Jarre old or new Cd releases ?

    Hi everyone,

    it has been a while since my last visit, but right now my hybrid electrostatic are almost finished. I use a CD player as a transport together with a DSP for equalization. So I want to buy cd's. For instance: Zoolook from Jean Michel Jarre. When looking at: http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/li...&album=zoolook I see that the older releases of this album have better dynamic range compared to te recent (remastered) ones. I can buy the old releases secondhand at for instance Discogs, but in most cases you buy a used one. (or you have to spend a lot of money for a mint condition old release).

    So now I'm wondering: should I buy a secondhand old release with better dynamic range, or a new cd? I tend to go for the secondhand / old release. It seems that quite often older releases have better dynamic range. Is this audible and an issue?

    Kind regards

  2. #2
    Join Date: Apr 2009

    Location: Hertford, Hertfordshire, UK

    Posts: 321
    I'm Adam.

    Default

    Definitively the old disc.

    I have the Jean Michel Jarre 10th Anniversary CD box set released in 1987 - it sounds great (and includes all the important Jarre releases in early CD versions).

    Mind you for Zoolook - The 1985 Polydor/Disques Dreyfus issues contain remixes of "Zoolook" (by René Ameline) and "Zoolookologie" (by François Kevorkian and Ron St. Germain), and reverse the positions of these two tracks in the running order.

    ..if this bothers you then look elsewhere.
    Adam.

  3. #3
    Join Date: Feb 2011

    Location: England

    Posts: 290
    I'm James.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by j.postema View Post
    ......Is this audible and an issue?.....
    Yes.

    Quote Originally Posted by j.postema View Post
    ......I tend to go for the secondhand / old release........ It seems that quite often older releases have better dynamic range.......
    I would continue on this path.

    The latest Led Zep and Pink Floyd releases sound great to me but in my opinion, these are the exception to the rule.
    To me most re-mixes/re-masters sound no where near as good as the original releases.

    Jim.

  4. #4
    Join Date: May 2017

    Location: Glasgow

    Posts: 231
    I'm Rohan.

    Default

    This has often crossed my mind.

    When I was younger I didn't take care of my CD collection and I shudder to think of how many original cd pressings of various albums have bitten the dust, gotten lost/broken/damaged.

    Modern remasters often seem geared to a earbud-listening/crap playback equipment audience, to those people they probably will sound better on that type of equipment.

    Of course there will be exceptions to this trend. I wish new releases came with a compressed master and a wide dynamic range version to suit everyone. Sometimes heavily compressed versions are useful...

    On the other hand, early cd pressings will have been run through the then bleeding-edge early A/D converters which I can imagine may not have sounded too good by today's standards.

    The tech is there today to make the best sounding commercial versions of all albums from the past- things like the 24-bit versions of the Yes albums remixed by Steven Wilson show that (and I'm taking about the original mix transfers available in these sets, not the remix work).

  5. #5
    Join Date: May 2017

    Location: Glasgow

    Posts: 231
    I'm Rohan.

    Default

    I suppose in your case, it is a case of "suck it and see". I agree, there must be quite a few gems amongst old releases.

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