Roxy Music on CD

After living with the HDCDs and normal CDs for awhile, I've a little torn between the two

The HDCD remasters have a better tonality but sometimes sound a little too harsh...

The originals sounds more relaxed as the music seems to breathe more but the sound a little thin.

Decided that I'll keep both!

 

Passage of audio, or the maximum peak of the given track?

 

Well, OK, in this context, given track. I stand corrected.

EAC and Foobar give track peak levels.

 

That's how I feel too, although only up to Siren, I don't have multiples of the albums after Siren.

 

Fopp in the UK have a promotion on the cd remasters at the moment

£3 (approx $4.50 per title) all of them included by the look of it.

 

Even the stock US copies are lovely (pre-remaster). I have all of them and play them to death. My favourite iTunes playlist in fact.

 

Anyone heard Avalon VJD-28013?

I did a search and came up with a dodgy download site (so I shall not post the link) and it had a maximum peak listed as 73.2%.

 

Apparently...

Avalon P33P-50027 Japan (But pressed in Germany?) has the same EAC peaks as the standard W.German Polydor, but sounds noticeably better when played in an actual CD player, despite containing the same data. It's a material/manufacturing issue and could be manifesting itself in jitter and/or C1 errors.

Search this site and you'll find the discussion.

 

OK, so I dl'd that VJD-28013. Only for the purpose of testing, and have deleted the files now.

Here's the data (as checked myself, not read from log files included with the dl):

Foobar ReplayGain Peaks: 72.8 / 73.2 / 66.5 / 67.3 / 67.8 / 72.3 / 70.0 / 67.3 / 67.3 / 35.3

Code:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: H:\Roxy Music\Avalon VJD-28013
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR         Peak         RMS     Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR10      -2.75 dB   -15.07 dB  4:31     01-More Than This
DR12      -2.70 dB   -16.38 dB  4:29     02-The Space Between
DR12      -3.54 dB   -17.35 dB  4:16     03-Avalon
DR12      -3.44 dB   -18.38 dB  1:45     04-India
DR13      -3.37 dB   -18.28 dB  3:26     05-While My Heart Is Still Beating
DR11      -2.82 dB   -16.02 dB  3:54     06-The Main Thing
DR12      -3.09 dB   -16.83 dB  4:42     07-Take A Chance With Me
DR12      -3.43 dB   -19.80 dB  4:16     08-To Turn You On
DR12      -3.43 dB   -17.11 dB  4:24     09-True To Life
DR10      -9.04 dB   -23.09 dB  1:35     10-Tara
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 10
Maximum peak difference (-2.70 dB - -9.04 dB): 6.34 dB

Official DR value (Song Mode): DR12
================================================================================

It sound shockingly similar to the EGCD50 1992 Netherlands mastering, in terms of EQ. Maybe there's a slight bit of a warmer sound to the VJD.
The speed was a little out, fractionally, and only noticeable when compared as two waveforms and swapped between the two - the sync goes out.
The volume level is actually a little different across the tracks, like its a bit different volume balance comparing each pressing.

Data for EGCD50 for comparison:

EAC Peak: 99.4/100.0/99.4/98.1/97.1/86.5/87.6/81.6/85.9/50.7

Code:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Analyzed folder: H:\Roxy Music\Avalon EGCD50
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR         Peak         RMS     Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR13      -0.05 dB   -15.33 dB  4:30     01-More Than This
DR14       0.00 dB   -15.99 dB  4:29     02-The Space Between
DR13      -0.05 dB   -15.37 dB  4:16     03-Avalon
DR13      -0.16 dB   -16.16 dB  1:44     04-India
DR14      -0.25 dB   -16.76 dB  3:26     05-While My Heart Is Still Beating
DR12      -1.25 dB   -15.78 dB  3:53     06-The Main Thing
DR13      -1.14 dB   -16.33 dB  4:42     07-Take a Chance With Me
DR12      -1.76 dB   -16.78 dB  4:16     08-To Turn You On
DR12      -1.32 dB   -14.97 dB  4:24     09-True To Life
DR10      -5.88 dB   -18.91 dB  1:33     10-Tara
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 10
Maximum peak difference (0.00 dB - -5.88 dB): 5.88 dB

Official DR value (Song Mode): DR13
================================================================================

 

Here's another version of....

COUNTRY LIFE

Mastering 1: 99.6/91.1/94.6/98.5/99.8/92.6/61.4/95.9/85.4/100.0
UK Virgin/EG 5 012985 301626 EGCD 16 / Matrix: EGCD16 175761 01 % MADE IN U.K. BY PDO

Golden platted CD

 

The golden color of your disc might be disc decay armen, not gold-plating, a common problem with UK PDO discs, there's a thread about it here somewhere. You might want to make a copy of it before it becomes unplayable.

 

How about the 4CD box set? Unique mastering, or just clones? It has the majority of the tracks from all the studio albums.

 

I have all the HDCD's but love the "Thrill of It ALL" set as well (w original non hdcd mastering) took a chance and picked up a copy of the box set last year from a bookseller on half-com for $5.00 - incredible deal 4 an incredible set!

 

Great album, I think it's the only place to get the original vinyl mixes of 'Angel Eyes' and 'Dance Away'

 

Thanks for warning. As far as I know this bronzing effect starts from the edges to the centre and overall is uneven. And what about this:

PDO also manufactured CDs that have an even yellowish-golden tint. This is due to a yellow dye in the disc and is unrelated to the bronzing effect.

If mine has been decaying than it should have already got errors in reading and audible defects, shouldn't it?

 

Not necessarily. I have some bronzed CDs that (still) play fine. Made a backup though...

 

No, "Angel Eyes" (the original mix) is, IIRC, also available on the Manifesto U.S. remaster.

 

What is the current recommended option for the Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry studio albums?

1. HDCD Re-masters

2. Polydor West German pressings

3. UK EGCD editions

I already have all the HDCD re-masters, but was thinking about replacing them all with the originals, but not sure which ones.
Only really interested in obtaining the easy to find and cheaper European CDs, not the hard-to-find and expensive Japan CDs. Thanks.

 

Go for the EGCDs mate, dirt cheap & good sound. The Polydors are smooth & also nice, but on some a little less clarity. When I compared all my EGs with Polydors (from Roxy to Siren), the EG Stranded in particular was obviously to my ears a better tape source than the Polydor. The later EGCD pressings are made in Holland but I think they sound the same as the earlier EGCDs.

If anyone cares about your Roxy not sounding processed, bass-goosed, boosted, altered, and very different to the UK Island LPs, avoid the HDCD remasters. On another thread someone said I was unqualified to say that due to not having a good enough CD player, and the remasters are good, but that's rubbish IMO, & plenty of high-gear people on here have said similar about the problems of the HDCD remasters even without having compared to UK vinyl & multiple earlier CDs.

It's the same story for Ferry's These Foolish Things and Let's Stick Together at least.

 

Thanks for the reply.
I'll look into getting the EGCD's.
Have you the barcode numbers for the EGCDs of the Roxy studio albums , it will make finding them a lot easier on amazon, ebay etc.

Also, barcode numbers for the EGCDs of Bryan Ferry's albums from These Foolish Things to Boys And Girls would be useful too.

Thanks again.

 

I have the EGCDs and the HDCDs and to my ears the HDCDs are clearly an improvement.

 

I'd love to know how & why. Have you heard original Roxy LPs? The HDCDs IMO bloat the overall sound, each element, not just bass, to such a degree that even the stereo picture sounds altered (it isn't as they're not remixes). The stereo space & fantastic recording of say, the debut, is not there on the HDCD. The EGCDs might be lacking some balls, but they have the open sound of the LPs & the music's original overall sound picture intact.

 

I found barcodes from previous posts on this thread for most of the Roxy EGCD's but can't seem to find the code for Flesh + Blood.
Also, I noticed the picture CD versions for the first two have two seperate numbers (the original and a new number) on either the rear artwork or disc label, so I presume that they are the same mastering as the original CD.
If someone can supply the barcode numbers for the other picture CD editions that would be appreciated.


Roxy Music – 077778648024 (picture disc - 5012985300629)

For Your Pleasure – 077778653424 (picture disc - 5012985300827)

Stranded - 077778648123

Country Life - 077778648222

Siren - 077778696025

Manifesto – 077778635529

Flesh + Blood -

Avalon - 077778637424

 

That number on the picture discs, 077778653301, it's the same number on both.
I just did a search on amazon and it shows as a Roxy Triple pack including Stranded.

 

To ensure I get all the seperate picture disc releases I need all barcode numbers that have 5 012985 300...

Can anyone help with these?