Led Zeppelin IV and Houses of the Holy

F1nut

Got my pre-order in from CDJapan, do you?

brgman

Preorder or physical discs?

F1nut

Pre-order of the physical CD's. Due out 10/28/14.

brgman

I saw where a few folks already have their copies somehow.Thought maybe shipping got them here early.
Oh well.

F1nut

Hmmmmm....wonder how?

brgman

They B special I guess.

F1nut

Just noticed....I should have worded that differently. Got my order in at CDJapan.

BlueFox

I am ready to buy the files on Monday, but I can't really listen to them until Friday.

headrott

I do here Jesse (about a month ago)! Can't wait!

[Deleted User]

You still buying CDs? Me thinks they were talking vinyl!

voltz

Me too, just ordered the Vinyl for both!

gce

Yeah, Vinyl is the way to go. I don't about these CD guy's.

headrott

Just received my notice from CDJapan that my order shipped. Should be here Tuesday the 28th.

BlueFox

I just received a notice from HDTracks the high-res are ready for download.

Toolfan66

I will just go to the record store and pick them up tomorrow..

Support your local record store, if you still have them..

gce

The HDtracks is a sample rate of 96/24. I think I'll stick with the Vinyl tho.

BlueFox

When the first set of these remasters were released, there was a lot of discussion. Anyway, it came out that in addition to the CDs being downsampled from the 96/24 files, the vinyl is also cut from these files. When I found out about that I returned my CDs to Amazon, and downloaded the files. I hope the quality of these two releases matches the previous releases.

F1nut

headrott wrote: »

Just received my notice from CDJapan that my order shipped.

Me too.

headrott

Got some CD's to listen to tonight! I'll report back after the session........

headrott

Ok, first I listened to the untitled fourth album (of course). I did not listen to the entire CD, however. I started off with "Black Dog". When the first guitar and drums hit (after Plant's "Hey, hey momma..."), I could tell this was gonna be good. Like the first 3 remastered CD's the clarity, detail and soundstage were vastly improved.

I then skipped to the beginning of "Battle Of Evermore". I was particularly interested in how this song would start, so I backed up the end of "Rock And Roll". R&R ended and unfortunately, the beginning of "Battle Of Evermore" is cut off, like every version of the CD that exists (except for the first pressings of the CD (the West German and Japanese "Target" CD's)). The difference being that these "target" first pressings fade in, rather than start with the mandolin simply starting as the track starts. What a disappointment! Thankfully, this was the only disappointing thing I found with the CD. I reversed the track to the beginning 3 times to make sure I was hearing it correctly and unfortunately, it simply starts (with the true beginning being cut off).

I continued on to "Stairway To Heaven. The timing between Battle Of Evermore and Stairway is exactly perfect!

I then was extremely interested in hearing "Four Stick" as the other versions of the CD's all sounded extrememly congested and muddy on this track (So, i skipped ahead to this track). The bass overwhelms the song leading to the "congestion". Thankfully, this version sounded clean, articulated and not congested at all. I was hearing things previously unheard before in the track. The "strings" (in the left channel) in particular stood out more than ever. Excellent! The track (and CD as a whole) was extrememly 3D sounding more than any other CD I've heard.

I continued on to "Going to California" and "When the Levee Breaks".

When the Levee Breaks sounds absolutely phenominal! Detail was through the roof on the track (comparatively)! i was extremely impressed with the end of the track when it pans from right to left. Extremely 3D sounding imaging going on in this track!

I then continued on to "The Song Remains The Same" and "The Rain Song" from Houses Of The Holy. Phenominal sounding and again the timing between tracks was exact! It was obvious that this album was recorded better than the untitled fourth album, and this remastering made it very clear.

I then skipped on to "No Quarter". It sounds great! I loved the bass, and imaging on the track in particular!

Lastly, I listened to "The Ocean". Again, there were improvements in all aspects of the audio with this remastering. Instruments stood out more, and detail was through the roof. Plant's vocals were great! The harmonies especially sounded good on this track.

So, to sum up; with the exception of the disappointment of the beginning of "The Battle Of Evermore" being cut off, I am extrememly happy with these two CD's. The sound better than any other version put out (as with the first 3 CD's). The high end and bass are clear and tight, and soundstage is much wider. the imaging and detail are phenominal sounding. Go out and buy them!

AsSiMiLaTeD

Looks like these have the same dynamic compression as the first there, bummer. I've now bought all five released so far and even with the loudness they're still way better overall than the previous versions I had. I wonder where that compression is applied and if it is there on the vinyl as well?

I have not listened to the new arrivals much yet, but like what I hear so far.

BKphoto

Whats a cd...?

F1nut

So, I just finished listening to both CD's twice. Greg pretty much hit the nail on the head, so not a lot to add about the sound quality other than I thought Jimmy's guitar was a bit too featured, shall we say, here and there. That said, these are still a must buy.

The packaging of these Japanese issues are once again impeccable and the bonus posters are very cool.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I've now listened a couple times through and looks like volume boost (relative to reference anyway) doesn't result in audible dynamic compression, or at least certainly not to the point of being a problem. These are such a massive improvement over the previous copies I had, worth every penny.

BlueFox

I waited a few days to buy the download albums from HDTracks, since they are always having sales, and today I received a 10% off coupon on new releases. Great. I saved $2 on each download. That's $4 more for the audio budget.

Anyway, these 96/24 files are fantastic. As good as the first three. This is how music should be presented, clear and clean, whether the song is very low level, or rocking loud. Why anyone would compress "Stairway To Heaven" is incomprehensible. The whole point of the song is to go from a quiet beginning to a rocking end. It's called dynamic range. Stop s c r e w i n g with it, you moron producers.

gudnoyez

I have all the cds from the last time plus all on vinyl from the first to Coda, now might be the time to try out one of the new remasters as Houses of the Holy is one of my favorites.

BlueFox

Keiko wrote: »

FYI on the vinyl reissues:

The original poster on your link has it a$$ backwards, but others realized what he was asking.

I'm hoping to get the official, clarified confirmation on whether the Vinyl reissues have been converted to a digital format, which I believe is what I read.

No, the vinyl HAS NOT been converted to digital. The vinyl is made from the remastered digital files. So, when you consider that for vinyl use, the files need to be converted to analog, then have the equalization required for vinyl applied, and they still sound great, you now can understand how much better the high-res files themselves sound.

Apparently, out of the three formats offered for the remasters, high-res, CD, vinyl, CD is the weakest, unless Apple sells iTunes versions.

daboyz

For the giggles how do the Japanese versions compare to the ones you can get on Amazon?

mhardy6647

BKphoto wrote: »

Whats a cd...?

... and what's loudness?

headrott

daboyz wrote: »

For the giggles how do the Japanese versions compare to the ones you can get on Amazon?

The Japanese copies come with sleeves for the CD's so the CD's don't come from the factory scratched. The US versions on Amazon do not and in my experience the CD's come scratched despite being brand new. This is not to say that all the CD's you get that are made in the USA (with no sleeves) will be scratched, however.

Take the risk if you prefer, but if you are buying all 5 albums, I will almost guarantee that at least one CD will be scratched to some degree.

BlueFox

DSkip wrote: »

BlueFox wrote: »

I waited a few days to buy the download albums from HDTracks, since they are always having sales, and today I received a 10% off coupon on new releases. Great. I saved $2 on each download. That's $4 more for the audio budget.

Thanks for the laugh BF. Drop 5 figures on speakers, but wait until you get a coupon to save 10% on two $20 purchases. Ironic is all, and no offense meant.

No offense taken. The speakers were a great deal, four months old, and $10K off list.

Saving a dollar here, and a dollar there, adds up over time, and let's you buy speakers, or whatever. I bought an $800 Herman Miller office chair for working from home with the points I accumulated on my Amazon Visa that I use for everything.