Japanese Remastered CDs worth it?

jabrax

I noticed that some of the remastered cd's on the tower website are very expensive. Many over 20 bucks. I see the more expensive ones are from Japan. Does anyone have exp with these disk? Is the studio remastering thaaaat good. I love nicely produced cd's. I find I prefer to listen to them more than many of the older lower quality productions.

If I like an older album enough, I would think about replacing with a remastered if it was truely worth it. This is something I have never done, and there are only a few that I would spend money to replace if the remasters are that much better.

Example - I never owned the original steely dan discs, but the remasters sound great and I cant imagine that the original would sound that good.

Just curious

jabrax

And i thought i was the only lame who knows nothing about import CDs LOL

To be more specific..I want to pick up Herbie Hancocks Mr Hands, and see a huge jump in price for japanese import (tower)... However, on ebay the price is about the same.

Im just too damn cheap to buy both....plus need pennies for knew cd player

Danny Tse

You may want to consult the stevehoffman.tv website on this topic. A lot of discussion on Japan-pressed CDs, both the latest remastered ones and early ones.

ESavinon

I have a few and they do indeed sound better than your run of the mill cds.

Sherardp

let me know what youre looking for and I can look and see if its actually cheaper here.

F1nut

I own a good number of them, some are better, some are not. For example, Steely Dan's Aja is fantastic, Boz Scagg's Silk Degrees sucks.

Midnite Mick

Where can these be found.....or are they just in any store and one has to look for them?

Thanks,
Mike

jabrax

F1 - Steely Dan's Aja has set the bar for standard remaster cds with me.

Danny - Thx for the link, so it looks like remaster quality can be traced to the company/producers. Some of their remaster were done in europe. I see these guys have done many including the Aja. + for them. They have a very extensive list. Will keep an eye on these guys when shopping for music.

Mike - When I search for an artist at towerrecords.com, they show you all the versions of each cd they have. I noticed titles listed multiple times usually with different release dates, some being remastered multiple times, probably by different producers. The link given by Danny has taught me a little something today. Now i understand why my local music store has the same cd with different prices sometimes. Thought I was saving a few dollars on their mistake, Doh!!!!!

Danny Tse

jabrax wrote: »

Danny - Thx for the link, so it looks like remaster quality can be traced to the company/producers. Some of their remaster were done in europe. I see these guys have done many including the Aja. + for them. They have a very extensive list. Will keep an eye on these guys when shopping for music.

From what I can gather, the remastering process can be traced back to the record company (of each country) and/or the artists. For example, Japan Sony has to determine whether a remastered CD title will generate enough sales to cover the marketing and the cost of production. However, US Sony may not want to be bother with the remastering if it thinks there aren't enough sales to warrant the process. Keep in mind that the remastering process may reflect listening preference of the country doing the remastering, which may not be to your liking.

As for where to find these remastered CDs, you can find them mostly in independent music stores. Otherwise, you will have to order them thru websites such as HMV JP or Amazon JP. Also check ebay sites from various countries.

There're other remastered CDs out there....such as the XRCD series. All XRCD titles are remastered and manufactured in Japan, but the work may be commissioned by record companies outside of Japan and Europe. For example, the XRCD of Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms" was commissioned by Hong Kong Universal Music, which also just commissioned a XRCD of the Carpenters' "Gold - Greatest Hits" album (which I just received). I believe XRCD, which is owned by JVC, has shut its doors in the US but elusivedisc.com has recently became the US distributor. But Elusive Disc is really expensive though....you can pick up these XRCDs a lot cheaper elsewhere on the 'net.

Again, there're no guarantees that the sound quality of remastered CDs will be better than those of the original issue.

jabrax

Danny, thanks again. Now, I am off to see which country reigns supreme in the world of cd remastering (must have too much time on my hands). I see the CD I now want is remastered in France (08/2002), US (03/2003) and UK (04/2003). I never paid attention to **** before. LOL