Van Halen 1984 SACD issue, MoFi Response..
Toolfan66
Posts: 18,274
Comments
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What booklet? Mine didn't have any booklet.
Well, maybe they should have done that on the first 4.
Now I'm going to need to call MD to get my "replacement" to compare both.
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I don’t know whether to be sad or angry at what has happened to Mofi. It used to be, you could buy any Mofi release and just KNOW it was going to sound spectacular. Now? I’d say my current track record (pun) is running about 50/50 with them. I am having MUCH better luck with Analogue Productions releases vis-à-vis sound quality lately.
As for 1984, they’ve had two and a half YEARS to get it right…. Perhaps they are just picking titles that will “bang the cash register” over titles that have quality masters, and that they can make significant improvement on.“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -
Personally I like the fact that Analog Productions still use the super jewel case. I strongly dislike the cardboard jacket MoFi use. Now that Mofi went to the half plastic half fabric CD holder I like them even less. At least the full fabric CD holder didn't get static electricity and hold onto stuff.
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Replacement VH 1984, Michael Anthony special is on the way!
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I actually didn't hate the SACD, but the One Step Vinyl blew it away..
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I actually didn't hate the SACD, but the One Step Vinyl blew it away..
Obviously I have not heard the vinyl, I also thought the SACD was pretty darn good. -
My Replacement VH 1984, Michael Anthony special is on the way as well, they said about 6 weeks..
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A lot of vitriol for the SACD over at Steve Hoffman. Will be interested in hearing your thoughts on the replacement.Jay
SDA 2BTL * McCormack DNA 0.5 amp * Oppo BDP-93 * Modded Adcom GDA-600 DAC * Rythmik F8 (x2)
Micro Seiki DQ-50 * Mitsubishi LT-30 * Hagerman Cornet 2 Phono
Preamp rotation: Krell KSL (SCompRacer recapped) * Manley Shrimp * PS Audio 5.0 -
I haven't read through the debate on the perceived quality of the SACD release on other forums, but is the dislike of what MoFi put out because it's not faithful to the original release back in 1984? Or is it because many listeners have grown accustomed to boosted bass in what they listen to. Hasn't that "loudness wars" approach to remastering been what audiophiles have been complaining about for the last 20 years or more?
I guess nobody will know how much of a difference there is until the alternative takes reach buyer's hands. Could be that opinion remains divided when that occurs! -
I haven't read through the debate on the perceived quality of the SACD release on other forums, but is the dislike of what MoFi put out because it's not faithful to the original release back in 1984? Or is it because many listeners have grown accustomed to boosted bass in what they listen to. Hasn't that "loudness wars" approach to remastering been what audiophiles have been complaining about for the last 20 years or more?
I guess nobody will know how much of a difference there is until the alternative takes reach buyer's hands. Could be that opinion remains divided when that occurs!
There is A LOT of real estate between “loudness wars” and what MOFI put out - and apparently they know it, or they wouldn’t be scrambling to “fix” it.
I (for one) am not lobbying for a boosted and bloated mix, but damn - you’d think that Michael Anthony had left the band before they cut 1984 based on the MOFI SACD…. It’s hard to believe that the MOFI SACD sounds nothing like the studio master - especially give the praise here (and on other forums) for the vinyl release.“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -
From the Hoffman forum.Hi, I just compared a FLAC rip of the CD layer to the original 1984 CD (a Japanese Target in my case, though the mastering is the same for all WB CDs).
Was listening on headphones and using Goldwave to analyze.
1. 1984: Same polarity as original CD. Sounded fine to me.
2. Jump: Same polarity as original CD. Sounded decent to me. The mid-range seems boosted compared to original CD.
3. Panama: Inverted absolute polarity (meaning both channels) compared to original CD. This is where things started to go south for the SACD sound-wise. Eddie's guitar sounds like it's coming through a transistor radio. The guitar isn't panned as far to the left as it should be; it's a bit narrowed. The drums sound choked and the reverb trails are almost gone. These aren't symptoms of inverted polarity (otherwise they'd go away upon inversion). These are symptoms of reduced treble (the frequency response between 12 kHz and 18kHz is greatly reduced from what it should be.) which could be caused by tape degradation, misalignment, or some other mishap during transferring/mastering.
4. Top Jimmy: Inverted absolute polarity compared to original CD. Sounds fine to me, though.
5. Drop Dead Legs: Inverted, sounds fine though.
6. Hot For Teacher: Inverted. Tape damage is audible in the left channel for the first 5 seconds. (much like the Procol Harum "A Salty Dog" SACD). Not as bad of a frequency deficiency as "Panama" has, but still, this does not sound good on the SACD.
7. I'll Wait: Inverted. Still sounds pretty good, though with slightly less "sparkle" than the original CD. On the SACD, the intro is less-trimmed. The original CD probably had a fade-up applied that smoothed the opening keyboard note.
8. Girl Gone Bad: Inverted, sounds fine.
9. House of Pain: Inverted, sounds fine.
Overall, not as bad as I thought it was going to be. But the way that "Panama" and "Hot For Teacher" sound is enough to make me not want to get the SACD in its current state. If they redo it and the mastering is better, great. But the tape may be too damaged. -
I have an original CD release and the 2000 remaster for comparison to each other. The 2000 remaster is way "louder" but annoyingly shrill. The original sounds kind of warm and subdued but decent. I never really thought Van Halen recording quality across the first five albums to be all that great because they were in that crossover period between vinyl or cassette tape and CD and when most people listened to their music on a radio or in the tape deck in a car. Not really intended to be audiophile stuff. Maybe the HDTracks high res version is the one to get in digital form.
