You’ll NEVER regret it.

Yesterday evening I listened for the first time to my ABB on vinyl. I almost cried of joy. It is far superior to the cd-version. The warmth and the depth of the sound is incredible. This is what the Stones intended the whole ABB to be. You can among others listen to Charlie Watts playing the drums. It’s a dream.

I’m not a vinyl fanatic. In fact I bought the LP-version some months ago. Just to have it in the Stones vinyl-collection ( and because I could get it quite cheap ). Till yesterday I didn’t think much about givin it a try of the old Dual. But a friend of mine, who is an editor and owner of Denmarks’s finest Hi-Fi magazine – High Fidelity – has just published a very interesting article in his magazine under the headline : “Stop the VIOLENCE against the music”. It’s about the very poor quality of current CDs in comparison with vinyl, SACD, DVD-audio etc. He uses among others ABB as a prime example. Not hitting the Stones, but the record industry. He loves the album, but he simply wanted the best sound to come out of the loudspeakers.

There’s a lot of technical details in this article. Things that I don’t much about. It must be underlined however that he is NOT trying re-awake the decade-long discussion about vinyl vs. cd.
He has nothing against the cd-media as such, and he claims that lots of ( older ) cds are ok. It’s just that these days cds must be “loud” and therefore the sound becomes “compressed” ( : hope it’s the right word ). All things that make eg. Charlie’s drumming sound robot-like.

I must admit that I had some doubts when I finally decided to pull the records out of their sleeves.
As I said I just have an old Dual record player, an average Kenwood (surround)receiver and some old but excellent Denon headphones. But the effect was astonishing from the very first second. Some songs are easier to compare. For me it was “Back of my hand”. No discussion at all. The sound from the vinyl is incredible. I felt exactly the same way like when I heard “Parachute Woman” on the SACD-version for the first time. It’s like getting a new record.

I have today thanked my friend and asked him to present a brief summary of his article in English for this forum. I hope he’ll find some time for it. In the meantime I strongly recommend all Scandinavians to look for the latest issue of the magazine in their local shops ( or at your library ). It’s got ABB on the front page among others and the above-mentioned headline. It's not yet presented on their homepage - www.hifi.dk - but I guess it'll soon be. And I strongly recommend everyone to buy the LPs. As the editor claims: "This is the only real way to the mastertape" !!!

Does it state whether the LP was mastered directly from the analog master tape? Or was ABB recorded digitally?

That's exactly why I don't like the cd version!
Everything sound indeed too compressed an loud (no subtility). Glad I'm not the onlyone who noticed this!
I will definitely buy the vinyl version too. With a good ear you can really hear if there is somthing wrong in the sound.

ABB was recorded digitally I believe.

No Nervous Nreakdowns, I would love to read that article in English, hope that that's possible.

Yeah, the problem with the cd is that it is copy controlled I believe. I bought a Bigger Bang instore sampler which does not seem to be copy controlled and the quality is much better. It doesn't sound compressed like the normal cd, the sound is warm and detailed, a lot of space.
It contains only 6 ABB songs though. I haven't heard the Rain Fall Down single edit but I think that on this sampler there is the only version with "Bankers are %&**($%^#$" instead of "Bankers Are @#$%&"line
I was hoping that the special edition of ABB would not be copy controlled but it is.

Adam

Absolutely right. The vinyl beats the DC.

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Keep On Rolling

barbabang Wrote:
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> No Nervous Nreakdowns, I would love to read that
> article in English, hope that that's possible.

I'll do everything to present an English translation here. May take some time however. Please have lots of patience. I need my friend's help to do it. To avoid stupid misunderstandings. To get the technical facts right. And to get the visual examples right as well.
I can however say that he recommends an easy ( ? ) solution if you want to "measure" your cds quite easily: Download Adobe Audition 1.5 from adobe.com (free trial one month). But please don't ask how you work with that program. I'm NOT a technical "wizard". Quite the opposite, unfortunately.

Thank you for trying!