Been listening to The Beatles ...

"The early albums' strength is an infectious joyfulness. '

That is a very good observation.

The early Beatles recordings and performances, when they were doing their versions of the "rock and roll" tunes from mostly American artists that they grew up on are largely under appreciated compared to their later output where they broke new artistic grounds.

If you appreciate how the early Beatles did joyful and infectious "rock and roll", be sure to check out the "Live at the BBC" set in addition to the new re-issues...it is a gold mine in that aspect.

Bongo, yes, they are very nice on headphones!

"just one awsome band front to back , and its great to hear them with such clarity"

That says it all very nicely!

I've gotten a lot of listening time in of all Beatles CDs in my collection ripped to music server (along with new mono box set) over the last few weeks. I've also had a chance to listen and compare with other good mono remasters recorded originally back in the original 50's rock and roll era.

My verdict is that some of the Beatles mono recordings from the box set are as good as any I have heard and others are still somewhat lacking, especially in regards to dynamics, so it is very much a mixed bag. I do think in general that even the lesser recordings are at least as good or better than their CD predecessors I have heard.

So the mono box set results are a mixed bag still, but in general as good or better than what came before on CD at least. Maybe there is still room for improvement with some cuts, or maybe that's just the extent of what the original master tapes have to offer...I guess we'll see as some of the new online higher res digital downloads I have read about start to become available.

Yeah, my assessment is not far off from Wildoat's.