Remastered CDs, HDCDs, SACDs

My experience has been that downloading from Quobuz the music from various things I have as CD tends to guarantee a better master than some original CD's in my collection. This downloaded material is then recorded to CD on my computer for playback in my stereo system.

In my experience, the recording and mastering engineers often have more influence on the final sound than format. SACDs definitely benefit from higher resolution but I’ve heard plenty of CDs that sound just as sublime.

A great recording engineer captures not just detail, but atmosphere and intention. And a skilled mastering engineer knows how to bring that to the forefront without over-processing or compromising dynamics. Even subtle choices—like a 2 dB lift at 150 Hz—can completely shift how a piece of music feels.

At the end of the day, it’s not just the format that matters, it’s the human decisions behind the console that shape the emotional and tonal identity of a recording.

@bolong That's interesting! Thanks for sharing.

@lalitk Yes! Agree 100%.

You can only do so much with a re-masterd CD.  You can put some fine level of EQ etc. on the mix but that's about it.  I think Bob Ludwig and my favorite mastering engineer Bernie Grundman do a wonderful job.  The key would be to re-mix the original tapes or digital pro tools source where you could edit each individual track.  This really isn't allowed by the the artists.  However, some of the Beatles re-mixes by Giles Martin are very good.

I think George Marino and Ted Jensen at Sterling sound did some great 24 but redbook remasters. With a couple of exceptions all the HDCD's I've seen are from 1999-2002 during their hay day but the format never really took off. Not aware of any that got remastered. I have a high end SACD player and many discs. I think the original single layer discs might have been the best sonically and quite expensive if you can find them. They were mfg from 1999 thru about 2003 then the hybrid two layer discs came out. No old SACD player I've found would read the embedded SACD player. I'm also not aware of any SACD disc's that got remastered they are one bit to start with. If someone knows something I don't please share specifics I'd be all about it 

Stephen Wilson has done a fine job remastering many rock albums.

Giles Guthrie's remaster of ANIMALS is what SACD's are all about.

It's just sublime.

I've found that cds mastered by Doug Sax, Greg Calbi, Bernie Grundman and Steve Hoffman are the best sounding! 

Bob Ludwig remasters are usually pretty good sounding, and George Marino, Ted Jensen, Mark Wilder and Dan Hersh remasters tend to be bright sounding.

@fastfreight - Steven Wilson does remixes, not remasters. 

Thanks for the responses! Learned some new information. Appreciate that.

Hello @larsman, thanks for the distinction.  I think I am not the only one to get that 'mixed up' as I see it in print everywhere.  But, looking at this album for example I find:

https://stevenwilsonhq.com/spatial-audio/in-the-court-of-the-crimson-king/

which confirms what you know.  This  is also intersting on the process Wilson goes through to remix:

https://www.soundonsound.com/people/steven-wilson-remixing-classic-albums

Thanks! Ken

Thanks for the info.  I like a lot but not all remixed and remastered CDs.  Pink Floyd’s Animals and Deep Purple’s Machine Head come to mind. I Like some but not all of the Steve Wilson Jethro Tull and Yes remixes.  I find the sound quality streaming Qobuz with my Innuos Zen MK3 streamer and Holo Audio Cyan 2 DAC rivals that of CDs.  There’s a lot of great music available online and on CDs.  It’s a great time to be listening to music on quality equipment.  

I'm pretty much totally agnostic as to the provenance of recordings these days. Streams, cd rips, 16/44, up sampling, over sampling, whatever. It's all in how well the original mastering/mixing/engineering/production was done, can't make a silk purse out a sow's ear. 

@sns 

Well said.

My favorite part of remastered and brought up to 24/192 is that especially for rock music which is bass heavy, they can tweak the bass (which vinyl can't do as well for technical reasons), so it sounds truer to how the bands sounded in concert.  

I usually buy from Qobuz because if you have their a specific tier subscription, the high-def music becomes cheaper than purchasing the 16/44.    Many of the new artists don't even issue standard CD's these days because everyone listens on Spotify, and Qobuz has them in at least 24/96.   I also use HDTracks if they have something Qobuz doesn't or they have it cheaper.

Agreed that the Steven Wilson remixes are a mixed bag. I thought he did a much better job on "Fragile" (YES) than "Close To the Edge." I feel the same way about "Aqualung" (JETHRO TULL) versus "Benefit."

The biggest surprise (most pleasant) was the job that he did on Chicago's 2nd album, which does not get mentioned very often. 

   I know MoFi has some checkered history but their I Robot and Los Lobos KIKO Original Master SACDs are worthy upgrades over CD quality.  Absolutely agree Red Book CD can sound as good or better than SACD versions on many titles.  Those master tapes are key.

FWIW I just purchased my first remastered CD; J. Baez GH. Found it crushingly disappointing with little consistency in the tracks! Tested on my $.5k auto system and two others; including my serious home system. Several tracks seemed just short of fingernails on the blackboard.

Looking to get my Nakamichi cassette deck fixed as I remember that album was pretty good,

FWIW I just purchased my first remastered CD; J. Baez GH. Found it crushingly disappointing with little consistency in the tracks! Tested on my $.5k auto system and two others; including my serious home system. Several tracks seemed just short of fingernails on the blackboard.

Looking to get my Nakamichi cassette deck fixed as I remember that album was pretty good,

The first time I noticed a difference between mastering was the MFSL release of the Getz/Gilberto CD.  When I first listened to it, I was stunned by the difference between it and the original Verve release.  It was like they were mastered by completely different tapes.  When I rip the MFSL to CD, it sounds like the Mofi.  I also have made rips of Hi rez files made for me from LPs to black blank discs with great sonics.

Bluray is generally the best sounding digital medium.

Bluray can sound excellent but so can any of the other formats. It really depends on the mastering. It's frustrating that often times a vinyl release has different master than a CD release. Major difference in dynamic range. Streaming is also frustrating in that you often don't know which master is used.

I personally like the old JVC XRCD discs. Not that I necessarily believe all their marketing about their K2 dithering process being superior (maybe it is, I don't know). But mainly because the majority of material released on XRCD had amazing mastering. So buying an XRCD almost always guarantees great sound.

I used to rank SQ as many have stated starting with Redbook CD, then HDCD, remastered CD, remastered HDCD, original SACD, and the highest being  remastered SACD.

This ranking system falls apart when you listen to the Redbook CD track called 'All About You' on the album 'Soul' by Sophie Zelmani.  

Give it a listen.  You'll be amazed at how good Redbook CDs can sound.

@cycles2 I love it when a standard CD sounds exceptionally good!  Thanks for letting us know about "Soul".

I don't have the 'Soul' CD, but I stream it via Qobuz. I assume it's also available on Tidal.

@cycles2 Good to know. Thanks for the clarification!

@ fastfreight

S. Wilson is not a mastering engineer - he remixes everything from the multitracks, often into 5.1 or Atmos as well as stereo.  He's doing a lot more to those reissues than a mastering engineer could dream of doing.

Some of my best sounding recordings are Reference Recording HDCDs in HDCD format. My old Arcam's playback quality of HDCDs was equal to the play back of of CDs on my newer player. Too bad Microsoft killed the format.