Good CD recordings of Floyd albums?

The best version of DSoTM I have heard was the MFSL LP. It spanked the UK Harvest pressing that I had before that. Oddly enough,the worst version was the MFSL CD. Likewise the MFSL version of Meddle was quite 'ho-hum'.  The Discovery Boxed set released a couple of years ago is however VERY good, with the same remastering as the 'Immersion' series. 

I have added extensively to my PF collection in the past two years since I got my Naim system. MOFI vinyl, Columbia half-speed master vinyl, 2011 CD remasters, original vinyl, early CD remasters, and more. I think PF is unusual in that most material (barring early) was so well engineered that the quality comes through in any format. Fantastic soundstage, clarity and imaging. It's hard to go wrong, although I least prefer the most recent 2011 CD remasters. If I could have only one format, I'd go with the original vinyl. For digital, I'd go with the 1992 Capitol CD remasters.

How's that for stirring the drink?

Thanks, Ron.  I noticed an MFSL CD of Meddle on Amazon for a staggering £308. Yes, £308! And that for 'ho-hum'. The Discovery version looks more promising and much more affordable. I've already got two versions of DSoTM: the twentieth anniversary edition and the thirtieth. The latter is a hybrid disc, SACD with a CD layer, which a fellow naimee recommended to me.  It's much better quality than the twentieth version.    

I personally would recommend you the 2011 CD remasters. On my system, they sound absolutely fabulous - much better than the 1992 (Emi) remasters.

Having heard this on my system, it came a very poor second to my first-pressing vinyl. I've several MFSL LPs & all suffer from a relatively soft, undynamic sound.

Can't say anything about the MFSL LPs, Tony, but I've got few MFSL CDs and I wouldn't say they were any better than okay.  Not worth paying a premium price for IMO.

Thanks, WW. I think the 2011 CD remasters are the Discovery versions mentioned earlier. I don't need to whole box set and I dot think Pulse is among the Discovery set so I'm now minded to order the Discovery versions of Meddle and Ummagumma. The search for the 'right' version of Pulse on CD will go on.  

I  don't' often buy  remasters  but was really surprised by the job James Guthrie and Joel Plante  did in 2011 to the original  masters of DSOTM.

Black Harvest WYWH & DSOTM sound very nice to me.

G

I have two 1992 CD remasters WYWH & The Wall both stand up well and are much better than my 30th anniversary edition of DSOTM or my experience edition of WYWH. However, none match my first press vinyl of DSOTM   Good luck with your search.

Graham.

The best versions of DSOTM and WYWH are both the Japanese 1st pressings. However if you want the Holy Grail Non TO versions you are going to have to cough up a lot of cash.

Actually, the answer to this is much simpler than it is with vinyl.

The 2011 remasters by Guthrie are about as good as they get for most albums, apart from  DSOTM which is probably best bought in the 2003 hybrid CD/SACD. Unlike most artists, the Floyd reissues have gotten better as technology has advanced (all the albums apart from "Saucer" and "More" were very well recorded in the first place, which perhaps helps) and because James Guthrie has always been the sole custodian of their catalogue in the digital era, they haven't suffered from the problems many artists of similar stature have suffered from.

Apart from "Animals" "AHM" and "More", you're generally better off with 1970s Japanese vinyl, or early UK pressings than CDs, of course.

This site can be quite helpful/informative, albeit with the caveat that there's more to it than just dynamic range, and I'm not 100% sure of its accuracy & completeness in all cases......

http://dr.loudness-war.info/al...&album=ummagumma

Ummagumma and Meddle are available as individual discovery discs - and b......y good they are too

Pulse is not I believe. However, as a more recent album, I would hazzard a guess that most versions available are pretty good,

What it basically means is that the dynamic range has been squashed to show off the mid range. It is one current style of modern mastering the other being make it as loud as possible.

The site tends to be accurate with their figures.

Both excellent sounding discs Graeme.

Thanks everyone. I've pressed the button on the discovery versions of Meddle and Ummagumma. Due to arrive next week.  Still thinking on Pulse.  

Discovery edition of Meddle arrived today.  I planned to wait until the weekend to do a proper A/B listening test against my old Meddle CD but of course I couldn't resist popping it into the CDX2 this evening.

Well, it was pretty obvious from the opening driving bass lines from One Of These Days that this Discovery edition is a step up in recording quality. Bass has greater weight and definition; vocals too are clearer; lead guitar has more 'bite'; background rhythms coming through the mix better.  So I'm very pleased with early impressions and I haven't got to Echoes yet ! 

Oh, my. Echoes doesn't disappoint. The cymbals crash, the song soars, the backing vocals wash over me, the bass guitar is plucked. Wonderful!

Well, it was pretty obvious from the opening driving bass lines from One Of These Days that this Discovery edition is a step up in recording quality. Bass has greater weight and definition; vocals too are clearer; lead guitar has more 'bite'; background rhythms coming through the mix better.  So I'm very pleased with early impressions and I haven't got to Echoes yet !

Mastering dear boy, mastering. The Floyd did not go back in and record these again.

Originally Posted by MDS:

Well, it was pretty obvious from the opening driving bass lines from One Of These Days that this Discovery edition is a step up in recording quality. Bass has greater weight and definition; vocals too are clearer; lead guitar has more 'bite'; background rhythms coming through the mix better.  So I'm very pleased with early impressions and I haven't got to Echoes yet !

Mastering dear boy, mastering. The Floyd did not go back in and record these again.

I stand corrected, sir. 

There are only three versions of Pulse - the CD, the 4-LP box set and the cassette. The LP sounds best, as you might expect, but there is really no difference between the CD pressings. They all sound fine. Pulse isn't really very exciting in any case and not particularly worth fretting about. IMO of course.

Told yer !

Any comparisons between MFSL gold CD and latest Discovery versions?

Howard,

I have gold MFSL CDs of Meddle, Atom Heart Mother, DSOTM and The Wall - all of them sound softer and less engaging than the 2011 Discovery editions. I have a 1993 Columbia Mastersound gold CD of Wish You Were Here - must dig it out sometime, but I doubt if there will be any differences worth worrying about.

The thing about the Floyd on CD is that there is very little, if anything, that sounds bad (in terms of recording/mastering, that is) - there's no equivalent of, say, Mothership or the mushy CD of Celebration Day although obviously some editions sound better than others.

To be quite honest, the Discovery CDs will be good enough for all but the most anal/obsessive. On CD at least, they're likely to be the last word.