fav = 2: sounds fuller

3 sounds cleaner
1 sounds a bit muddy to me

sample 2 is probably from the most recent remaster. more pronounced bass and overall the loudest. some added midrange makes bowies voice stand out and even more unnatural sounding.

sample 1 could be the original rca cd, sounds rather relaxed and as natural-sounding as it gets in this particular album.

sample 3 is simply awful, way too much treble, hardly any low. could be a botched early rca cd, or perhaps the ryko cd. whichever one it is, it sounds suprisingly bad.

>>65779571
shut the fuck up, fag

I've already done this myself awhile back, but the West German RCA is my favorite. If the WG discs are from dub tapes, then by god, those dub tapes were a miracle.

sample 2
sample 1
sample 3

>>65779571
I want an audiophile bf to tie up in speaker wire

I like 2 the most because it sounds the fullest. It enhances Bowies voice and doesn't completely forget about the lows, unlike 3. 1 would be a close second but unlike 2 doesn't accentuate Bowie's voice, which makes the whole track sound much more complete. 3 is just a mess which the treble boosted way too much and the lows treated as if they're non-existent

>OP here

I find Sample 1 to be fully sounding and holding clarity at good relaxed pace, its sourced from original tapes that were transferred to RCA original release for Japanese market. RCA Records cat# PCD1-2522

Sample 2 is from dub tapes as >>65779839 have found out! Its a Brother to Sister Japanese release, a bit warmer sounding release than Sample 1 BUT it comes with the extra couple of seconds intro in "Beauty and the Beast" song. cat# PD83857 West German

Sample 3 is a... well the mastering of this album is a bit of mystery to me but This rip is actually from direct R2R transfers. Unmatched clarity but its lacking in the body of lower frequencies making it a bit too "hot"

>>65779936
https://i.4cdn.org/wsg/1466346494559.webm

>>65780074
>Sample 2 is from dub tapes as >>65779839 have found out!
Supposedly it's from a dub tape. It isn't exactly clear. I think a guy from Ryko claimed they were from dub tapes, but Ryko are a bunch of fucking liars. They claim their releases are flat transfers, but the gold editions come with a slip that says "Matched to the eq of the standard Rykos" which contradicts their claim.

Also, I doubt the Japan edition is from the mastertapes since Beauty and the Beast is only missing those few seconds of intro on that version.

One thing, about the Rykos, it's also possible some of their releases didn't use the master tapes. The reason for that conclusion? Their version of Young Americans uses the wrong mixes for some songs. Compare it to the German version. The difference is clear and the Ryko is the only version that has those mixes.

This is a tad unrelated but the SACD release of Heroes sounds like fucking shit to me. The bass feels gone and it sounds like someone put a subtle high pitched noise on the entire record.

>>65780321
>aka Sample #3

>>65780340
>>65780340
I just got to it.
Fuck.

>>65780321
It hurts my brain thinking of what's the best release for each album when it comes to David's catalog. It hasn't exactly been treated consistently.

and there's a lot of mixed information out there. Once, Tony Visconti said this:
[Sarcastically]He’s difficult, and he knows it. He’s a good performer, a great songwriter, but you have to keep him out of the mixing room. Apparently, he wants everything to sound very sizzle-y and treble-y, so I used to mix a really fizzy top just for him. I used to put this glistening sound on the cymbals, and he loves to hear his sibilance, which was hard to get on a vinyl record. Then I said, “Bob there’s a limit. We can’t put too much of this on tape.” His drummer told me, “You think that’s bad, he goes home with the mixes, and he takes all the bass off his hi-fi set, and he adds more treble!” It was then I realized I must be dealing with a deaf person! [Laughs]

but then David there's information out there about David complaining that he always hated how thin Ziggy Stardust sounded.