Different CD masters of the same album and a comparison with a vinyl rip - Are there any differences?
Although I am not a big fan of the 70’s Rock, there are some albums from this era I love and I always try to find a good CD master for my digital library.
One of these albums is Rumours from Fleetwood Mac. Long time ago, I ripped my father’s cd with EAC . It’s a US release, for which unfortunately I don’t remember much. Below you can see its dynamic range report using DR14 T.meter:
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Analyzed: Rumours / Artist: Fleetwood Mac
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DR Peak RMS Duration Title [codec]
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DR8 -0.10 dB -10.69 dB 2:56 01 - Second Hand News [flac]
DR10 -0.10 dB -11.52 dB 4:16 02 - Dreams [flac]
DR13 -0.11 dB -15.78 dB 2:14 03 - Never Going Back Again [flac]
DR9 -0.13 dB -11.43 dB 3:12 04 - Don't Stop [flac]
DR8 -0.10 dB -9.54 dB 3:43 05 - Go Your Own Way [flac]
DR12 -0.58 dB -18.61 dB 3:20 06 - Songbird [flac]
DR9 -0.10 dB -13.49 dB 4:29 07 - The Chain [flac]
DR8 -0.34 dB -12.54 dB 3:35 08 - You Make Loving Fun [flac]
DR9 -0.10 dB -11.53 dB 3:16 09 - I Don't Want To Know [flac]
DR10 -0.10 dB -13.82 dB 3:56 10 - Oh Daddy [flac]
DR8 -0.10 dB -12.90 dB 4:54 11 - Gold Dust Woman [flac]
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Number of files: 11
Official DR value: DR9
Sampling rate: 44100 Hz
Average bitrate: 878kbs
Bits per sample: 16 bit
Dr14 T.meter 1.0.16
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and this is a redbook spectrogram of one my favorite songs, The Chain:
Although I was not very impressed with the sound quality, I always though that this was an acceptable version I really enjoyed listening to…until I listened to a 24/96 Vinyl Rip.
Below you can see the dynamic range of this vinyl rip:
Analyzed: Rumours / Artist: Fleetwood Mac
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DR Peak RMS Duration Title [codec]
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DR14 -1.64 dB -18.99 dB 2:45 01 - Second Hand News [flac]
DR16 -0.73 dB -19.64 dB 4:15 02 - Dreams [flac]
DR15 -6.51 dB -26.19 dB 2:02 03 - Never Going Back Again [flac]
DR16 -1.33 dB -19.48 dB 3:14 04 - Don't Stop [flac]
DR14 -1.13 dB -17.64 dB 3:39 05 - Go Your Own Way [flac]
DR14 -6.48 dB -27.78 dB 3:20 06 - Songbird [flac]
DR15 -1.03 dB -21.63 dB 4:29 07 - The Chain [flac]
DR14 -1.08 dB -17.96 dB 3:33 08 - You Make Loving Fun [flac]
DR16 -1.66 dB -19.81 dB 3:12 09 - I Don't Want To Know [flac]
DR15 -1.82 dB -20.87 dB 3:56 10 - Oh Daddy [flac]
DR16 -1.02 dB -21.88 dB 5:15 11 - Gold Dust Woman [flac]
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Number of files: 11
Official DR value: DR15
Sampling rate: 96000 Hz
Average bitrate: 2704kbs
Bits per sample: 24 bit
Dr14 T.meter 1.0.16
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and this is the 24/96 spectrogram of the same song:
Although a higher dynamic range doesn’t mean that the sound is better, I usually find albums with high DR better to my ears. Especially for this album this master is amazing! The sound is more natural, everything is quieter and more balanced and comparing to this, the first cd master was a mess!
I decided to further investigate it and I was very lucky to find and rip a West German Target of the same album. Below you can see the DR report of this master:
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Analyzed: Rumours / Artist: Fleetwood Mac
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DR Peak RMS Duration Title [codec]
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DR14 -2.96 dB -20.32 dB 2:46 01 - Second Hand News [flac]
DR15 -1.69 dB -20.32 dB 4:16 02 - Dreams [flac]
DR14 -5.59 dB -25.03 dB 2:14 03 - Never Going Back Again [flac]
DR15 -2.16 dB -20.05 dB 3:12 04 - Don't Stop [flac]
DR14 -2.35 dB -18.80 dB 3:39 05 - Go Your Own Way [flac]
DR15 -9.86 dB -30.90 dB 3:20 06 - Songbird [flac]
DR16 -1.80 dB -23.26 dB 4:29 07 - The Chain [flac]
DR14 -3.20 dB -20.72 dB 3:35 08 - You Make Loving Fun [flac]
DR15 -0.78 dB -20.16 dB 3:16 09 - I Don't Want To Know [flac]
DR15 -2.38 dB -22.49 dB 3:53 10 - Oh Daddy [flac]
DR15 -5.75 dB -26.32 dB 4:51 11 - Gold Dust Woman [flac]
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Number of files: 11
Official DR value: DR15
Sampling rate: 44100 Hz
Average bitrate: 712kbs
Bits per sample: 16 bit
Dr14 T.meter 1.0.16
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Quite similar to the vinyl master, right?
Just for the record, this is a spectrogram of the same file:
This spectrogram is typical for that era, with a low pass filter applied that sets an approx. 20KHz limit.
What about the sound quality? It’s very close to the vinyl rip. Everything is natural and quiet again and this CD release has nothing to do with the first!
Based on all this stuff I would like to share some final thoughts:
- There can’t be an actual comparison between vinyl and CD versions of an album. Different mastering procedures will lead to a very different result and it’s not fair to blame the CD or the vinyl for this.
- CD masters of old albums are VERY different. If a CD version of an album sounds horrible don’t blame the format! There might be another that sounds much better!
- Ripping vinyls is a very difficult procedure, but if you know how to do it, the result can be amazing!