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  1. Hello there, long time no see!

    After long time listening to U2 CDs and plus upgrading my audio gear, i became very bored since U2 recordings looks like are not following the upgrades. I had a home theater DVD, 2 receivers and now a nice Stereo receiver from cambridge audio.

    I love The unforgettable fire, and by listening to the remaster, it annoys me the BIG hissing in the background...

    that make me look for different versions, im now tasting the "mobile sound fidelity" and the 1984 LP, all Flac's. I notice in the same moment these older versions has almost no hissing and also are quieter but with preserved low, mid and highs. It is disappointing to know the super deluxe remaster, destined to be the definitive version is a GARBAGE-AUDIO version.

    Did anything notice that before? Some say the Achtung baby money-grab master is louder than the old ones, but i hope it is not just like the 1984's album MEDIA PLAYER EQUALIZER REMASTER or REALTEK AUDIO PANEL REMASTE R... SAD
  2. Funnily enough I actually prefer the audio on the original vinyls I have as opposed to the remasters.

    What I will ask is what format of the remasters are you listening to?
  3. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:Funnily enough I actually prefer the audio on the original vinyls I have as opposed to the remasters.

    What I will ask is what format of the remasters are you listening to?

    2009 one, i always thought it would be the "definitive" version, guess i must buy a turntable if i want some quality.
  4. Why dont you give that away too
  5. MSFL is the way to go.

    Those remasters are okay but never heard the hissing in the background. Is it something to do with tape transfer - alternatively, how were the tapes transferred? Does anyone have anything about that process.

    Renamed your topic too.
  6. To me the crappy thing about U2's albums - and any album from back then and even from the 90s, is that compared to what they can do with the EQ and dynamics on albums now, they sound extremely flat. Listen to any record that came out in the last couple years with headphones, then go listen to The Unforgettable Fire (remaster or not) and there's such a huge difference. It'd almost be really neat to see them re-record everything now to see how different the albums sounded.
  7. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:To me the crappy thing about U2's albums - and any album from back then and even from the 90s, is that compared to what they can do with the EQ and dynamics on albums now, they sound extremely flat. Listen to any record that came out in the last couple years with headphones, then go listen to The Unforgettable Fire (remaster or not) and there's such a huge difference. It'd almost be really neat to see them re-record everything now to see how different the albums sounded.

    I don't think the new ones are flat, even though Atomic bomb is bad like hell, the guitars and drums are loud and clear, but the musics can make your ears to bleed.

    For me the best remaster was boy, the solo in Black Cat is awesome!!!

    Ive caught lots of hissing in the songs, you can hear it in little high volume, at the start of the songs. Linstening in Polk Tsi-300 and Cambridge Audio Topaz SR10 and good cables.
  8. When you say 'hissing', you don't mean dead air do you? That I can hear clearly.

    For reference: Im using a Altec Lansing 5.1 set up.
  9. This is an interesting debate, together with the Loudness war thingy. MSFL are obviously the best sounding copies of the stuff we all love, but the CD vs vinyl question will always be there.

    I agree that some of the mastering and remasterings lately have been pretty poor. The Joshua Tree was remastered in a way that things that were inaudible became obvious before (some details in Running To Stand Still, One Tree Hill, Exit) but so did the hiss and background noise as well. The Bomb was horrible sound-wise, and I'm not keen on Pop's mastering either (I prefer how the "new mixes" from the Best of 90-00 sound). No Line sounded better both in vinyl and CD than the previous album, let's hope they continue with that approach for the next album' mastering.

    Their best sounding albums (music aside) are Zooropa, The Unforgettable Fire and NLOTH in my humble opinion. Achtung Baby, despite its obvious immense amount of greatness, doesn't sound particularly well on CD to my ears; ATYCLB sounds much better (and better on CD than on vinyl, something that's not very usual), besides being a much weaker album than AB.
  10. Hi, i remember reading an interview with Eno back in the mid 80's and he said that the hiss was due to T.U.F being recorded at Slane. To capture the unique ambience of the big room meant having some background noise. Which he said was more important. I might still have the magazine somewhere. Hope that helps :-)
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U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.
U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.
U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.