Hifi question; opinions on half speed mastering vinyl reissues

breezytele

I’ve only just discovered that ‘half speed remastering’ is a thing for some high end vinyl reissues

Does anyone here,  have experience of the sound quality of these ?
are they worth the extra dosh  etc .?

I have an old Thorens deck, good amp and speakers

Alterlifeson

Depends on the album and how it was recorded in the first place. I have a few half speed masters of some classic records and they are all some of the highest quality in my collection. Not sure if I would tell it was half speed mastered compared to any other versions though. There is definitely some placebo going on and some marketing trickery too. 

Bottom line is if it didn't say it was half speed mastered, I wouldn't be able to tell. That said, they do seem to be very nice quality. This is through a Project table/marantz phono stage and some Wharfdale speakers that I have tuned into.

roberty

Half speed mastering makes a better acetate but it doesn't necessarily make for a better pressing, there's other things that can still go wrong

Some of my best sounding records are the really thin ones from the 1980s when they were pressing a f*** ton

breezytele

Thanks for the above. I’ve been tempted by some CCR and Staple Singers, but might hold back a while

richardhomer

Apparently many are now cut from digital masters, which has greatly upset some purists. 

TheMarlin

In my experience, if it’s a 1960’s to early 1990’s recording, the original vinyl pressing will be superior to a modern remastered pressing. 

I have a tonne of these remasters, and their almost always not worth it. 

Most of the time, they digitise the original, remaster, then convert back to analogue, and it looses a lot along that journey. 

They knew how to properly master vinyl the first time around. 

A good example is Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon.  It’s been remastered a tonne of times, and the best version is still the original 1972 A2/B2 pressing. 

roberty

richardhomer said:

Apparently many are now cut from digital masters, which has greatly upset some purists. 

Yeah mofi were using DSD lmao

@TheMarlin I agree, I have some superb first/early press records from the 70s and 80s and they really knew what they were doing

prowla

I've got some, but it's been a while since I played them; as I recall, they were a little more brittle sounding than normal ones; perhaps because the half-speed made it more difficult to transcribe the low-end signal onto the vinyl?

Penn

I wouldn’t worry about the half speed mastering bit. It’s hit and miss I’d say. I’ve got some of the Abbey Road ones. They’re ok but nothing mind blowing. I suspect digitally sourced. 

Some of the best sounding records I’ve bought of late are the new Bluenote Classic Series. They are inexpensive for Audiophile pressings and the Tone Poet series is good but more expensive. 

 I’ve got a couple of silver series Mofi which sound ok but just ok. 

I bought Pet Sounds twice to AB versions and see if I could hear a difference. The one was the 50th reissue pressing and the other was the Analogue productions version. The AP sounds much better than normal version. But I wouldn’t have known that without buying both!

Pure pleasure and speakers corner also make great sounding records.

Acoustic sounds are worth a go to maybe.

Generally though I think your gear like the turntable you’re using and cart make a much bigger difference. 

  

breezytele

Thanks all !

I was was actually expecting lots of replies saying how stunning the new half speed masters are.  It’s great to learn that they’re not that special, not least  since I’ve got lots of vinyl from the 70s

on an aligned note, does anyone here have experience of the Beatles Mono  set in vinyl ?
the box sets are now over £1k second hand !

I have the Mono CD set  (a genuine box, not a fake ).  Anyone here have experience of both ?

the funny thing, is that I remember hearing their albums as a child, as they were released.
Played through a Grundig valve radiogram , > a single 8” elliptical speaker :  they always sounded stunning !!

idiotwind

The half-speed master version of Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan is quite sought after because the original album was sped up by about 2% during mastering.  The half-speed master version doesn't have this speed change so is regarded as more "natural" sounding.  I have a needle-drop of it and can't tell the difference to be honest

rlw

Try and find a decent original copy of whatever you want simply on the basis of price alone.

£25+ for an album I paid less than £2.50 for back in the day.  I know that inflation plays a big part in it but, honestly,

£10.99 for a CD seems much better value.

darthed1981

rlw said:

£25+ for an album 

£10.99 for a CD seems much better value.

It is, for sure.

Vinyl is very trendy right now.  I remember in the 90s when a vinyl copy was sometimes 8 quid next to a 14 quid cd!

On the other hand, i hate jewel cases SO MUCH...

mudslide73

Just get an old pressing and a decent cleaner. You may as well get CDs if it's been remastered on digital equipment imo. 

breezytele

mudslide73 said:

Just get an old pressing and a decent cleaner. You may as well get CDs if it's been remastered on digital equipment imo. 

Do cleaners really work ? 

  I used to try various recommended cleaning solutions back in the day,
but they always seemed to make it worse.

I don’t live too far from Stella street, so I suppose I could always nip down and see if Mick & Keith have anything in the corner shop

TheMarlin

Cleaners, such as converted ultrasonic baths do work. They work superbly. 

But you can’t use water, you need a specialist solution that leaves zero residue. Can be better than new, as new vinyl has release agents coating the surface. 

TheMadMick

Frankly, I had an excellent vinyl set up and bought into the "vinyl is better" mantra. Frankly, I rip CDs to FLAC and the FLAC is clearly better and my system is no slouch. Listen to the music not the medium is my advice.

robinbowes

TheMadMick said:

Frankly, I had an excellent vinyl set up and bought into the "vinyl is better" mantra. Frankly, I rip CDs to FLAC and the FLAC is clearly better and my system is no slouch. Listen to the music not the medium is my advice.

This.

A good streamer will always out-perform a CD transport (assuming the same DAC).

I don't currently have a hifi system set up (I've just moved house and mostly listen on the Genelec monitors hooked up to my computer (via a decent sound interface), but when I did, I used a Slim Devices Transporter which sounds awesome. I must get it hooked up again some time...

R.

blobb

remastering is one thing, remixing is another.

breezytele

TheMadMick said:

Frankly, I had an excellent vinyl set up and bought into the "vinyl is better" mantra. Frankly, I rip CDs to FLAC and the FLAC is clearly better and my system is no slouch. Listen to the music not the medium is my advice.

Yes, I’m not following any cult medium of playback  I just have a lot of old vinyl and CDs.   

What grates most, is when I re-purchased remastered CDs.
the latter  clearly sound  better, and often have bonus tracks, but annoying to buy the album for the third time !

octatonic

TheMadMick said:

Frankly, I had an excellent vinyl set up and bought into the "vinyl is better" mantra. Frankly, I rip CDs to FLAC and the FLAC is clearly better and my system is no slouch. Listen to the music not the medium is my advice.

I agree.

I wanted to figure out for myself the vinyl vs digital thing.
I have a lot of old vinyl, a great turntable, preamp, high end digital converters and monitoring and a decent amount of bass trapping.

Doing extensive A/B comparisons between vinyl and digital- it isn't particularly close.
Vinyl sounds great but digital sounds clearer, has more bottom end and much, much better dynamic range.
Sure with rock music you might only be using 6db dynamic range most of the time but other genres; jazz and classical especially, you really notice it.

I like vinyl just fine but I question the hearing of anyone who thinks it sounds better than a good digital set up.
Perhaps people are listening to digital through less than ideal systems?

Sure, low quality mp3 can't really compete but FLAC or Apple Lossless and especially PCM audio (24bit 48/96khz) are just better.

I enjoy the ritual of playing vinyl- it reminds me of my youth and it does have an aesthetic beauty to it.
I also like vinyl as a performance medium (ie DJ style).