Rhino Quadio Stereo - A/B w/CD?

[kfbkfb]

I only have the stereo CD of one of my Quadios - Paranoid.

Since the stereo section on the Quadios is almost certainly the highest fidelity copy of the stereo master tape that will ever be made available to consumers, I was wondering if anyone has done an A/B listening test with a Quadio stereo section and the same album on CD (or perhaps a stereo download [not MP3])?

I may try to synchronize and level match my Paranoid Quadio stereo section and my Paranoid CD and see if I can detect any difference.


Kirk Bayne

 

[dadregga]

The stereo mix on the Rhino Quadio is a quad downmix, I believe - it's fundamentally different from the original stereo mix.

 

[kfbkfb]

I'm not sure about that, AFAIK, it's the original stereo mix.


Kirk Bayne

 

[JediJoker]

The stereo mix on the Rhino Quadio is a quad downmix, I believe - it's fundamentally different from the original stereo mix.

No. All the stereo mixes on Quadio discs released thus far are dedicated stereo mixes.

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

Very easy to check on any recording of the Paranoid album: If the end of Iron Man doesn't speed up, it's the quad or a downmix of the quad. If it speeds up at the end, it's the stereo mix.

Correction: The track is War Pigs, not Iron Man, that speeds up at the end of the stereo mix.

 

[marpow]

I own Paranoid as follows:
2.0 Quadio 2024
4.0 Quadio 2024
5.1 Super Deluxe 5.1 2009
2.0 SHM SACD 2010
2.0 2020 Box Set CD 1 remaster from 2016.
2.0 2020 Box Set CD 2 Air Mix from 1974 Quad.
4.0 Rip from CD4 LP.
2.0 HDTRacks from 2014.
I looked at Dynamic range of all and roughly the same in the roughly 12-13 range.
Then I looked at Discogs and there are 609 versions and my head spun, lots of royalties on this bugger.

 

[kfbkfb]

Any noticeable fidelity differences - small changes in the midrange volume between the various versions (not the ones from LPs)?


Kirk Bayne

 

[jimfisheye]

You can find at least a half dozen different CD editions that each have very different mastering. Novelty editions (ie. loudness war style mastering) abound for Sabbath releases too. Some of the worst offenders are called "deluxe edition". The HDTracks versions are some of the most distorted stepped on copies I've ever heard.

I've never heard Iron Man speed up at the end. Surely meant to say War Pigs, right?

Collect a number of different releases for one of your favorite albums and line them up in tracks in your favorite DAW app. (You can already see the volume differences and obvious brick wall limiting on some of them.) Turn the louder ones down to try to match volumes across all of them. Now flip through A/B'ing between them. Now tell me about the impact of the CD format on sound again!

Sadly the best digital copies of the early Sabbath albums are the 1st UK editions that were made from eq'd vinyl pre-masters (Judging by the sound). This Quadio release of quad Paranoid is the big exception to that now. Getting all the stereo albums mastered even half this clean would be really welcome!

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

You can find at least a half dozen different CD editions that each have very different mastering. Novelty editions (ie. loudness war style mastering) abound for Sabbath releases too. Some of the worst offenders are called "deluxe edition". The HDTracks versions are some of the most distorted stepped on copies I've ever heard.

I've never heard Iron Man speed up at the end. Surely meant to say War Pigs, right?

Collect a number of different releases for one of your favorite albums and line them up in tracks in your favorite DAW app. (You can already see the volume differences and obvious brick wall limiting on some of them.) Turn the louder ones down to try to match volumes across all of them. Now flip through A/B'ing between them. Now tell me about the impact of the CD format on sound again!

Sadly the best digital copies of the early Sabbath albums are the 1st UK editions that were made from eq'd vinyl pre-masters (Judging by the sound). This Quadio release of quad Paranoid is the big exception to that now. Getting all the stereo albums mastered even half this clean would be really welcome!

Yes I did mean War Pigs. That just hit me and I came back to make the correction.

 

[par4ken]

There are some terrible sounding CD's out there. As a general rule the oldest releases are less compressed and sound the best the newest are brickwalled and sound terrible. I haven't bothered with the stereo mix from the Quadio, but I'm confident that it would sound great.

If I needed a CD I would recommend ripping the stereo tracks from the disc and downsample to 44.1Khz/16bit. For an alternate version rip the quad tracks and fold down to stereo. That will give the same presentation as on the CD-4.

 

[dadregga]

Very easy to check on any recording of the Paranoid album: If the end of Iron Man doesn't speed up, it's the quad or a downmix of the quad. If it speeds up at the end, it's the stereo mix.

Correction: The track is War Pigs, not Iron Man, that speeds up at the end of the stereo mix.

Ah nice then I stand corrected.