[bprice2]

If you have access to a FTP server, I would gladly upload the ripped disc.

Let me know.

George

That would be awesome!  Would Fire FTP do the trick?

[rbbert]

All is not roses with the sound of this box, either.   

At least some people prefer the sound of the parts of 4/7 on Steppin' Out compared to the new box.  It is noticeably different.

Some of the previously circulating 2-tracks have measurably more dynamic range (even after HDCD-decoding) than the versions on the new box.  They also have a little more distortion, but there's no good reason for the new multi-track versions not to also have more dynamic range.

[jriggy]

All is not roses with the sound of this box, either.   

At least some people prefer the sound of the parts of 4/7 on Steppin' Out compared to the new box.  It is noticeably different.

Some of the previously circulating 2-tracks have measurably more dynamic range (even after HDCD-decoding) than the versions on the new box.  They also have a little more distortion, but there's no good reason for the new multi-track versions not to also have more dynamic range.

I regretfully agree...

I was not totally prepared to comment yet but was just talking to Birto about this...

These must be two track recordings (???), Kinda grungy actually. Not totally impressed with the SQ.

Compared "Rockin the Rhein" to its counter part in the box (4-24) and there is no contest to the superior quality of the earlier R the R release. kinda surprised.

At first I thought it was the first three England shows -- since its stated how awful acoustic buildings they were but it seems to go further in to the tour too...
I plan on testing this box against a DxPx from 72, as well as Hundred Year Hall. But I imagine this box will continue to come in last in SQ.

Other than grunge (leading to considerably less detail and musicality), there is a touch of brightness. Im gunna hafta blame the slight brightness on David Glasser of Airshow mastering -- since he is the only 'new' piece of the puzzle as far as GD releases are concerned...

[Cassidy]

That's the first comment I've seen saying the sound is lacking.  The source tapes are...

From Dead.net:

Jeffrey Norman spent many months mixing down the 16-track master tapes from every show on the tour for the humongo-box, while mastering ace David Glasser put the final polish and brought the sonics up to HDCD specs.

[rbbert]

Well, I can't totally agree with that last post.  I've only compared set 1 of RTR to the box set, and would call it a toss-up.  Of the other shows, HTH is clearly poorer sounding than the version in the box, and the rest of the English shows either a toss-up or better in the box.  JMO, of course.

[jparkhur]

I have an extra box set if any one wants one and did not get one.  Numbered in 2152 I think.  Pm me if interested


Jon

[jriggy]

That's the first comment I've seen saying the sound is lacking.  The source tapes are...

From Dead.net:

Jeffrey Norman spent many months mixing down the 16-track master tapes from every show on the tour for the humongo-box, while mastering ace David Glasser put the final polish and brought the sonics up to HDCD specs.

Depends on how one is reading that quote. Jeffrey did indeed have several months, but that was for all 22 shows, not several moths per show... In the interview posted on dead.net, Jeffrey eluded to being short on time and gaining fatigue as he went. Also stating that he was at the point of needing to move on to the next song every 45 mins -- using an egg timer -- or he was gunna run short.
 Not saying that has anything directly to do with the SQ, just clarifying...

When comparing 4-24 of the box to Rockin' The Rhein... RTR is the clear winner! Even my not so critical, just music loving wife was stunned at how dirty the box set was sounding so far.
Much more separation, wider stage, more emotion etc. One example- Billy's symbols go from sounding like a few (on the box) to many (on RTR), I could tell the difference from him hitting the high-hat with his foot pedal, against when he would strike it with his stick. Quite a bit more detail all around...

Obviously more inspection of this, I will do, even though RTR was no contest on my system. I am only ready for show #4, so just now getting out of the crapy english buildings. Maybe the shows will straighten up to what I am used to.

[rbbert]

I'm also curious about how many people are listening to this with the HDCD decoded?  Almost all the discs utilize "Peak Extension", which means that undecoded you lose 2 dB of dynamic range off the top (and a similar amount off the bottom).

I have found that by decoding the HDCD and then using a high-quality software parametric equalizer plug-in this new set can be made to sound better than other sources.  That's a lot of work for the listener to do on an official release, however   

[HalSF]

I’ve been listening to Grateful Dead discs using HDCD decoding ever since their archive releases starting using HDCD. I don’t believe that HDCD per se makes or breaks any of the crucial elements in how this stuff sounds. The big chunks of the Brit shows from April and May 1972 that were released on the 2004 four-disc HDCD Steppin’ Out set sound A LOT different than the new versions, but both are HDCD. The smooshing together of instruments, the lack of separation and precise location of players across the soundstage, and the near-obliteration of Keith Godchaux’s piano are starting to look like serious problems on the Complete Europe ’72. I haven’t listened to enough of it to say for sure yet. The performances themselves are uniformly excellent to amazing.

There’s already been a fair amount of discussion about sound quality of the new Europe ’72 discs over at Dead.net.

[Mike Nomad]

Has anyone had problems with the first track on the Radio Bremen disc? What I'm getting is kinda hard to explain... sounds like disc read errors &/ very hard clipping.

[zybar]

Has anyone had problems with the first track on the Radio Bremen disc? What I'm getting is kinda hard to explain... sounds like disc read errors &/ very hard clipping.

Don't remember any problems Mike, but I can fire it up this weekend and report back.

George

[bummrush]

Mike hey I will listen to  the show and write back later.

[bprice2]

Has anyone had problems with the first track on the Radio Bremen disc? What I'm getting is kinda hard to explain... sounds like disc read errors &/ very hard clipping.

I'm listening now (Bertha, right?), and I don't hear what you're talking about.  I've ripped all the shows to flac using dbpoweramp and in the process found that I had a faulty disc (show 22, disc 2...thanks again, Zybar).  The faulty disc was reported to dead.net about a month ago and the replacement arrived yesterday.  If you're having a problem with a disc, I'd suggest contacting dead.net.

I have a theory, which is mostly based on my imagination, but I think that in producing E '72, some aspects of production were seriously low-balled.  In particular, I think the process of burning the music to CD was compromised. I've read too many complaints at dead.net regarding bad CDs and there doesn't seem to be a pattern to it. My thinking is that whoever burned the music to disc did the bare minimum to make an imprint on the discs...ie high speed burn with minimal imprint.  Which leads me to this...folk listening to these CDs on a CD player may be more prone to experiencing issues with playback, resulting from many players' inability to properly read the disc.  And, folks who are listening to files ripped from cd using bit perfect ripping software might not be experiencing as many problems as you have mentioned.

[bummrush]

 No problem,although i think i know what you mean ,,i think i.ve heard it on some of his vocals a bit here and there,but its hard to pin down and could only say i heard a few times at most so far,halfway through the box.But hard clipping no.

[Mike Nomad]

I'm listening now (Bertha, right?), and I don't hear what you're talking about.  I've ripped all the shows to flac using dbpoweramp and in the process found that I had a faulty disc (show 22, disc 2...thanks again, Zybar).  The faulty disc was reported to dead.net about a month ago and the replacement arrived yesterday.  If you're having a problem with a disc, I'd suggest contacting dead.net.

I have a theory, which is mostly based on my imagination, but I think that in producing E '72, some aspects of production were seriously low-balled.  In particular, I think the process of burning the music to CD was compromised. I've read too many complaints at dead.net regarding bad CDs and there doesn't seem to be a pattern to it. My thinking is that whoever burned the music to disc did the bare minimum to make an imprint on the discs...ie high speed burn with minimal imprint.  Which leads me to this...folk listening to these CDs on a CD player may be more prone to experiencing issues with playback, resulting from many players' inability to properly read the disc.  And, folks who are listening to files ripped from cd using bit perfect ripping software might not be experiencing as many problems as you have mentioned.

First, thanks to all for the feedback.

Hey Brett, yes it's Bertha. I ripped the Bremen disc to see if the problem would go away (didn't use anything fancy: iTunes; upsampled; error correction turned on).

The sound is _way_ better than what I get out of my main rig, and that is with the option of HDCD decoding and a tube in the pre stage... Looks like I will be doing the whole trunk.

The chimps at Rhino are _really_ pissing me off. I will be contacting them for a replacement disc.

Again, thanks to all for the responses.

(and)

Have a Grateful Day.

[bprice2]

I wish I could tell you the name of the lady I spoke with at d.n.  She gave the impression of being competent.  Sorry, I can't remember.

[Mike Nomad]

Getting to the end of the trunk, and hit my second bad disc: 5/23/72, disc 2. Read errors during the last two minutes of Dark Star (of course). Hopefully, the Bad Disc List doesn't get any bigger.

As I get to the end of the second-to-the-last show, the thing that first comes to mind is how good the tour is. I only found one show to be _really_ off, and some of that may be only that it suffers by comparison.

So, what say you? Did you get your money's worth? I would have to say I did.