[newzooreview]

I just bought the newly released remaster of Rain Dogs in 192/24 from HD Tracks.

My existing version in 44/16 ripped from CD sounds better to me. It sounds more full, rich, and tonally saturated in comparison to the remastered version, which sounds thinner and bleached.

Neither of them is heavily compressed, judging from the waveform in Roon, but the remaster is definitely quieter overall by a couple of dB. I have tried to equalize playback volume manually when switching back and forth, and I still hear the original CD as better. It has more life to it and sacrifices nothing in detail or openness.

I'm curious if others have heard the same thing. Remastered versions don't always sound better, but this surprised me a bit.

[Letitroll98]

I have to apologize for my reply.  I'm a big Tom Waits fan and have many of his recordings, but I just don't get that whole Rain Dogs - Swordfish Trombones era.  So I can't offer any thoughts directly on that recording, to me it's unlistenable in any format.  Odd for me that an artist that I love so thoroughly in every way, seemingly, has a large body of work that I despise.

Remasters are always a crapshoot, one never knows how a studio engineer will assess the problems of the original and what to do about it.  More often than not I'm generally pleased with their decisions, but there are some notable exceptions, Pink Floyd for one, where I'm going what were they thinking.  I just wish somebody would fix Ry Cooders BopTill You Drop.

[timind]

I have Rain Dogs on cd, and can listen to the remaster on Qobuz, so I'll compare them. Like Letiroll98, I'm not a big fan of Rain Dogs, although it does have it's moments.

I also agree that remasters don't always live up to the hype, at least not for me. I think the Steven Wilson remaster of Aqualung is terrible compared to the early cd version, or LP I have. Personal taste?

[Zuman]

I've bought several dozen HDTracks hi-rez files, and I, too, am not always in love with the remasters. However, I'm pretty sure that getting the tracks in 192/24 always sounds better to me. I think that I always find a positive difference in presence and air, even when that clarity reveals more crap from initial poor recording technique. I assume that labels sometimes produce high-resolution files without messing with the original mix???

[newzooreview]

In this case, I don't hear any remixing, but I'll be curious if anyone hears differently. If it's there, it's not the butchering that was done in some of the Beatles remixes. Typically they would note "remix" in the album info, which they don't for Rain Dogs.

Rain Dogs and Mule Variations are the albums I listen to most frequently, but aside from Mule Variations, I tend to spend little time with the albums after 1987. I need to revisit them.

[Pez]

My assessment- the new Rain Dogs remaster is… unfortunate. The balance is very much top heavy making vocals sound nasal and instrumentation is lacking body as the original poster has pointed out.

I have a DSD version of the album that is definitely better than the 16/44 version I have. It is absolutely spectacular. So when I saw a remaster in 24/192 I got really excited. This new remaster is a major miss and clearly this is either a bad transfer or a tin-eared job. I’m afraid to listen to any of the other remasters now. 

[newzooreview]

Is there a source for the DSD version?

I remember checking on remasters a few years back and found Mule Variations and a couple of others, but I didn't see a DSD for Rain Dogs. I am partial to DSD because the Holo May DAC has a real, dedicated DSD converter alongside the ladder converter for PCM. No conversion of DSD to PCM before a PCM DAC stage like a Denafrips or most other DACS.

Thanks for the insight. I do agree that the new Rain Dogs remaster is imbalanced and bit nasal.

Listening to Brawler, Bawlers, and Bastards now. Lots of fun.

[Pez]

I have the physical DSD disc. I transferred it to a file on my computer and use my NAS to my Auralic Aires G2.1 and then to the May DAC as well. Agreed, May DAC loves DSD.

[newzooreview]

Cool.

I run a Roon ROCK NUC directly to the May by USB. Given the robust USB input on the May, that was better than the various options I tried (Allo USB and SOTM boxes).

I tried the Aries G2.1, and it sounded better using its dedicated player than with Roon. I have a lifetime Roon subscription and enjoy the rich data and Qobuz integration, so I returned the Aries. If it weren't for my biasing towards Roon, the Aries would have been excellent.

I will try the Holo Red streamer for HDMI to the May when/if the Red comes back in stock.

[Pez]

Aires can be pretty sensitive to what's plugged into it. I use a switch that I have a linear power supply for plugged directly from Aires to my QNAP NAS and the sound quality is definitely better than anything I've heard. Regardless of whether I run it's software or Roon, there's no change to sound quality.

[GeorgeAb]

The DSD of Rain Dogs is quite good. @newzooreview sent you a PM concerning. Unfortunately, just do not care for album.

[Rusty Jefferson]

Man, a lot of Rain Dogs haters. I'd say it's one of my favorites but really, they're all my favorites.

The 24 bit Waits remasters are among the worst I've heard. I have a general opinion that there are almost no examples of record companies upsampling/remastering music originally made on analogue tape and getting a better result than ripping a cd in .wav. This also seems to be most obvious when using dacs that themselves upsample like Chord Dave/Hugo or Berkeley Reference. The 24 bit offerings on Qobuz of favorite classic recordings are another example of more bits aren't better. Just my observation.

I haven't heard any DSD copies of Waits recordings, can anyone document the provenance of how those were created? It seems unusual the same responsible parties would botch a 24 bit PCM 'remaster' but nail a DSD version?

[Rusty Jefferson]

Cool.

I run a Roon ROCK NUC directly to the May by USB. Given the robust USB input on the May, that was better than the various options I tried (Allo USB and SOTM boxes)....

I just noticed this post while rereading this thread. Fairly recently, Roon changed their recommendation of running a core device into the dac directly like with a NUC or their Nucleus. Now they recommend using an endpoint or pretty much anything running Roon bridge. I have a friend who was running usb from his Nucleus and added a HP machine he had to the network and loaded the bridge software on it expecting the worst but sure enough there was a surprisingly good improvement over running directly from the core.

https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/sound-quality#Rule_1_Core_and_Output_on_separate_devices

[Pez]

Man, a lot of Rain Dogs haters. I'd say it's one of my favorites but really, they're all my favorites.

Couldn’t agree more man, Rain Dogs is an absolute masterpiece. Certainly one of the best albums to come out of that era. Not everyone understands high art! 

[SteveFord]

I bought the album when it first came out.
New vinyl re-release due out Sept. 1st.
Has anyone heard the reissued Tom Waits albums on vinyl?

[Rusty Jefferson]

Couldn’t agree more man, Rain Dogs is an absolute masterpiece. Certainly one of the best albums to come out of that era. Not everyone understands high art! 

Straight up, Bro! Just brilliant. I remember bringing the record home for the first listen. Hadn't bought any Waits since Heart Attack and Vine or maybe Blue Valentine. Put that needle down and was just stunned by what I was hearing. 

Where did the DSD disk come from, a DVD release?A commercial SACD release?

[Pez]

Ya man, my introduction to Rain Dogs was similar. I bought the album and was cruising around in my car when I decided to listen to it for the first time. It was one of those moments where I literally just pulled over into whatever random neighborhood I was in and sat there in awe. I hadn’t heard anything like it!

The DSD that I have is a straight up SACD that I found by hunting high and low online. I don’t remember where I ended up finding it but I did.

[Letitroll98]

Couldn’t agree more man, Rain Dogs is an absolute masterpiece. Certainly one of the best albums to come out of that era. Not everyone understands high art! 

I'm one of the haters, but since I have such respect for Wait's work overall the reissue gives me an excuse to revisit the recording and that whole period.  I'll let you know what I think.