I have a few arkive retreads, too, and find them fine, but they are CD - Rs, so, however you feel about that, they aren't made from a master tape. One arkive recording I have that sounds awful is (spelling alert) Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne, sung by Anna Moffo, Stokowski conducting from an RCA issue, circa 1965. It is unlistenable. I had the Lp back in the day, and it sounded nice, or so I thought at the time. It probably didn't really. I never heard the RCA CD issue, so can't comment on the digital transfer, but the final CD -R is terrible.