On 09/09/09 the entire Beatles back catalogue was re-released in brand new packaging and with totally revamped and re-mastered sound quality. On that day I received The Beatles Stereo Box-Set and I also managed to acquire The Mono set of CDs as well. Since that day, I have been listening to these albums and making some decisions on the sound quality.
First off though, some background. I had in my collection all the original 1987 CD releases, plus I had CD copies of the 24-bit remastered Dr Ebbetts editions of all the Beatles collection. The Dr Ebbetts selection gave us much improved sound quality over the original official Beatles releases so the new official releases had a lot to live up to.
The Stereo Box-Set comes in a lush black box, with all the albums recreated lovingly in fold-out reconstructions of the original LP covers. They all come with great quality booklets with notes and tons of pictures, and it looks like a lot of work went into these beauties.
So, the sound quality is where of course it matters most. These days I am used to listening to 24-bit digitally remastered classics by my other favourite artists, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley and The Byrds, so The Beatles remasters had a lot to compete with.
The stereo albums without a doubt sound far superior to anything ever released by The Beatles. They knock the spots off the 1987 CDs and they are superior to the already amazing Dr Ebbetts versions. There is a nice amount of bass, the mid-range is now much better and the top end is pristine. Never does a song sound like it is going to crack at any second, everything breathes and you can hear things in the recordings that you never noticed before. Guitars sound stunning, drums sound real and cymbals make the right noise. Vocals too sound perfect, and when yoy hear Paul sing "Yesterday", it's as if he is in the room with you.
The mono versions of the albums are sometimes regarded to THE albums to listen to. Yes, they have some subtle (and not so subtle) differences to the Stereo versions, however for those who have never heard the mono versions, this is the best they have ever sounded, only slightly better than the Dr Ebbetts releases, however better. For me as an avid fan, I would say listen to both versions when ever possible, however, for the first time ever I now say The Beatles in Stereo sound have that little edge on the mono recordings.
So, which version should you buy? Well, the only versions available of the albums that are sold sepreatly are the stereo versions, so for a casual fan these will be more than adequate... Infact, the albums Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour are all must buy purchases!
:) Mark