Killer next for Hoffman

[RemarkablyInsincere]

This album has started shipping from various sellers (though not yet from Amazon).

Some 30 second MP3 samples available in this thread:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showt ... per+killer

[VinceLeeRose]

picked this up today...

wow does this sound great!!!

Wasn't that impressed with the Audio Fidelity version of SCHOOLS OUT...but this sounds a helluva lot clearer than the Warner Bros CD...!!

totally diggin this

[sparkinthedark]

This album has started shipping from various sellers (though not yet from Amazon).

I got my "your item has shipped" notification from Amazon(.com) just a couple of days after you posted this, on Aug. 31st.

[RemarkablyInsincere]

The booklet has the original LP labels.

[Railwayman]

Got an email from Amazon UK stating that they have now have no idea when it will be shipped.

I had the very same problem when ordering SO from Amazon UK and ended up cancelling and ordering from Amazon US. Some people never learn I suppose.

[sparkinthedark]

After similar problems with Amazon UK and the SO release I went straight to Amazon US this time around and the album is currently en route to me, so far as I'm aware.

[RemarkablyInsincere]

Got mine and my second copy is on the way.

I think this one is much better than the original CD.

Definitely a bigger difference between this one and the original CD than there was with "School's Out" and it's original Warner Bros. disc. It was an improvement, but I felt it was more in the bottom end where this one sees it across the board.

"I think you're gonna like it..."

[Somwhere In Auckland]

Dont own this yet, but compared to the WB version on CD how does this compare? Is it worth the purchase on the soul purpose of getting a kick asse remaster as opposed to having a collectors set printed on a gold disk?

I heard the Schools Out release wasnt much better than the original WB release.

[Somwhere In Auckland]

Just read what RemarkablyInsincere posted

Ok, will put this on order then

[RemarkablyInsincere]

The family was out today and I cranked this baby up on my home system... wow does it sound great.

[Somwhere In Auckland]

How does it sound compared to the Rhino remasters?

Between the "Life And Crimes Box" and The "Definitive Collection" They remasterd every song except "You Drive Me Nervous" and "Yeah Yeah Yeah" But those 6 remasters are pretty awesome and much louder than the WB cd.

[WickedYoungMan]

[quote]Between the "Life And Crimes Box" and The "Definitive Collection" They remasterd every song except "You Drive Me Nervous" and "Yeah Yeah Yeah" But those 6 remasters are pretty awesome and much louder than the WB cd.[/quoe]

Specifically what 6 CDs? Life & Crimes, Definitive & something else?

[Somwhere In Auckland]

I ment 6 songs.

Under My Wheels / Be My Lover / Desperado / Dead Babies / Killer (Life And Crimes)

Halo Of Flies / Under My Wheels (Definitive)

Anyway They sound amazing, pity Rhino wont as of yet release the whole album.

I read the tracks sound MUCH louder and crisp than those on the "Killer gold" edition.

Anone else can confirm this?

[RemarkablyInsincere]

I read the tracks sound MUCH louder and crisp than those on the "Killer gold" edition.

I really hope you aren't judging louder as a "good" thing.

Most likely they're louder because the dynamic range has been compressed and limited. That's a bad thing and it's very indicative of modern mastering techniques where louder is considered better at all costs.

KILLER is a pretty dynamic album. I certainly don't want those dynamics sacrificed in order to make the album louder. That's what a volume knob is for.

"Crisp-ness" is in the ear of the beholder, but often certain frequencies are boosted to give an artificial impression of clarity at the expense of the music. These differences become more apparent as the quality of the music hardware increases.

One of the reasons Hoffman's mastering methods are so popular among audiophiles is that he refuses to compress or limit the music giving in to current mastering fads. So essentially, what you're getting with Hoffman is more true to the recording on the master tape.

The Audio Fidelity 24k Gold CD release are audiophile calibre releases meant to stay as true to the original records as possible.

Much more info here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

[Somwhere In Auckland]

Yeah I get that, and its a good thing in theory.

However I have read many times the Audio Fidelity version of Schoold Out was a waste of time as it didnt sound any better.

Having not heard Schools out or killer, will these both be worth getting and replacing my current CD's?

[WickedYoungMan]

I would say that these are either for people who don't own these albums already or, to the other end of the spectrum, absolute completists. They aren't so earth shattering better that everyone must own one, however, maybe a good place to start if you don't own those particular albums or are interested in owning such things. That's just me though.

[RemarkablyInsincere]

Yeah I get that, and its a good thing in theory.

However I have read many times the Audio Fidelity version of Schoold Out was a waste of time as it didnt sound any better.

Having not heard Schools out or killer, will these both be worth getting and replacing my current CD's?

Well, the only reason I went into that song and dance again is because you alluded to other versions being better because they were "louder". That's not really a good metric when determining mastering quality.

SCHOOL'S OUT was improved mostly in the bottom end. KILLER, on the other hand, I feel is a bigger improvement over the original CD as it has improved clarity and definition throughout. It also doesn't have the dropout on "Be My Lover" that the original CD does.

As to whether it's worth you upgrading, that's hard to say as it depends on what type of listener you are and what you appreciate. You'll get more out of these the better your equipment. For example, if you listen to all your music on low quality MP3, through cheap earbuds or through PC speakers, you're likely not going to notice much difference.

If you're a collector, you'll want to grab these sooner rather than later as they'll be hard to find in a year or two if not sooner.

[Somwhere In Auckland]

Thanks for the info, cant hurt to place one on order.

Any improvment in sound is a good thing to me, and like you say if you have a good sound system, the volume knob goes quite high

Unlike those cheap mini systems where you have to almost turn it up full volume to get a decent sound.

[A_MichaelUK]

>For example, if you listen to all your music on low quality MP3, through cheap earbuds or through PC speakers, you're likely not going to notice much difference.

That's exactly the point I was trying to get across.

[Si]

My 2 cents, I really couldn`t hear any difference on SO, but certainly can on Killer. It's certainly "louder" then the original CD, but it does sound clearer/sharper as well, even on headphones, which is what I generally use.