Originally posted by IwillFOLLOW:Hello out there!
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"Rattle and Hum" Remastered Album (2017 Master)
"Achtung Baby" Remastered Album (2018 Master)
"Zooropa" Remastered Album (2018 Master)
"Pop" Remastered Album (2017 Master)
"All That You Can't Leave Behind" Remastered Album (2017 Master)
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Are the remastered albums worth to buy the vinyls with download code and/or from itunes in terms of audio quality?
New Release Oddities
Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2019-02-17)
Update: February 17, 2019:
We've been able to confirm what version of Rattle and Hum is now shipping from Amazon in North America. If you read below, we recently were able to identify a new pressing of Rattle and Hum was being offered for sale at Amazon in the USA, at some local shops, and is also being offered on U2.Com. We believe these are all the same pressing.
The version now available at Amazon is definitely a new pressing of the 2002 release from Europe. This version was initially pressed in Europe and sold throughout Europe over a number of years. It has been repressed a number of times since the initial pressing, including pressings in 2015. The pressing carries the catalog number 842 299-1 (UPC 0 42284 22991 3). There is little text on the back except for the trademarks, and a note "Made in the E.U."A sticker further identifies that this pressing was made in Germany.
How do we know it is a new pressing? Well for the first time since we've seen these vinyl start to appear, this version on Amazon currently has a download code included. That allows you to download the full album at TheSoundOfVinyl.com in wave format like the other issues since the reissue program started in 2017. The download is available in Wave format like the other albums were.
This version is an updated pressing of the 2002 vinyl, and is not a remastered album. Rattle and Hum was part of series of albums remastered for Apple in 2017, but this vinyl contains the original mastering and not the newer mastering directed by The Edge. We were told that a new pressing of Rattle and Hum had originally been planned for last fall, and it was suggested that this would have been a remastered version. We are not sure what this new pressing of the 2002 release says about any future release on vinyl. We have reached out to Universal Music to ask if the remastered version will indeed be released at some future point, or if it is this version that will be kept in print going forward.
Many thanks to Zach for sharing photos and information on this one!
Originally posted by BigGiRL:[..]
Have you read that recent article on U2Songs "New Release Oddities" on the Rattle & Hum remaster(s) ?
I'm not sure if it showed up at your news feed on the U2Start front page (custom setting), but I'm surprised no-one has mentioned it.
Especially the last part is interesting: since 2002 there hasn't been a new remaster released of Rattle & Hum...
[..]
Source: https://www.u2songs.com/news/new_release_oddities
(NLOTH 2018/19 redux 
)
Originally posted by BigGiRL:Update on the NLOTH remaster...in one word: YES
I "redeemed" my digital download that came with the 2019 clear vinyl, and it definitely sounds warmer and more natural
The original 2009 CD version is notoriously loud mastered with, to my ears at least, a rather shrill and a bit metallic sounding...eh...sound. To give you an idea, if I look at the numbers, the loudness of "Magnificent (2009)" is -8.1 LKFS/LUFS. The 2019 remaster (the file actually says 2018 remaster) of "Magnificent" is -10.2 LKFS/LUFS...
Still pretty loud, but still a much better sound. Todays mastering programs are obviously a lot smarter than back in '09, which bring far more life and depth in to an already brilliant album.
It let me to believe that they actually gone back to the real master (not the production master) and redone the job
PS: this is not some spotify download...what you get is 16/44.100 .wav files...
Originally posted by BigGiRL:Update on the NLOTH remaster...in one word: YES
I "redeemed" my digital download that came with the 2019 clear vinyl, and it definitely sounds warmer and more natural
The original 2009 CD version is notoriously loud mastered with, to my ears at least, a rather shrill and a bit metallic sounding...eh...sound. To give you an idea, if I look at the numbers, the loudness of "Magnificent (2009)" is -8.1 LKFS/LUFS. The 2019 remaster (the file actually says 2018 remaster) of "Magnificent" is -10.2 LKFS/LUFS...
Still pretty loud, but still a much better sound. Todays mastering programs are obviously a lot smarter than back in '09, which bring far more life and depth in to an already brilliant album.
It let me to believe that they actually gone back to the real master (not the production master) and redone the job
PS: this is not some spotify download...what you get is 16/44.100 .wav files...
Originally posted by Timk68:The coloured vinyls are great
Originally posted by Fly40:[..]
Back to the real master...ok
Digital or analog?
Album remaster directed by The Edge. Remastering engineering by Scott Sedillo at Bernie Grundman Mastering.
Audio master transfer direction by Declan Gaffney.
The lone exception is Rattle and Hum, which had its 2017 remaster issued in audio format on iTunes
as part of the MFiT program, but has never had a physical release.
The new remaster features a very clear separation of instruments in place, really bringing out aspects
of the guitar and drums on some of the songs, and overall better dynamics as a whole.
Originally posted by popmarter:[..]
The quality is 15% less than the normal black.