Early Memphis

Well, that sucks. Hard to believe it would be all that much better then. I'll await, hopefully, opinions from SHM "owners".

I noted the 2013 info, but not the 2010 mention. Unfortunately, their info on The Beatles SHM’s (no platinum), is even foggier (to me ) : “features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format for the first time and digital remastering in 2009.” So I guess it’s the 2009 Japanese master tapes (would the UK mastering tapes be “better”) and a new 2014 DSD transfer? Thanks, now you’ve got me wondering - just when I’d settled on the SHM CDs. Actually, the Layla disc, which is what started me here in the first place, is all but moot if I go into heavy debt on these Beatle SHMs. I can’t find a thread here for them, but my searching skills suck. If there is such a thread, please point me to it if you can. If not : do any of you guys have any experience/opinions on the Beatles SHM AQ vs. the US first release stereo box set? *thumbsup* EDIT : Forgot to mention, the guys at Oppo are of the opinion that the platinum SHMs would last longer (although no-one really knows how much longer), but that the audio information should be the same as the regular SHMs - which appears to be the consensus here as well. P.S. So the wink code shows up as a big smile ... Is there a list of Smiley codes which work with this site somewhere?

I don't do downloads (gotta have a hard copy ), but I got a dozen different "Inaugural Edition Hybrid" discs when they came out in 2002 - complete with their fancy "Certificate of Authenticity's". LOL Don't know how they stack up with the later SACD's you mentioned but the Bob Ludwig/Gus Skinas DSD tracks sound incredible! After hearing all the great Elvis/Dylan DSDs, the Stones releases convinced me big time that The Beatles fucked up royally by going with their own remaster system. I'm a big believer in DSD to wipe away the cobwebs of time without screwing up the sound, which is why I was interested to hear the (sold out/soon-to-be-rereleased) Japanese SHM/DSD Beatle albums.

Are you saying the only difference between that the Platinums and the regulars is that the Plats would last longer - or do you think that they sound better than the regulars? By the way which Stones albums would you recommend the most (to start out)? P.S. Anybody recommend any Hendrix SHMs (apparently all Beatles discs sold out way before I got word)?

Thanks. I've seen both the regular and the platinum SHMs available, but I haven't been able to find anything which explains the difference between them. One would assume a real difference, even if only in the cover (as in so many BDs), but then again, one would expect to find something, an ad, anything which explained the difference somewhere. Ah, if only I could afford them both just to know! LOL EDIT : Continuing searching, today I found a number of forums with umpteen million pages (gonna take a while), but little hard data so far ... From the Steve Hoffman Forum: “… utilizing the platinum in place of the aluminum to form the reflective coating in addition to the proven SHM-CD technology. Platinum SHM-CD is fully compatible with standard CD players. However, it will not play on CD players that are not compatible with CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable) discs.” Umm, well, I'll be calling Oppo in the morning to see what they say. Will post again if any actual info surfaces .,.

I was reading this thread with avid interest only to have it end! So I signed up to get some opinions. I didn't know about any of these Layla versions until today and was about to spring for the audio BD. However, in researching, I came across posts favoring the 5.1 SACD over the BRAD release. Then I got here and found some folks preferring the SHM-CD (again something I didn't know existed LOL). Anyway, complexity reared its ugly head once again when it turned out that there's a Platinum and a non-Platinum version of the SHM-CD. So, is there communal agreement that the SHM-CD is the way to go for Layla (heavy compression on the BD - hard to believe - and nothing really said about the 5.1 SACD)? I'm still unsure why all of these versions seem to go back to the "original" mix tapes, as the original mix was muddy at best and was seemingly surpassed by the 20th Anniversary remix? And IF the SHM-CD is the way to go, what do you get better from the platinum disc? For only $8, I don't want to short myself by getting the "regular" given good reason to "splurge"). Any help from anyone still listening would be great! *thumbsup*