Best version of each Maiden album?

I'm thinking about seeking out and getting copies of all the 2cd Castle Records albums that were released in 1995. My understanding is that those masters sound just as good as any original UK or Japanese Black Triangle version. Can anyone confirm if that's true? Currently I have all the new remasters on vinyl, and the '98 masters on CD. And one copy of Number of the Beast in its original UK pressing. But I'd love to have good sounding CDs, and the Castle Records ones are not too hard to find, not super expensive, and include tons of great bonus tracks. Most of which I already have but still.
 
Jer said:
The DOD 2015 remaster cleans up some of the mud in the production, but at a cost. In some particularly muddy places you can tell that they suppressed certain frequency ranges to allow specific instruments to stand out more, then let everything go back to normal afterward, which is pretty weird once you notice it. But it's probably still preferable to the original overall.

The AMOLAD 2015 remaster cleans up some of the leveling issues between a few tracks on the original without any apparent downsides, so I prefer it.

For everything else I'm still operating off either the originals, or my 1995 Castle 2-disc CDs (which I believe are the same mastering as the originals), so I can't speak to those. I could imagine the debut and the Blaze-era albums potentially benefitting from remasters, but I don't like them enough to put in the effort.

I'm also anti-vinyl. I think this audiophile obsession with a technology we abandoned long ago for very good reasons is absurd. The only point the hipsters have is that vinyl's inherent limitations don't allow you to do a brickwalled mastering the way that digital does, so the label is forced to do a less shitty mastering for vinyl if their mastering for digital sucked. But otherwise vinyl is inferior in every conceivable way unless you have literally superhuman hearing and really need those tones above 22KHz to sound great. And even then you could probably get HD digital files that would fully appease your superhuman hearing up to 48KHz, so vinyl still wouldn't make sense. Hissing, popping, tempo and pitch warbling, messing up track order to fit the size of the record, flipping and swapping records, putting wear on the things every time you play them -- no thanks.
Click to expand...
Id have agreed with you until i got good record player. I know people cant afford a good set up but once you the sound difference is phenomenal. I still listen to cd and digital but i do now prefer vinyl however i wont the extortionate prices some outlets charge for them
 
chaosapiant said:
I'm thinking about seeking out and getting copies of all the 2cd Castle Records albums that were released in 1995. My understanding is that those masters sound just as good as any original UK or Japanese Black Triangle version. Can anyone confirm if that's true?
Click to expand...
They’re the same as the original masters for everything through Fear Of The Dark. I actually replaced all of my original CDs with these back in the late 90s to get all the B-sides. My one caution would be that the pressing and material quality of the CDs wasn’t as good as the originals, so attempting to re-rip them has given me trouble over the years. My copy of The Number Of The Beast is particularly whacked, to the point where I almost replaced it with a new digital version rather than trying to re-rip it for the umpteenth time. So bear that in mind.
 
Christopher Baines said:
Id have agreed with you until i got good record player. I know people cant afford a good set up but once you the sound difference is phenomenal.
Click to expand...
I’m too sensitive to the tempo warbling, hissing, and popping sounds for vinyl to be an option for me. I’ve listened to so-called reference rips from vinyl and I still hear this stuff all over the place. It’s unavoidable in a mechanical sound reproduction environment like that.

Plus, there’s literally nothing superior about vinyl for reproduction of frequencies below 22KHz. The only “advantage” is that you can’t brickwall a vinyl master to the same extent as a CD master, so during the loudness wars a vinyl master might be forced to be less egregious because of physical limitations, so you could accidentally get a better end result.

That said, I believe that you think you hear a superior result on vinyl, and in the end it’s your subjective impression that’s probably going to matter most on something like this.
 
Last edited:
Jer said:
I’m too sensitive to the tempo warbling, hissing, and popping sounds for vinyl to be an option for me. I’ve listened to so-called reference rips from vinyl and I still hear this stuff all over the place. It’s unavoidable in a mechanical sound reproduction environment like that.

Plus, there’s literally nothing superior about vinyl for reproduction of frequencies below 22KHz. The only “advantage” is that you can’t brickwall a vinyl master to the same extent as a CD master, so during the loudness wars a vinyl master might be forced to be less egregious because of physical limitations, so you could accidentally get a better end result.

That said, I believe that you think you hear a superior result on vinyl, and in the end it’s your subjective impression that’s probably going to matter most on something like this.
Click to expand...
Pretty much. Although the harmonic distortion can do wonders to enhance the guitar sound for instance. Tempo warbling can be avoided by an external PSU with DSP to keep the speed perfectly consistent. I got that with my setup. I have loads of vinyl that I rip. I buy vinyl for the novelty, the big covers but mostly because they are less squashed than newer CDs due to the technical limilations. But there are lots of other tradeoffs. The pops (although there is software that will remove them, and especially if you do it semi-manually, you get a good, fairly non-destructive result), the surface noise, the inner groove distortion etcetera, but some pickups are better at tracking than others that makes it roughly inaudible, most of the time. Though there are a couple of Primal Fear albums in my collection that distort no matter what the final track or so.

That being said, my Powerslave rip is, to me, better sounding than the CD counterparts because of the added harmonic distortion that fattens up the guitars. That's the exception though, the rest of the classic Maiden albums are either better on CD, or the vinyl rips are about on par. But CDs are a vastly technically superior format.
 
Last edited:
Jer said:
They’re the same as the original masters for everything through Fear Of The Dark. I actually replaced all of my original CDs with these back in the late 90s to get all the B-sides. My one caution would be that the pressing and material quality of the CDs wasn’t as good as the originals, so attempting to re-rip them has given me trouble over the years. My copy of The Number Of The Beast is particularly whacked, to the point where I almost replaced it with a new digital version rather than trying to re-rip it for the umpteenth time. So bear that in mind.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this, just what I wanted to hear! I have no intention on ripping them. My system has a cheap CD player that i've turned into a CD transport with the digital output going to a simple Schiit Modi 3+ DAC. And CDs sound great on this system. I currently alternate between the 2015-2017 vinyl remasters and some Black Triangle Flac rips I found online. And they both sound incredible.

Also, for the record (no pun intended) I bought a first pressing UK copy of Number of the Beast after reading nearly everyone in online forums stating this was the superior master and that all others had flat drum sounds. I'm hear to report that I can hear very little difference in the drums between the 2015 vinyl remaster vs the original uk pressing. This is on a Fluance RT85 turntable, which isn't the best thing in the world, but it's a pretty nice sounding turntable. So now I just play either the 2015 remaster on vinyl or my Black Triangle flac-ripped CD.
 
I’m not going to inject my thoughts in formats. All I will say is that I spend enough time on my phone. Having physical media is a ways to switch off and immerse myself in an album.

Regarding the original question, I will say that The X Factor 2017 vinyl is excellent. I think the remastering has brought out details that are muddy on the original.
 
Ascendingthethrone said:
I’m not going to inject my thoughts in formats. All I will say is that I spend enough time on my phone. Having physical media is a ways to switch off and immerse myself in an album.

Regarding the original question, I will say that The X Factor 2017 vinyl is excellent. I think the remastering has brought out details that are muddy on the original.
Click to expand...
Agreed 100% this. Same with VXI. I listened to both yesterday and while the production is what it is, I thought they sounded great.
 
I have the castle versions and they sound exactly the same to me as the original CD pressings. Also, as mentioned earlier in this thread, I think it’s mostly a myth that the black triangles are better than any other original cd master.

Best versions of maiden albums are pretty straight forward imo. Original CDs for the first 8 albums, 2015 remasters (CD and vinyl are the same afaik) for everything after. Fear of the Dark is the only Birch era album that I felt was significantly improved during the remaster campaigns. Also, I’m not sure if the digipak version of Book of Souls has a different master, but I found the vinyl master to have slightly less compression and that (afaik) hasn’t been reproduced on a digital format.
 
Mosh said:
I have the castle versions and they sound exactly the same to me as the original CD pressings. Also, as mentioned earlier in this thread, I think it’s mostly a myth that the black triangles are better than any other original cd master.
Click to expand...
Yep. Identical. I did a test once. Put in one Black Triangle rip, and then any other original pressing. Phase inverted one and adjusted the volume 0.3 dB or so until they completely cancelled out. Identical.
 
chaosapiant said:
Thank you for this, just what I wanted to hear! I have no intention on ripping them. My system has a cheap CD player that i've turned into a CD transport with the digital output going to a simple Schiit Modi 3+ DAC. And CDs sound great on this system.
Click to expand...
Well, my warning applies regardless of whether you’re ripping or playing the CDs — my Castle CDs are slightly warped, so they make clicking sounds when they spin, and because they’re more poorly made they’re more susceptible to bit rot than the originals, so at nearly 30 years old they may start skipping or otherwise messing up when you try to read them (which you have to do for ripping or playing).

I suspect the original CDs will hold up better than the Castles because I haven’t had trouble with warping or bit rot yet on any of my other major label CDs from the 80s.
 
chaosapiant said:
Yea, what srfc said. I maybe could've worded it better. Another way to put it is that preferring physical media is not necessarily tied to age or experience. A preference is just a preference.

Another point I wanted to make in my other post was this: I personally feel less connection and investment with music I can access instantly. For example, I was 18 when Virtual XI came out. I thoroughly enjoyed X Factor and went out and bought VXI on CD when it was released. So I got to just relax in my bedroom, pop the CD in and look at the liner notes and read the lyrics. I feel like this investment on my part made a deeper connection with the music. It also means I'm more likely to give music that doesn't gel with me right away more chances. Because it's not something that popped up where I just went "eh, not for me" 10 seconds in. And again, this is just my personal opinion and experience. I'm by no means saying that folks who prefer digital or streaming formats are less connected to their music. But that is indeed the case for me.
Click to expand...
I can also relate to this. Buying albums and listening for the first time with my physical copy is like making an entry in my diary. It makes alot more impact than giving an random album a listen on Spotify.

Virtual XI makes me go to late summer 2003, after hearing almost all other Maiden albums before. Balls to Picasso and Skunkworks I got by trading a whiskey bottle with a friend. Death on the road DVD, being 20 years old and had just lost my first job and had no money, but I had to have that DVD, so I ate bread and jam for the rest of the week instead of a few dinners. The book of souls waited for me in my mail, coming home from the hospital with my newborn son. Senjutsu, listening in my car with my family, on our way to my mother’s 70th birthday. Just a few examples from my collection. I have loads more stories.
 
Sth2112 said:
I can also relate to this. Buying albums and listening for the first time with my physical copy is like making an entry in my diary. It makes alot more impact than giving an random album a listen on Spotify.

Virtual XI makes me go to late summer 2003, after hearing almost all other Maiden albums before. Balls to Picasso and Skunkworks I got by trading a whiskey bottle with a friend. Death on the road DVD, being 20 years old and had just lost my first job and had no money, but I had to have that DVD, so I ate bread and jam for the rest of the week instead of a few dinners. The book of souls waited for me in my mail, coming home from the hospital with my newborn son. Senjutsu, listening in my car with my family, on our way to my mother’s 70th birthday. Just a few examples from my collection. I have loads more stories.
Click to expand...
I can totally relate to this. Dance of Death takes me back to the amazing summer of 2003. I associate so many albums with different times in my life
 
chaosapiant said:
Another point I wanted to make in my other post was this: I personally feel less connection and investment with music I can access instantly. For example, I was 18 when Virtual XI came out. I thoroughly enjoyed X Factor and went out and bought VXI on CD when it was released. So I got to just relax in my bedroom, pop the CD in and look at the liner notes and read the lyrics. I feel like this investment on my part made a deeper connection with the music. It also means I'm more likely to give music that doesn't gel with me right away more chances. Because it's not something that popped up where I just went "eh, not for me" 10 seconds in. And again, this is just my personal opinion and experience. I'm by no means saying that folks who prefer digital or streaming formats are less connected to their music. But that is indeed the case for me.
Click to expand...
I used to do exactly this back when I got a new Maiden album. Then, somewhere in the early 2000s, that ritual stopped. I can go back and listen to any pre-BNW Maiden album or pre-ToS Dickinson album, and I'll know every single word because that's how I first absorbed the album. Nowadays, I get the CD, put it straight onto my iPod, and listen to it that way. I'm lucky if I know a few complete verses here and there with anything after the year 2000.
 
CA Bryers said:
I used to do exactly this back when I got a new Maiden album. Then, somewhere in the early 2000s, that ritual stopped. I can go back and listen to any pre-BNW Maiden album or pre-ToS Dickinson album, and I'll know every single word because that's how I first absorbed the album. Nowadays, I get the CD, put it straight onto my iPod, and listen to it that way. I'm lucky if I know a few complete verses here and there with anything after the year 2000.
Click to expand...
I'm very fortunate that at this point in my life, I have the one thing I've always wanted: a music room/library dedicated to storing, displaying, and playing music. I've got a turntable setup, cd player, ipad for streaming, and a pretty decent sound system. I sit on a couch, face the speakers and pop on a good cd or record and just get super absorbed in the music. It allows me to get more connected to what I'm listening to, as everything I hear in this room is a deliberate choice. It's never background music.

Edit: Oh yea, meant to add that all my Castle Records 2CD sets have come and I've been checking them out. Listening to Somewhere in Time as I type this. They all sound so crystal clear and vibrant. I'm glad I tracked these down!
 
Hello, I am new to the forum. My husband is a big Iron Maiden fan and bought the CD "Somewhere Back in Time" last year. For some reason, he bought it again. Now, we wanted to sell the extra copy, and an Iron Maiden fan mentioned that it might be a special edition CD with a unique cover and could be worth a lot of money. Question for Iron Maiden fans: Does this special CD exist, and what makes it special? How much is it actually worth?
 
Do you know what's special about the cover? I've never heard of it and it's hard to give an idea of how much something is worth without knowing more about it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top