「Kalafina All Time Best 2008-2018」(Release: Oct 24)

  • Thread starter Thread starter ritardando
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Nice that the book has original cover/profile photos (or so it seems) instead of just outtakes like some other photobook before. Too bad about the CD format.
 
^ That cd case with places for cd back and forth is horrible, it can easily break if one isnt careful. Couldnt they put them in bd/dvd box stile of case ?
 
I did another comparison with the new FLAC files that are floating around, which I'm pretty sure is a rip from the CDs. The remastered CD rips are louder than the MP3s, so now I'm convinced that the MP3s were converted from high-res masters. However, the CD rips are different from the original releases, being slightly quieter and never actually clipping. whereas the original releases clipped all over the place. So by dynamic range standards, the remastering in the new box set is an improvement, although the high res versions are even better.
 
george1234 said:
^ That cd case with places for cd back and forth is horrible, it can easily break if one isnt careful. Couldnt they put them in bd/dvd box stile of case ?
Click to expand...

Those have existed for years. Many multi-disk PlayStation games came in those cases. They're as fragile as a regular CD case so it really shouldn't be a problem.
 
Whether that barely audible improvement is worth $200 or whatever it's selling for is debatable, but for collectors, the Kalafina Butsudan in their bedrooms wouldn't be complete without it.
 
Moving on to the live audio, the CD version is louder and more compressed than audio ripped from the BD video. For example, in Hikari Furu, the drum entry after the silent fermata has much greater dynamic impact on the BD audio than the CD version if you level-match them. However, I wouldn't be surprised if there are little improvements and tweaks to the mix that can only be discovered by repeated listening, since they had more time to focus on a single stereo mix meant to stand alone.
 
You should give up on doing spectral analysis of anything unless you have the actual source files to compare with. The box shows up on Monday, and right now I have this Xenogears: Shinkaku vinyl to deal with.

I'm going to do my own rips of these and I never alter my files from source, but of course the hi-res is preferable. I bought the box for collector library's sake. The volume differentials are usually the biggest issue, but I have heard highly compressed sounding HD audio and very expansive SD.
 
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i am listening to the original box set! it's just that to normal ears they don't make much of a difference.

i compared the audio for the live to the video of the 10th anni live found on youtube, and realised i prefer the audio live from the box set. there's pan and more reverb and everything.
 
I just listened to Hikari no Senritsu (not the live) and thought would share some of my thoughts.
Overall, the box version sounded much better. Definitely more reverb and attention paid to every single note, making every note sound more 3-d. Also, I feel that they tuned down the volume for the background (mainly bass and drums) and made the melody clearer, so adding more balance overall.
 
Of course reverb isn't "naturally" there. Their microphones are right next to their mouths lol. What causes reverb in live settings is the slight delay in speaker output between the front and back of concert halls, as well as the reverberation of the general acoustics of the concert hall.

Reverb is just to mimic that effect, and there's nothing wrong with that, since a little bit of it helps blend the sound better with the instruments.
 
the only song where I can actually hear the difference between this remastered version and the original one is heavenly blue lol. the difference in Hikaru's verses is very striking. other than that, they're all barely noticeable.
 
I see the album in US iTunes, and it’s quite a bargain compared to the Japanese CD version. I hope it attracts lots of new fans around the world. Too bad the live recordings aren’t included. The more I listen to the 10th Ann Live, the more I like it. I just love the melodramatic version of Hikari Furu. And at first, Keiko’s (please come out of hiding, we love you!) shouting in Alleluia totally bugged the crap out of me, but now I hardly notice it. In fact, I listened to it back to back with the Red Day version, which previously used to be my favorite live version, and now I think I actually prefer the extra energy of the 10th Ann version.
 
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