Queen – A Kind Of Magic

Just 4 star because no three and and half available. You really have to crank up the sound on it. And then it’s ok

Не знаю кого этот релиз не устраивает- - смените проигрыватель или хотя-бы замените иглу на приличную в своем картридже. Релиз превосходен, звучит потрясающе чисто, масса бесшумная, сцена, глубина, частоты - идеальный баланс!

Well I liked my copy, dead quiet, plenty of bass, sharp and no distortion. Not heard original vinyl but this copy plays well. Played on Rega P10 , MF kw550 to BW 803s with Rel subs. I also loved highlander as a kid, so like this LP. Will seek out an original to see if it’s better

I must agree with some comments left here. Sound could have been far better than it is. I've never experienced the original press, but I do imagine it was better than this, as all vinyls were back then. The sound varies from questionable on One year of love to fine on One vision, and I think on record the best Princes of the universe. The clicks at the end of B1 are there too, as well as on my copy a lot of noise on two-three last rounds on A5. If had to compare it to the same edition of A night at the opera, this doesn't reach it the knee high.

Positive is that the record is very silent, and it comes packed in the antistatic nylon stuffed white paper cover that prevents the record to be damaged, as it's the case nowadays when the records are dispatched mostly in stupid paper sleeves.

So after repeated listening this is what I can say about it: first listen was really bad, almost unlistenable. But seeing as it is Abbey Road half speed remaster I applied what I had to do with other AR releases. First, thorough cleaning. All of them have some coating that really damages sound. After washing it, a couple spins under the needle to open up the grooves. After that it started sounding better immidiately. Just like all half speed remasters, it has too much everything. 10% lower treble and bass gave it some space and now it sounds just like it should. It should be noted, this album badly needs a remix, not a remaster. Every single version I heard suffers from same problems most noticable on gimme the prize. Very uneven mix just like the original. Hapoy now with it, but a lot of work to get it to sound right. Listened on ProJect with Ortofon OM10

Unfortunately, this pressing is VERY bright. Ludwig and co. seemed to have compressed this one to within an inch of its life. All the punch is gone and there's no dynamic range to speak of. The guitars and synths are uncomfortably ear-piercing, and the drums sound lifeless. Even the title track, which I used to love for it's punchy drums and creamy bass, suffers from a squished, FM-quality sound. I'm almost certain they outputted the digital master to the vinyl. There's no other explanation for the shrill sound, and frankly, rather unacceptable for a vinyl repress.

It's always a bad sign when you find yourself dialling DOWN the EQ on a repress, but unfortunately, this is where my knobs were at with this record:

HF: -1.5
MF: -2
LF: +2

But, let's be honest, AKOM was never a great sounding album to start off with. It's always sounded a distinctly plastic on all formats. Perhaps this album was due for a remix...

Like that vinyl with half speed mastering! The vinyl is clear, sound is great!

Звук, откровенно говоря, довольно паршивый. Одна из худших пластинок в коллекции. Все, что можно - завалено, все, что не надо - задрано. Надо выкручивать громкость, но тогда на выходе получается каша. Не рекомендую.

I bought this edition and listened to and sold it, hoping to buy the first press in a mint/nearmint state. But it turned out to be very difficult to do, I bought 3 different copies of the first press from different sellers, but the condition of their copies left much to be desired, although they claimed that their LP condition was mint, in fact, it was not true, there were sound problems (scratches, clicks, crackles). As a result, I purchased the 2015 edition, yes, I agree that the sound quality is not high, but at least LP without damage and new. I'll keep it for the collection. I rate the sound at 4-. It's better to have the 2015 LP edition in excellent condition than nothing.

I have recently had 3x copies of this (2x from Amazon UK, 1x from Fopp in Covent Garden) - all three have a few repeating clicks at the beginning of B1. Close inspection of all 3 under an LED light show 2x small scratches a millimetre or so apart on all 3 - Matrix info is - Side A: BF83622-01 A1 4720279 MILES ABBEY ROAD 1/2 SPEED, Side B: BF83622-0Ʌ B2 4720279 MILES ABBEY ROAD 1/2 SPEED - Beware!