The Beatles was a -1/-3/-1/-2 pressing. I love this album, the -1/-1/-1/-1 original is a fantastic pressing. Good thing side 1 and 3 carried the -1 originals, because they sounded the best. Side 2 and 4 did need a recut, so this box pressing came in clutch and was the best one. The MFSL was just bloated, just not as good as the UK pressing was. In 2014, five years after the initial CD release, mono editions of each of the albums were released individually in vinyl format, though the mono editions for CD were still available only in the box set. All of the USA albums were released individually on CDs containing both the mono and original stereo mixes; this is the only other way to acquire the mono mixes on CD.

STEREO BEATLES – WHICH VINYL? - The Audiophile Man STEREO BEATLES – WHICH VINYL? - The Audiophile Man

Overall, the 2012 vinyl discs are well pressed, quiet and detailed sounding pressings. The first run European pressings had little to no quality control issues with them. Out of my entire set, I had a copy of Abbey Road that had some noise floor issues (but was returned for a clean replacement) and the copy of Sgt. Pepper's spindle hole was too tight (which a pencil fixed). It should also be noted that due to the huge roll out (at the beginning of the vinyl revival) were a lot of quality control reports during the first release of the US pressings ( The Beatles - The Beatles) from Rainbo Records. According to Magee, you’re far better having a decent ADC (Analogue-to-Digital Convertor, a high-specification Prism, in Abbey Road’s case) and a clean 24bit signal to capture all of those extra sonic highs, “The reason 24bit is important is because, in 16bit audio CD play, when you get down to indus 50Hz something then you start getting quantisation. The signal can’t make up its mind whether it’s a one or a zero. You end up with a buzzy sound. At 24bit, you get no perceivable noise.” The Beatles(Box Set, Compilation, 14×CD, Album, Enhanced, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, 2×CD, Compilation, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, DVD, NTSC) The Beatles (commonly referred to as The White Album) was originally released in mono and stereo in the UK and several other countries, but in the United States, it was released only in stereo. However, the mono mixes of " Don't Pass Me By" and " Helter Skelter" had been previously issued in the US in 1980 on the Capitol Records Rarities compilation album. Rarities was interesting. It was just a bunch of mono b sides. It wasn’t a fun listen because i kept thinking about my mono masters set. At least i have it though.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

The 13 Studio Albums and Past Masters remastered in stereo using the same digital sources as the acclaimed 2009 CD's on 180g Heavyweight Vinyl Lewisohn, Mark: The Beatles Recording Sessions. The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd., London 1988, ISBN 0-600-55798-7. P. 108.

Box Sets - The Beatles

If you do want that "original pressing" sound and are willing to invest the time online, there are ways of compiling a cheaper collection that sounds closer to the original UK stampers. There are a lot of options around the world of great sounding reissues and some of the original stampers stayed in production for many years, with the original cutting engineers recutting into the 1980s! Then there is always the option of spending top dollar on original UK pressings (which are near impossible to find in NM condition). Lewis, Anthony (30 August 2009). "Meet (and be) the Beatles". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 7 September 2009 . Retrieved 28 August 2009.It so happened that the complex EQ applications had already been done for the CD version, “To use the 192kHz sources now would have entailed recreating the EQ source that we did at 24bit/44.1kHz, which wasn’t viable.”