
Info on mastering process (http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/flair/e/k2hd/k2hd.html)
Tracklist:
01. Theme From Schindler’s List (4:15)
02. Jewish Town (Krakow Ghetto – Winter ’41) (4:40)
03. Immolation (With Our Lives, We Give Life) (4:44)
04. Remembrances (4:20)
05. Schindler’s Workforce (9:08)
06. OYF’N Pripetshok & Nacht Aktion (2:56)
07. I Could Have Done More (5:52)
08. Auschwitz-Birkenau (3:41)
09. Stolen Memories (4:20)
10. Making The List (5:11)
11. Give Me Your Names (4:55)
12. Yeroushalaim Chel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold) (2:17)
13. Remembrances (5:17)
14. Theme From Schindler’s List (Reprise) (2:59)
K2HD Version (https://mega.co.nz/#!CZVDXKRD!bAKkZgAVkqNqxQlzkdFhgiwxevUDy1lYDHaSnNF Ez04)
OR
MCA Ultimate Masterdisc Version (https://mega.co.nz/#!Td0kFQ5B!RVBrOhlocm11_9YhJwDj5wHmKBU4QolscKQUl2p uNkQ)
Will definitely have fun looking at this.
John Barry – Somewhere In Time
Vangelis – Themes
Vangelis – Antarctica
Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone – Legend of 1900
James Horner – Titanic
The Pianist – OST
I don’t have these sadly 🙁 but if I had to pick one, Vangelis – Themes would be at the top of my list.
I had thought these would be HDCD encoded but eac3to shows nothing.
What’s even more interesting is when I decode "01 – Theme (Master).flac" to WAV and then convert it back to FLAC (with compression level 8), it’s 20.8MB instead 43.2MB.
Bit-comparisons show that the two versions are identical.
I’ve even decoded the second FLAC-encoded file (20.8MB) back to WAV and did bit-comparisons with the original and it’s still identical.
I presume the Master CD was ripped at a low compression level? Or default (usually 5).
Looking at the link for more information, it does seem the final output is 16 bit depth, 44.1KHz and no mention of HDCD or other new technology.
So I would presume that these are Top-Of-The-Line remasters for CD. Thee best quality you can obtain (for CD; before getting your hands on original masters and digital formats of the masters for consumer levels like with HDTracks.com).
Similar to:
Remastering a DVD with a Blu-ray copy instead of the same DVD copy.
:smrt:
Which one to download?
Probably the Master to CD? I guess.
Both are outstanding quality.
I’m listening to it right now as I eat my Canadian Thanksgiving dinner and have nothing but sorrow and pain in my weepy heart. 🙁
I can’t really do a bit-comparison between the Master and the 2KHD because they are of different lengths.
Differences found in 1 out of 1 track pairs.
Comparing:
"E:\Downloads\Music\Lossless\John Williams – Schindler’s List [MCA Ultimate Masterdisc]\01 John Williams – Theme.flac"
"E:\Downloads\Music\Lossless\John Williams – Schindler’s List [K2HD Mastering]\01. Theme.flac"
Length mismatch : 4:15.093333 vs 4:15.693333, 11249616 vs 11276076 samples
I’m not going to open them in Audacity or anything to make them equal length and then do a bit-comparison.
If your goal is to save bandwidth on a limited internet speed: go for the 2KHD download as it is smallest download.
The Master set is over-bloated in compression size.
For the Master set, if you want to save space, you can re-convert with FLAC to maximum compression: 8.
Titanic has basically been released in every mainstream format known to us. What a waste… :p
Links are there… Just click on your logo of choice.
John Barry – Somewhere In Time
that would be on top of my list 😉
thanks btw, will compare the UMD to my current recording 🙂
K2 HD Standard Review | Dagogo | A Unique Audiophile Experience (http://dagogo.com/k2-hd-standard-review)
It seems they keep the master files on hand and just press to disc as needed?
And then some talk about finding a better solution for CD technology.
But, why not just remaster the whole thing for blu-ray music discs?
Put on a blank screen, or a cover poster.
If they pushed for blu-ray music more often, I’m sure people would buy them.
And then upgrade their devices.
And manufacturer’s would push for upgrading their devices (cars, vans, trucks, etc).
You can keep the high bit depth and have a sample rate that’s both high (higher than CD) and logical (since it makes no audible difference going from CD to DVD/BD).
People won’t complain about having 48kHz, which is a perfectly valid sample rate, as most DVD’s/BD’s are in 48kHz (music tracks being the exception of useless double rate of 96kHz).
Still, it makes you wonder, why don’t they just let you download those WAV files with valid purchase of the CD?
I only have one question: which one is (presumably) the best quality of the two? Perhaps not in bitrate or anything, but in mastering? I know a good thing or two about audio but my ears as of yet aren’t trained enough to really distinguish these two from each other. What should I listen for? What are, for you, the standout differences between the two? I can hear the difference in mastering from the original OST alright, but not really between these two. So perhaps someone could help me train my ears a bit more.
Since they’re both so mastered at high qualities to start with, at this point (CD), it doesn’t matter which one you pick.
I grabbed both just to complete the archive and should the day come, I’ll really sit down and do a blind ABX test with the two.
If you really want to know, you should grab both and use Foobar2000 (http://anonym.to/?http://www.foobar2000.org/download) to do a blind ABX (http://anonym.to/?http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_abx) test.
If you can’t tell the difference, then just keep any one of them at random.
Thanks for the share!
I’ve made some custom covers for Schindler’s List:
Version 1 – OST
(http://imgur.com/xIqcW5n)
(click on image for full resolution)
Version 1 – Complete
(http://imgur.com/b93xjTl)
(click on image for full resolution)
Version 2 – OST
(http://imgur.com/woIdnhI)
(click on image for full resolution)
Version 2 – Complete
(http://imgur.com/mrZHlzh)
(click on image for full resolution)
John Barry – Somewhere In Time
Vangelis – Themes
Vangelis – Antarctica
Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone – Legend of 1900
James Horner – Titanic
The Pianist – OST
I don’t have these sadly 🙁 but if I had to pick one, Vangelis – Themes would be at the top of my list.
Thank you very much, greatly appreciated. And I would go for that one and Somewhere in Time. 😀

Info on mastering process (http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/flair/e/k2hd/k2hd.html)
Tracklist:
01. Theme From Schindler’s List (4:15)
02. Jewish Town (Krakow Ghetto – Winter ’41) (4:40)
03. Immolation (With Our Lives, We Give Life) (4:44)
04. Remembrances (4:20)
05. Schindler’s Workforce (9:08)
06. OYF’N Pripetshok & Nacht Aktion (2:56)
07. I Could Have Done More (5:52)
08. Auschwitz-Birkenau (3:41)
09. Stolen Memories (4:20)
10. Making The List (5:11)
11. Give Me Your Names (4:55)
12. Yeroushalaim Chel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold) (2:17)
13. Remembrances (5:17)
14. Theme From Schindler’s List (Reprise) (2:59)
K2HD Version (https://mega.co.nz/#!CZVDXKRD!bAKkZgAVkqNqxQlzkdFhgiwxevUDy1lYDHaSnNF Ez04)
OR
MCA Ultimate Masterdisc Version (https://mega.co.nz/#!Td0kFQ5B!RVBrOhlocm11_9YhJwDj5wHmKBU4QolscKQUl2p uNkQ)
Wow, thanks in advance.
Big, big thanks for sharing links, mr_merrick!!! 🙂
I’m inclined to think much of this stuff is pseudo-science bullshit behind the mastering of the K2HD, but to be fair I don’t trust really.. anything the audio industry says or claims. With that out of the way. Loading up ‘Remembrances’ and ‘Theme from Scindler’s List’ from my 1993 MCAD-10969 and from the K2 in Adobe Audition the only obvious difference is a slight loudness boost of a couple decibels on the K2. I run dynamic range meter 1.1.1 on both and find that my 1993 disc has slightly higher dynamic range than the K2, but I must concede though that the analog master tape has perhaps degraded in those 20 years so it may be mute of a point. So for listening I slapped Replay Gain on both, dropped the preamp by 5 decibels and played my favorite tracks switching back and forth. Surprisingly to me, the K2 does sound a little bit better. I expected the K2 to be inferior, because remasters have a bad habit these days of being much LOUDER and hollow sounding compared to the originals! The K2 has some more space or air around instruments, they do appear to more lifelike. This is probably due to the mastering engineer of the K2 being better than the original Dave Collins, or maybe those glass discs infused with the tears of Christ are the ones to thank. I’m not sure, but I will say this is the best re-master I’ve heard lately.
Thanks mr_merrick
Thanks.
Many thanks,
Billy
Thanks!