There are many different Star Wars OT releases and compilations, both official and fan-made. I want to decide the best-sounding version to keep for my listening purposes, as I don't have enough space on my phone for more than 1 version of the same song. The releases I have access to and are curious about are the ABC Salvage for IV, V, and VI, the 2012 Audiophile Edition of V, the Anthology box set, and the newly released on streaming services LP versions of IV, V, and VI. I don't know which versions they are, but its basically the first time since the advent of streaming services that non-special edition garbage OT songs have been available in any digital format (Thanks Disney). I know with some part of audio quality you're dealing with subjectiveness, but there is some amount of objective audiophile consensus to be reached, and I want to find out what it is. My main dilemma lies in choosing between the Audiophile edition of ESB and the Salvage Edition. I'm pretty sure the Salvage Edition used all the tracks from the Special Editions and EQ'd them to restore clarity, with the Anthology being the benchmark for what songs that were exclusive to the Special Edition should sound like. From the light reading I did about AE, it uses tracks from the SE, Anthology, and original 1980's CDs. On the surface, I should choose the Audiophile Edition, but I wanted your thoughts if there's any reason to go in one direction or another.

A smaller thing I am wondering is if there is any difference between the original CDs (I have Tidal so they would be lossless) and the Anthology. I've heard that you can't get better than the original CDs, and that even though the Anthology sounds orgasmic when all you've ever known is the Special Editions, the original CDs blow even the Anthology out of the water. I also read on the wikia that for the Anthology, the list of specific takes of cues to use for the movies was lost, so some of the tracks on the Anthology have minor orchestration differences from what was heard in the film or what is on the original CD releases. If I end up choosing anthology for my official release and anything that isn't on that comes from Salvage or Audiophile, are there any cues from the original CDs that have noticeable differences from the anthology that it would be worth it to download them? I know that The Magic Tree and The Emperor have synth that is exclusive to the CD release, but aside from that.

Finally, is there any reason to believe that songs that were released on the Anthology or CDs would be better quality in either Salvage or Audiophile?

Sorry if that was a lot to read, but I'd hate to have to test out each song from the releases mentioned to figure out what sounds best to my own ears. I'd rather hear arguments for or against a particular release being the highest quality and work it out in my head. I'm a very logic minded person, and when dealing with different versions of the same thing, I prefer to be able to say "this one is better than that one, and here are three reasons why". If anyone can take the time to share advice, I'd be grateful.

The original CDs purportedly have better dynamic range than any other official release to date. I've never really looked into it myself.

For the original Star Wars, I just use the SE release. Correct takes, nice sound (if not a bit overmodulated on the brass side) and rigorously accurate mixes by Mike Matessino.

For Empire, go with the Imperial Audiophile Edition. Stay as far away as you can from the SE, half of which uses Brian Risner's very lifeless remixes. The IAE combines the best available material for the score and beefs even all that up.

For RotJ, I don't know. I haven't looked into that score much. But I would avoid the SE at all costs, which has incredibly poor sound. If I didn't know any better I'd say it was a bootleg recording, and I'm always stunned that Lucasfilm allowed it to go through in the state it was. The level of digital noise reduction that was used is astonishing. Go with the Salvage version I guess.

But! - there's hope for the future. On Jan. 1 of this year, Disney finally got ahold of the rights to the Star Wars scores (all of them) and I'm anticipating complete, well-produced releases from them within a decade or so.


are there any cues from the original CDs that have noticeable differences from the anthology that it would be worth it to download them?

No, not really. Nothing the Anthology provides is wildly different from the 'correct' take (if it was, the soundtrack assembler [and well-known asshole] Ford Thaxton or someone would have noticed).

As far as my ears can tell, the RCA Special Editions sound like shit.



Star Wars is the only score of the three that is listenable. But Empire already suffers from "digital enhancements" and Jedi downright is an audible crime. Its sound is really inacceptable. The whole package and liner notes is an absolute thing of beauty (at least in its 1997 edition), but the sound pretty much makes the whole series useless.

Imo I'd go with the ABC Salvage Edition. The Imperial Audiophile obviously is really amazing, but the ABC's have the advantage to offer a consistent level of audio quality, and also dynamic range, over all three scores.

Regarding official releases, I've read some extensive analysis last year and the conclusion was that the 1993 Anthology from Arista still offers the best sound.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/6/6e/SWT_Original_ST_Anthology.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090518215441

Check out the mother of all SW threads (Thread 161429).

any random track i download.
i only truly like about 4 themes from the first trilogy.

as long as its flac or real 320kb i dont give two fucks what the source is.

any random track i download.
i only truly like about 4 themes from the first trilogy.

as long as its flac or real 320kb i dont give two fucks what the source is.

Current zeitgeist in a nutshell.