The Beatles – The Beatles (Stereo USB)

I would have expected The Beatles to have a SACD release.

Wasted opportunity to include a higher sample rate transfer or a less compressed version for the audiophiles paying high price for this...

This is a USB version of the 2009 Remasters in various formats - including the most promoted FLAC 24bit format. Packaged in a kool Apple ornament - this alone is why I bought it. As for the FLAC 24bit versions - I could not hear any improvement in sound with my surround system hooked to a computer digitally that plays FLACs...however, based on the file size, format, and opening the channels in Audacity and Adobe Audition, you can see superior stats, but if you rip one of the CDs to uncompressed WAV, I did not notice anything different. SO I bought it for it's Apple design, etc. Be careful, the apple stem will break if you are not careful!

Now that Giles Martin is releasing the Deluxe Sets with new mixes post-2009, those versions may have better mixes now. In any case, we all have our sound preferences for one of the dozens of releases since the 60s, and so I my advice is to continue enjoying your preference.

Is it expensive? Yes. Is 24bit necessary? Probably not. Did I buy it anyway? Of course I bloody did!

Plenty of people around happy to pour shade on these 2009 stereo remasters. I won’t get into that debate here, except to say that it’s interesting how so many Beatles fans don’t ever seem to like how the Beatles sound.

For my money, these remasters are well done. Minimal noise reduction and tasteful compression. See the Sound On Sound article from October 2009 for more information on the process used by the Abbey Road engineers.

Yes, some of the stereo mixes are clumsy – principally on Help! and Rubber Soul. But these were made by George Martin back in the 80s, and the Abbey Road engineers had to work with what they had.

If you’ve got the money and fancy having the Beatles’ classic 1963-1970 catalogue in a smart little collectible hi res package, then definitely check this out.

Oops! "Nowhere man" is listed as being on the album "Rubber Soul". My bad but I recall the song from the movie "Yellow Submarine" thus the association.

This is the first all digital release of Beatles released. Unfortunately the stereo mix is performed poorly probably due to the fact the the earlier than apple original masters were two-track monaural with voices on one track and instruments on the other. This becomes very obvious when listening to "Nowhere Man" from "Yellow Submarine" where vocals come in only on one channel which creates a confusing scenario for a Stereo release.
I do like the fact that .FLAC files are included and one could use Audacity to remix these back to monaural.
Give it 4 out of 5 for the effort, 2 out of 5 for the remastering and conversion to stereo (for the binaural masters) which in some cases is a complete failure -- just get the "Beatles in Mono" set done more recently for the real thing. Someone must have realized the error and offered a redone version in arrears.