J.A.W.

Correct, that's the law in the EU, though the percentage varies from country to country, depending on their VAT rate. Your assumption is not correct. Tax and sometimes duty are imposed in accordance with EU law, not arbitrarily, and customs can't and won't ignore any claims and appeals. It is not assumption, it is fact based on my experience: the import duties are not uniform across courier based on similar value of goods. Therefore, the taxes and duties, although should be imposed within EU law are being circumnavigated. This I might add, is not only my position, others are complaining too. You may be right, the customs can't and won't ignore any claims or appeals, but there seemed to be a lack of a formal claim process explained to me, without a clear process of appeal, then I am not going to risk losing my money, in addition to time, effort and worry. Indeed, the fact that more than double the declared value was attempted to be charged tells me the game is rigged and they think they can get away with it. Whether that's the customs, or someone in the courier company, I don't know, either way, I just want fair import duties and I don't want to have to fight for this, so I decided not to play their game. Your allegations are very serious, in my view you're in fact accusing people of theft and corruption when you say that "the taxes and duties, although should be imposed within EU law are being circumnavigated" and that "the game is rigged and they think they can get away with it", without providing any proof. Did it occur to you that the items you were importing ("the Ivy League oxford cloth button down shirts designed by Graham Marsh from Kamakura shirts") might be subject to different tax/duty regulations than, say, CDs and did you check that before ordering the items? And did you ask why the total amount you had to pay was so high? They may have adjusted the declared value based on the info they have about the imported items - they're allowed to do that when they think the declared value is too low; in that case you'd have to prove that you actually paid the amount that was originally declared. Or maybe the carrier made a mistake when calculating the amount you had to pay, it could be as simple as that. These things happen. For your sake I hope the people you're accusing aren't reading this, otherwise they might take you to court.

Correct, that's the law in the EU, though the percentage varies from country to country, depending on their VAT rate. Your assumption is not correct. Tax and sometimes duty are imposed in accordance with EU law, not arbitrarily, and customs can't and won't ignore any claims and appeals.

This 24-bit mastered TOCJ-6xxx series from 2004/5 is known for its loudness and boosted highs/lows, which is not to everyone's taste. I had quite a few of these CDs and on first hearing I liked them, but after repeated listening I found the sound very fatiguing and unpleasant and sold them all. I have the "Blue Note Works" version of Walkin' and Talkin' from 1993 (TOCJ-4010).

Same here. I wonder which sources were used for these CDs. i can almost guarantee you that they're japanese safeties that are used as sources. they're just being engineered and reengineered to the ends of the earth.... however, sometimes to great effect. From what erwbol posted in this thread I understand that the masterings of the successive Japanese series vary wildly. I have bought and rebought impulse! CDs over the years trying to find discs with (to my ears) consistently good sound. I got the Erick Labson-mastered U.S. 20-bit digipaks with their boosted highs/lows, the Japanese 20-bit K2s which sounded as if compression was added, the later Japanese 24-bit UCCI series which also sounded heavily processed to me, some GRP CDs from the early 1990s that sounded very dull, and finally went back to the U.S. and Japanese issues from 1987 and the Japanese MVCI series from 1991; those sound OK to me and they have the bonus tracks the Labson discs also have and some of the Japanese series seem to be missing, but they could still do with a sonic upgrade - without all the processing, that is.

http://pitchfork.com/news/53822-third-man-records-targeted-in-copyright-dispute-over-paramount-records-box-set/

+ http://www.offbeat.com/2014/02/01/revenant-jack-white-third-man-records-copyright-infringement/

Never heard the Müllejans/Bezuidenhout violin sonatas; could be interesting, even though I generally don't like the sound of fortepianos. What I've heard of Bezuidenhout's Mozart keyboard sonatas (and concerti, for that matter) sounded too thin to my liking - again, the fortepiano... I agree with you about Staier, he seems to be an acquired taste.

Set my objections to yet another "upgrade" aside and finally took the plunge and ordered Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil, to compare it to my BN Works copy and see, or rather hear, if it really is an upgrade to my ears.

Fortunately, not all U.S. sellers raised their international shipping rates. For instance, ImportCDs' overseas rate is still $6.99 for 1 CD.

Not really. The stereo master is mixed from the session tapes. Otherwise nothing could be 're-mastered' because the master would be the session tapes which obviously can't be redone. I'm not an expert, but I was told that mastering engineers like Kevin Gray, Steve Hoffman, Vic Anesini and Mark Wilder (to name a few) are using the original session tapes as sources for their masterings where they can. The term "remaster" in this case means that they went back to the source to create a new mastering; the term is used to distinguish the new mastering from earlier masterings.

I think it's pretty simple. "Original master tape" refers to the tape that was used to record the music on. Successive duplicates - taken from the original master as well as later ones taken from the duplicates - are bound to have an increasing number of problems such as tape hiss upon tape hiss (I'm talking about the pre-digital era), drop-outs and what have you.

The link won't work for Jim since you have to be a member for at least 30 days and have posted at least 50 times there to be able to access their Classifieds forum.

Same here. I wonder which sources were used for these CDs.

Thanks for your research, Erwin. Would it be possible for you to summarize and post a list of SHM CDs whose masterings are improvements over previous masterings in your opinion? Thanks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26009575#" http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/movies/philip-seymour-hoffman-actor-dies-at-46.html?emc=edit_na_20140202&_r=0

I totally agree with Mike. As a matter of fact, everything I've heard Gould do I found horrible, I avoid his performances like the plague. I have 2 versions of the complete Mozart piano sonatas, one by Ronald Brautigam, the other by Maria João Pires (her later DG cycle), but, as I said earlier, these works are not really my cup of tea.

Also available from third-party sellers on U.S. Amazon: Agharta http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=B000024QNR Pangaea http://www.amazon.com/Pangaea-Miles-Davs/dp/B000024QMR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391361349&sr=8-1&keywords=B000024QMR

Released in Japan on September 21, 1996 and still available from third-party sellers: Sony SRCS 9128~29 Agharta http://www.amazon.co.jp/アガルタ-マイルス・デイヴィス/dp/B000024QNR/ref=sr_1_12?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1391361049&sr=1-12&keywords=miles+davis+agharta Sony SRCS 9130~31 Pangaea http://www.amazon.co.jp/パンゲア-マイルス・デイヴィス/dp/B000024QMR/ref=sr_1_13?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1391360770&sr=1-13&keywords=miles+davis+pangaea Maybe you know someone in Japan who can help you with these.

I'd say that given the fact that most of the music discussed here tends to be several decades old, it only stands to reason that conversation about them would eventually dry up. How much can one say about Kind Of Blue, for example? So I have to disagree with my friend J.A.W., I didn't see this as a negative comment. Just a reasonable observation. OK, but as I said this thread is about sonic preferences, not about whether a discussion like that is worthwhile or not; that's not the point here and would actually be off-topic.

I pre-ordered the Richter on Amazon Germany when their price was about 58 euros and it's on its way to me for that price. I guess I was lucky.

The discussion in the SHM Blue Notes thread about their sonic qualities made me post this thread, which is merely meant as a question about the sonic preferences of people here before the SHM discs appeared, not about the merits (or lack thereof) of that discussion itself. If you think it's ridiculous and/or if you're not interested - and some people who posted here are clearly not - why not ignore this thread instead of posting negative comments?

A little off-topic here, but do the inserts/booklets say who mastered these SHM discs? Couldn't find it in the other thread. Erwbol is right, Universal Japan are often using older masterings for their impulse! CDs, which they keep reissuing over and over again.

As far as I know all SHM Blue Notes have been remastered. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Not anymore, sold most of them a long time ago.

Although Mahler is one of my favourite composers (really), I'm not too fond of his song cycles. That said, I like Klemperer's version of Das Lied von der Erde with Christa Ludwig and Fritz Wunderlich best.

Yep. I also have that one; great set.