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Regarding bad mastering, look for M4A/AAC format. It's not brickwalled as other digital releases.

The solution for the terrible mastering is to look for the M4A/AAC format. It sounds much, much better than other digital formats - I dare say, 'normal.' It is still loud, but the dynamics have been preserved and it doesn't grate on the ears.

Oh, you totally get it, my friend. The sound is overcompressed, pushed well beyond a reasonable level, and it's just pure garbage. Just look at the soundwave graphs.. 😳 I have no idea why they did this. Maybe decades of loud parties damaged their hearing? The only way to fix this would be for them to release another master with less compression and more dynamic range. But the CDs and vinyls are already printed, I'm afraid.

I share the sentiment - it’s nice, atmospheric and nostalgic, but there are no real surprises. Nevertheless, I’m glad to see them back with new music after all these years. What I really dislike is the mastering - everything is so loud, and every sound layer is maxed out in terms of volume. Dynamically, it’s almost flat - just a hard wall of sound - and for me, that ruins the otherwise top-level production. There’s no fidelity. They did the same thing with Goa Classics Remixed. I guess it sounds “better” on (cheap) Bluetooth earbuds and headphones, which most people use. I tried it on both Tidal and Deezer - it sounds the same. Hopefully, the vinyl master will be different.

KZ Castor Harman IEM when I commute - crisp, clean sound, with EQ you can tailor their signature to whatever you want. Sennheiser HD598SE at home - very comfortable, superlush, musical sound with large soundstage and plenty of details, probably better suited to more traditional genres like rock & pop due to lighter bass kick, but, for me, they work with EDM too. Ultrasone HFI 650 Trackmaster - simmilar to Senn, but closed back, these have stronger and deeper bass, but smaller soundstage due to constructon of the cups. I love headphones, I'm also considering HD560s as an upgrade. As for the sources: Tidal and Deezer, both on max sound quality, through my phone or laptop, with some EQ. Works great for me.

Do you still believe in 2024? 😍

some progressive house and trance for rainy days

They still travel the world with their music and obviously not focused on releasing new material. The effort is probably unjustified from the financial point of view. They seem to be doing fine without it. The new track is nice and that's about it. Good to see them back nevertheless.

Cool new music

Revisiting this one after so many years. Still so brilliant, hasn't aged a bit.

I just hope it will be released

Uptempo Scarce info, I know. Will have to check VB back catalogue to try to find it. edit Thanks for these suggestions, AP. I shall check them

Now I need help to identify a Vibrasphere track which I enjoyed a lot years ago. I forgot its title, melody, the release it was on, everything.. except that it contained an element from a previously released Vibrasphere track (whick I also forgot everything about ). It struck me at that time how well the combination worked. It could be a remix thing and I think it was signed by Vibrasphere. Any ideas?