Why Buy the Beatles Stereo Box Set?

Being the huge Beatles fan I am, I immediately knew I wanted to buy The Beatles Mono Box Set because I had never heard these mono mixes before (I grew up on The Beatles CDs, not their vinyl records.) I knew from my research into the band that they spent a lot of time perfecting their mono mixes and that the band themselves had often said that they preferred the sound of their mono mixes over their stereo mixes. That makes sense in a way because it's what they were more focused on at the time and stereo mixes were still a very new ("experimental") thing at the time.

On the other hand I wasn't so sure about the The Beatles Stereo Box Set at first. I figured I already owned all of their albums in stereo, so why should I buy them again? Well there are actually a number of very good reasons that I found and I want to share those reasons with you in case you are considering the same question.

The main reason these new stereo CDs should be exciting for Beatles fans even if they already own all of their albums on CD is they have been remastered using 24 bit 192 kHz resolution technology. What does that mean? Basically that more of the original sound from the master tapes is captured and put onto the CDs than was the case with the Beatles CDs you own now.

The Beatles music was first put on CD in the 1980s when this technology was still pretty new and they only used 16 bit technology at the time. This leads to a slightly more "processed sound" which lets some of the details and warmth of the music to be lost in the translation.

What I'm getting to is that these new CDs should sound significantly better than the CDs you own now. If you're as big of a Beatles fan as I am then you're already convinced. I want to hear everything I possibly can in their music.

It should also be noted that most other bands have had their catalog remastered multiple times since the CD era began, so The Beatles are really just now catching up. Their classic albums are finally receiving the attention they deserve.

But the much improved sound quality is not the only reason to buy this new remastered stereo CD box set. There's also the short documentaries (on the making of each album) which are embedded into each CD (which can be viewed on your computer) and as an exclusive feature of the box set there's a DVD which contains all of the documentaries (for all 13 albums.) This DVD is not sold separately so if you want it you need to get the box set.

Plus I personally believe that each and every Beatles album is essential even their early less than amazing albums like With The Beatles & Beatles For Sale have some really great moments (in particular I think Beatles For Sale is underrated and has some great original tunes on it) and I think it's important to hear them to understand the context of The Beatles later music.

And of course there is the cool box set packaging. You are actually getting a good deal because you are paying less than you would if you bought each CD individually and you are also getting the really cool box set packaging where you can keep all of your Beatles albums.

So yes, in my view the Stereo Box Set is just as important a purchase as the Mono Box Set (good luck finding that now by the way, it seems to be sold out most places.) And really I think I will end up listening to the stereo mixes a lot more in the long run. I like stereo!