# Pristine Classical Callas remasters



## Charlie Mac (May 23, 2015)

Are these any good? Any comments from those who've heard them (e.g. the Karajan Madama Butterfly) would be appreciated.


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

I own all of them with the ambient stereo, I think they sound better than any other version, but they are not cheap......

I can't predict what you will think since we all have different levels of audio gear and listening preference, the good new is that every album for sale at Pristine has a very long free audio sample (5 minutes or more) so you can hear for yourself if there is any difference and make your own decision.......

Many of these are reviewed at musicweb international.........

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Mar13/Bellini_Puritani_PACO085.htm


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

Some of the purists will pooh-pooh them, but I think they sound marvelous. The Traviata in particular is excellent.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

How do these compare to the recent Warner remasters?


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Albert7 said:


> How do these compare to the recent Warner remasters?


You can see quite a lot about this issue, in the Callas Remastered thread. RES doesn't like the Pristine re-masters at all, because they add something that wasn't there in the original recordings. He has misgivings too about _some_ of the Warner re-masters, but is happy with many of them. MB and DA are both very impressed with the Pristine versions.

Personally I am not a sound buff, and I find myself completely satisfied with the Warners. I still prefer physical CDs to downloads, so for reasons of space, I have got rid of all my earlier CD incarnations and am sticking with the Warners.


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

The only ones I closely compared are the 1949 Cetra recordings. The Pristine remasters have most of the crackle and noise removed; they lose a bit of the brightness (or shrillness, depending on how you look at it). I prefer the Pristine version myself since the noise is still pretty bad on those recordings in the Warner version, and the Pristine sounds more natural to me. Others in the Callas thread have compared Traviata and Butterfly, if I remember correctly and found the Pristine to be preferable as well. It's a long thread though.


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