A COMPLETE Mastering Question
 

I know that some of the songs on A COMPLETE were remastered for various reasons, some more noticeably than others. But was it also mastered as a whole? I notice that most songs sound a lot louder, in some cases just plain noisy. Endless sorrow did not seem to benefit from this, as the already fuzzed out song sounds like it's in overoverdrive.

So does anyone know anything about this and if any of the songs were actually maxed out in volume to the point of clipping?

I didn't find this problem with A COMPLETE, but I definitely noticed it on A BEST 2 and GUILTY.

Clipping really bothers me, so it makes those albums harder to listen to. I think I'll have to listen to A COMPLETE again... this time with headphones.

Headphones are definitely best for picking up that kind of thing. So far, the best version of Endless sorrow I have found is the "Original Mix" from the single. Listened to both that and the A C version in Apple Lossless. My A B2 version is V0 mp3 so not too objective there.

Maybe it's just me but Seasons from A COMPLETE, also in lossless, sounds very shrill. I don't have much experience in listening to the version from Duty though so...

The songs on AC that were not from A BEST 2 and onward probably got a lot more mastering then the songs that were remastered for A BEST 2 and then onward

this A COMPLETE thing isnt really complete

^ you want 200 tracks on 15 cds for 500 dollars? or over 1000 when including the remixes and different versions?
theres one song from every single on it, so its perfect for new fans and fans without much money, also, it saved her new record^^ 11 years^^ and its super cheap

A COMPLETE sounds like it is slightly loudness mastered, but clipping seems to only occur on certain songs, like Endless Sorrow. However, if you listen to Endless Sorrow from A BEST -BLACK- you'll notice that the one on A COMPLETE is much better.

It's interesting to note that the albums that I have problems with the mastering on were mastered by Americans, whereas the rest of her releases were mastered by Japanese. :rolleyes