Dick's / Dave's picks

Hey jafant,
The new box set is very good! I took this summer to go back through all 22 Europe ‘72 shows in order. Obviously, and as we all know, some ‘top of the heap’ shows and playing on that tour...
BUT these ‘73 and ‘74 PNW shows sound better sonicly; better separation, better clarity (obviously due to the Prototype Wall of Sound and then the actual WOS) and better soundstaging.
Also something seems just a lil different with Jeffry Norman’s mixing here but I’m not far enough into the box to comment further. 
Goood stuff here. 

I think these are great shows, but there's something about the vocal mix that's a bit off. 

I have a soundboard recording of the  5/19/74 show and I definitely like that version better than the new Pacific North West mix. This is most evident on Black Throated Wind and Weather Report Suite. 

Maybe it's just me, but Bob sounds more distant on the new mix. 

Wondering if there is any difference in the sound quality of the original Dicks and Vaults when compared to the rereleased copies that came out.. Have most of the originals.

@jayrossi13 and @johnto 
Comparing the official releases to the raw 2ch SBD’s...
Here’s how I see it: 
The official releases, at least speaking about the newest Dave’s Picks series, as well as the most recent boxsets over the last few years or so, they do have a higher sonic fidelity than the raw 2 channel soundboard recordings. They have better tone, better detail, better extension, as well as better clarity and separation between individual instruments. They have more of a ‘front row’ feel sometimes in my system (recording dependent). But in making them into a clearer more detailed modern hi-fi recording some magic is lost...  
 The raw soundboards may sound a lil more distant and smeared by comparison, they have more of the feeling and energy of the actual live event. The living breathing dynamic swells of energy, a cohesive/interconnected organic musical flow that the official releases lack. I can’t explain why pulling all that great clarity and detail out of the recordings causes them to loose a cohesiveness and ultimate musical flow.  I sure do wish Jeffrey Norman could do some sort of mix between the nice clarity, tone and detail that he pulls out of these old recordings but keeping that musical flow and energy that the original performances are capable of showing. 
 But these statements are not true for every moment of every release, as there are moments where everything disappears and musical bliss occurs that is simply not the same or as possible with its raw sbd equivalent.  
 Also... we are mainly talking about digital here and digital systems are sometimes harder to get ‘right’, so ones system is at play here, too... Personally —apart from trying to get good digital playback— I tuned my system for the Dead and everything else is secondary ;)

@jriggy

You’ve stated--more eloquently--what I was trying to get at.

For pure energy and enjoyment, I'd take the original recordings over the new remixes. 

Before the Dead put an end t it, I downloaded hundreds and hundreds of soundboard shows from archive.org.

Sadly, I didn’t have enough storage space and got rid of the original lossless files and now only have the shows in MP3 format. Still better than nothing and the shows sound good on portable audio devices and in the car.