Dire Straits : what is your favorite pressing?

All relative I guess. The studio box set released a few years ago and made in Germany by Pallas is good. There is another version done later in Czechlosvakia by GZ which is atrociously packaged and dirty - needs thorough clean before even first use and has more surface noise  - best avoided - unscrupulous sellers will try to pass off the GZ as Pallas by using one of the original photos.

Heard a test pressing of the MFSL 45rpm Love Over Gold album at this years Axpona show. Had them play Telegraph Road; sounded excellent to me, albeit with noticeable tape hiss. I have the disc on pre-order, can’t wait to get it. I am sure the soon to be released MFSL 45rpm Dire Straits debut album will also be excellent. Again, have this on pre-order and anxiously await its arrival.

I would guess the 45 MFSL would be the “best” from an audio perspective judging by how good a job they did with Brothers in Arms (I’m eagerly awaiting them finally releasing “Love Over Gold”). 

However the original UKs are readily available and sound great as well as providing a point of reference so you should always own this version if you can - of course it’ll be a crap shoot to find a good condition copy ...

Brothers in arms is brick walled by the original Digital technology of that day (when it was recorded).

If they had made analog safeties at the time, they could probably sell you a premium copy by now, that would easily outshine any prior pressings.

I listened to my Simply Vinyl/DS "S/T" the other week and was impressed.

I own several pressings, just saying that this may be an exercise in pursuit of nothing more than bragging rights?

Brothers in Arms sounded best on the original CD IMHO. Everything since was not as good. The CD has an early digital sound but overall pretty impressive - very dynamic like Supertramp Crime of the Century - really breathes.

To this day, Chuck now runs tape on everything and usually analog is what gets selected in mastering for most tracks.

@slaw can you explain what vinyl/ds “s/t” means?

@marktomaras that would be Dire Straits self titled ie their first album 

@folkfreak thanks!

So after some digging around online, and some philosophizing into the nature of record pressings, I decided to use this particular record, Dire Straits self titled debut, To do a real world sound quality experiment for my own beneficial amusement and education.

I’m going to get my hands on a near mint copy Of the original UK pressing, the original Japanese pressing,and the soon to be released mobile fidelity 45 RPM re-issue to compare the sound firsthand, side by side. I’ve just invested in a top of the line record cleaning machine, so naturally they will all go through the wash first so they will play with a fair and equal cleanliness.

it will probably take some time to get the records, especially as the MoFi is not shipping yet, but stay tuned for a report from me!

@marktomaras - you will have fun doing this comparison. I've found that such comparisons often, not always, reveal different strengths and weaknesses in pressing/mastering with no clear winner. Probably not a bad idea to have an SPL meter to check loudness differences among the different copies when you are listening. 

Dire Straits first album is a little dark sounding no matter what pressing or mastering you end up with. It’s close to neutral but quite obviously a bit dark.

So one can use it to evaluate, but one should probably never tune a system to it or via it.

I must have 9 copies, as there is always a a time in each given well known album’s sales or use, that it ends up for sale used, and you see it often. At a buck a piece and near mint, generally, it was always a tough purchase to turn down. Locally, the first ’simply red’ album was the same, and sold well and thus many of those, as well as Fleetwood Mac Rumours. Must have 7 or 8 of each of those....

I actually like the originals quite a bit

Another +vote for the original CD of 'Brothers in Arms'

I like the original as well.  I think it's very well done, as is the case with all Dire Straits.  Great music, well recorded.  What could be better?