Dream Theater – Distance Over Time

My pressing sounds fantastic and the packaging is really nice, with a tip on style jacket and slick presentation. When I hear negative reviews about something I’m picking up only to discover it sounds and looks great, it makes me feel like a lottery winner— which is good, because I never win the real lottery.

Of the several color variants for this title this brown one from FYE sounded the worst because of inner groove distortion. Black was the cleanest which is no surprise.

This album doesn't change anything, so it might as well not be there. But ... the next ones are even worse.
Both the CD and DVD from HI-RES AUDIO are heavily compressed or, if you prefer, badly recorded = impossible to listen to it to the end without all kinds of pain.
Much better with HD files from Qobuz and apple.

This pressing sounds awful. The music is very quiet and very thin and tinny sounding. One of the lowest volume pressings I’ve ever bought. I have to Frank the volume up to insane levels just to hear it properly.
I find most Sony Music pressings these days sound awful so I should have known better. Judas Priest Sony pressing recently had the same volume issue.

The album itself is good as is the packaging, but if you want a good sounding copy, steer clear of this pressing.

I hadn't kept up with this band since BC&SL and recently decided to catch up, and I unknowingly picked up the standard CD edition of this record. It is one of the worst, most unlistenable mixes/masters I've ever encountered, which is truly an accomplishment in modern Metal music. I can tell there's music in there somewhere, but it's mostly just the sound of sidechain ducking and a badly-tuned brickwall limiter fluttering for about 60 minutes.

I've heard that a more dynamic master exists somewhere—probably the hi-res files included on one of the Blu-ray discs—but figuring out which edition to buy to actually get that version is impossible. What a farce. Thankfully, their next album sounds much better.

Great pressing. Clean sound with good separation.
Zero sound problems compared to the problems of the USA pressing.

Slightly warped and scuffed on A1 causing a swoosh sound on the first dozen revolutions. Once we get past that it sounds pretty gnarly with a seldom pop/click.

Do i have a European variant of the clear vinyl ? Its pressed in through Inside Out and has barcode 19075925071 ( sticker ) . It has a triangle sticker under the hype sticker that reads Limited Clear Vinyl. I bought it at their show in Amsterdam and they asked 60 euros for it ( not signed ).

Mine is beautiful and sounds great but both lps are a bit warped. I got this from my local record store who I’ve never had this issue with before.

Let me say this, I've never been a fan of glorified box sets. Got hooked on this band a few years ago and bought virtually all their material on vinyl. So when this album came out I had about 12 color choices to choose from, seriously look it up. Got tickets for my first DT show and was blown away. This band has a very faithful following for sure judging by the souvenir lines at the show. Picked up the clear vinyl at the show then ordered this box set afterwards and boy was I not disappointed. Very well done quality wise with lots of goodies in included. Love the 3D cover too. As far as the music, it took a few plays for me to like this album but now I'm really into it. Not their best but it's still better than most bands music nowadays.