Thanks very much for your take on this particular pressing, Michael. If there’s anyone I trust to speak of the sound quality of a pressing, it’s either you or Patrick I check with first. Mike at The In Groove also said he knows it’s a digital transfer from the original tapes, which as we know, doesn’t necessarily mean a bad sounding pressing. On Discogs, it says that the lacquer was cut at Sterling by Ryan K. Smith, who as we know does excellent work. Below that it also says: “Remastered (For Vinyl) - Kevin Merrill”, who also works at Sterling. If you look at his credits, he’s mastered ~95% CD’s. Just a guess, but maybe Kevin treated the mastering process in a slightly different manner, and that’s why some people are saying it doesn’t sound so good and sounds compressed? Again, just a possible theory. Thanks, Michael. Excellent point of view, as usual.

Acoustic Sounds notes that it’s a 192/24 digital transfer from the analog tapes.

When i started to collecting different pressings for my favorite albums I learned that all is a matter of comparison. I had pressings that they sounded pretty decent in my ears but when I buy a better version of the album, I immediately understood all the weakness of the previous pressing and after that I understood how bad is in general. In few words, I can understand when someone saying "I have only this version and it sounds awesome" but I would not relying to him and spending my money to his opinion. Vinyl collection is a very expensive hobbie and you must be carerful where to use your money. They are few collectors out there and you should check their opinions before buy something. At least check the things little better such "who made the mastering, who made the cut, where the vinyl was pressed" and things like that. The most important thing to an album is the mastering. If the already mastering is bad, none vinyl can be sound great.

And Achtung Baby!, 30th in color, just announced

Just listened to the reissue and it sounds like what I expected. I have no comparison to earlier versions but this one sounds fine for the $27 I spent on it. I’ll listen to it 2-3 times a year and it is fine for that. I like Nirvana but they are not one of my all time favorites.

brilliant album. great video. Thanks Michael

mine had some noise 2nd side last song. so I did order a new one and keep the better one. I do have the 2009 ORG and the 2017er vinyl BG/CB mastered. Honestly on my system this sounds really good. Voice and drums are more seperated on this one than the BG. BG master is a bit muddy or call it warmer...hard that you say the BG has more punch, I have got another feeling. I think the 2021 is faster...with more impact. drums are clearer, voice kicks in..wow. Cover of this release is top notch as well. for a digital cut, it is close to perfect. but nice to hear some other opinions on this one. cheers thx for the video

Thank you for your honest opinion. I bought this but have kept it sealed after reading all the bad comments about it, not sure if I should return it or not. Now, I think I’ll keep it. Not the biggest Nirvana fan, but this album belongs in a rock collection.

I was never a great Nirvana fan although my late wife was and so I have the originals which never get played….today I received Grant Green “Street Of Dreams” and Thelinious Monk “Straight No Chaser” all due to your excellent reviews….thank you👍

I have the original version and may get the box set next year. I am trying to remember whether there is a Steve Albini mix and master for In Utero as from what he has said it was altered by Geffin in the end and I am an Albini fan. Will see what I can get without donating a kidney. Thanks again, Michael.

Iconic. It changed everything overnight. I actually wound up being a bigger Soundgarden fan from the Seattle bands, but at the time I played Nevermind constantly, enough to wear a hole in a record. (though mine was a CD at the time) I have the Grundman Pallas pressing, in standard jacket, so I won't be grabbing it...though I love that new gatefold. Thanks for the review!

Nice video 45! Love Nirvana, want that super deluxe 😃

As I mentioned in my feature in Mint Magazine we imported the album from the U. S. the first few months because the record company hadn't 'woke up' yet in Holland. What a year it was. Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, U2 (Achtung Baby) and a few more.

Thanks for the overview. I guess Ill avoid it. I dont think they said its truly AAA however, just sourced from the tape at some point. I speculate that someone did the remaster and probably sent that remastered file to RKS who just cut it.

My copy arrived today and I opened the shrink wrap before watching this... I almost (almost!) wish I'd kept it wrapped so I could return or sell it, but I'll give it a spin to see what my ears say. I only have the OG version to compare it and my setup is mediocre at best, it might take an audiophile setup to reveal its shortcomings? That's something I can only aspire to ascertain right now. Thanks for the review.

Saved me some money on this Michael thanks! You obviously play albums before you review them but how long is it normally before you'll play that vinyl again? Just curious! 👍👍

Great review and presentation of this!✌️🎸

It seems that Abbey Road half Speed Masters has sort of grounded your sonic compass , Michael 😅. Thx for reviewing this legendary album.

With no disrespect intended to Mr Smith, I do tend to find RKS masterings a little thin sounding (to my ears, in my room, on my system) - or at least, with 'rock' or more-or-less 'rock' genre recordings. For example, I really loved the RKS 'A Love Supreme' from last year on the Acoustic Sounds Series. Also from last year, the RKS remastered Sparklehorse box-set (4 original studio albums) on VMP - I felt sure that these would be amazing, given that the originals (barring 'It's A Wonderful Life' that Kevin Gray cut) were very long single LPs from run-of-the-mill production lines in an era when vinyl was almost a dead format. But no! There again was that thinness... even though now the records were split mostly over 2-LP formats. Conversely, I were to sum up the Chris Bellman sound in one phrase it would be "music with body and texture, but without losing inner detail". Definitely, that is my experience of all CB's work on the Neil Young reissues, for example.

Great content! Any info about your sleeve cover? Thanks

The 30th Anniversary edition sounds good to me. I really enjoyed it. I have only ever had Nevermind on cd, so this was quite an improvement. Everything seems much more immediate than what I remembered. Just as I have with other albums, I won't let the fact that some older, unattainable audiophile edition exists throw me into a total tailspin.

Interesting stuff. It got me checking my copy I bought for £15.00 in a Supermarket last year. I’ve always thought mine sounded excellent,(I find most modern cheap pressings sound awful) turns out mine is the 00720642 from 2017..which is the BG lacquer. So that might explain the decent sound quality. Oh god I’m heading into audiophile territory again! Make it stop!!

Hi Michael, just wonder where they mentioned as AAA mastering and cut, any link to it please. Here again, if we have doubts, why not ask Ryan K. Smith about it? This would be very ligit question, isnt? I suspect they use digital file for mastering, then put on tape to cut the lacquer, however this can be answered by one man only and thats the mastering engineer. Thx for sharing!

There is a new reissue of Nevermind that is cut by Levi Seitz at Black Belt Mastering. Not sure if it is Analog or digital but his website does mention reel to reel.

I feel this album reaches across age groups from 55 to 25 both groups really love this album. I have the BG/CB of this album pressed at Pallas and it is my go-to record it is the best sounding of this record minus the OG this record is too important to not pick up the 30th Annv. edition with bonus 7" and Stoughton tip-on jacket is a bonus in my opinion I just wish the Bernie Grundman copy was treated with such Love imagine if the Grundman copy had the 7" and the Stoughton jacket it would probably be going for 500.00 on Discogs right now.

Based on Sterling sound instagram post Ryan Smith did the cut to vinyl but the mastering was done by another mastering engineer at Sterling.

Guten Abend! I have recently discovered your wonderful channel. I love it. Thanks a lot. You explain well! I am not expert in audiophile, i have an average turnatable. I did not buy that Nevermind version because i already have the 20th anniversary version. I am puzzled about the 30th anniv. version with this question : How possible can the 30th anniv version be rightly remastered considering the fact that analog tapes were destroyed in the 2009 fire accident ? If i miss any information, forget my question Viel danke.

Thank you for posting this. I received my copy of the 30th anniversary and was blown away at how beautiful the packaging was, but upon playing this version on my turntable, I was so very disappointed with how it sounded. And I don’t know if it’s because I’m so used to the BG cut of this album, which sounds so incredible, but I just couldn’t bring myself to keep this 30th anniversary edition, so I returned it. If they could have just kept the BG cut of it for the 30th anniversary, then this edition would have definitely been a keeper for me. Such a disappointment imo. :( And I agree with you that it’s not bad if you don’t own the BG cut, but when you’ve been listening to the BG cut of this for years, it’s hard for me to listen to any other version of this album that has sound quality that doesn’t match it or beat it.

My opinion is that while it isnt the best you shouldnt feel bad for owning it, especially as part of the box set. its a fine pressing and it can be eq'd to a very pleasureable sound.

I avoided, I have the 20th, an OG and the Grundman/Pallas. I am getting the big box later next for the extras….

Just listened to it (and was afraid it would sound awful after all the bad press/reviews) but to me it sounds very good! I have a ClearAudio Performance DC turntable and Vandersteen Treo speakers, so my setup is pretty decent. I also have the Bernie Grundman version and I don’t necessarily remember it sounding any better than this version.

Analogue Productions description says “remastered from the analog tapes to high-resolution 192kHz 24-bit!”

This is a great album. The original 1st pressing sounds fantastic and the Bernie Grundman mastering is great as well. Wasn't this album recorded both analog and digital, Krist talks about that in the Classic Album documentary for this album.

Do you think it the 2009 Pallas is better? I’m picking either the 2013 Pallas or 2009 or the 30th what would you recommend?

Mike would you sometime make a video of how you clean your records? Thanks

Excelente vídeo, e excelente disco… só não entendo tantas deluxe edition de um mesmo disco, edição 25 anos e agora edição 30 anos

Michael I believe Mike in Arizona said he confirmed it was not from tape but a digital copy.

The cd sounds great, if the vinyl sounds like that I'll be happy.

Hello there, I have been playing my 30th against the BG cut. I gotta say the 30th is cleaner. That is maybe what people are picking up on. I play them back to back. The BG has more “hifi” mastering with a bit more depth and separation. But for me…I may prefer the 30th now. They both took liberties in the way they perceived and presented the album. The 30th RKS cut is dead quiet and “flatter” sounding. Some audiophiles may not like that…but that is probably closer to how the real tapes sound. They won’t have the trickery of mastering. I think the real question here is….which one do you prefer. The 30th is quite good. I will probably spin em both into the future depending on the day. RKS and BG have put their own artistic spin on what and how to set the mastering. RKS took the more flat approach possibly with less “depth”. Bernie definitely placed the drums up front and the other further back. The main differences I can easily hear with “something in the way”. RKS emphasized that deep bass where the BG played it way far back in the mix. To me some may prefer one or the other. It is not that one is better than other. Go buy a 30th while you can. They will go up in price since most are sold out now.

Nice review and pretty much matches my thoughts. I have a 2013 version with a damaged A side which is why I bought this one and, yes, it's OK. Is ok good enough for a 30th anniversary remaster? Probably not. Is it ok enough that I don't feel the need to rebuy a 2013 copy? Yeah, probably.

30th Anniversary!? ...dang that makes me feel old. I remember buying it on cassette. I still have it.

They didn't say it was all analogue, only that it was mastered from the original tapes.... Not CUT form the original tapes.

Your review is very moderate. Have you already listened to the album in its entirety ? On Smells like....., the Pallas/Grundman pressing and the new one are the least different. I think on the other tracks the compression is more severe and the sound has little depth. I think the 30th Anniversary Edition is disappointing and not worth the money. Granted the cover is great. For me, the single LP Grundman/Pallas pressing in the cover of the new edition, would be the ideal edition, except for audiophile editions.

The special edition in the states was mastered by Bob Ludwig and it was compressed much more than the original mastering. Not sure if that is the version that was included in the version in Europe.

I picked up the Grundman master Pallas copy when it came out. It sounds immense!

Glad I went for the 30th ANV. CD and have the BG version good enough for me

I got mine at target and only didn’t return it because of the 7”

They announced it would be mastered from the original master tapes. That could be a digital master still and in this case it was digitally remastered.

Well , I was going to buy this but I wasn’t sure . That’s made my mind up . I’ll wait for the 40th 😂

I’m sorry. I must’ve missed something. Can someone explain what happened with Abbey Road HSM?

what was the price difference for the Deluxe vs the one that just came out?

One of those albums that was unavoidable and exciting at the time and now I don't ever need to hear it again. Of course, I will ... because it's part of the cultural wallpaper. I pretty much don't need to hear anything from that period that originated on the West Coast and files under "grunge." But I did hear a board tape (a cheap cassette taken from the mixing board by a sound tech at a venue) that blew me away .. pre-Grohl). Ferocious. Anyway, not denying it's a classic, just one of those that I lived with in the time that has never grown beyond its time. Probably, a minority opinion but that's fine.

I like my "common to find" grundman cut, I'm satisfied with it totally! But 30th anniversary with bonus stuff is always interesting!

How did you sleeve that 20th anniversary version?

Compression doesn’t seem to be Nirvana’s friend or Kurt’s. The 1991 Original CD is hands down the best version as originally intended. I feel this 30th anniversary edition is better then the 20th which had terrible clipping of songs like In Bloom (drums). But, they can’t seem to get it right. Less is more and they really need to just make the album sound cleaner/clearer with less compression. I feel like we are getting boombox versions where the drums and bass are too loud. Case in point the Nirvana box set from 2004 “With The Lights Out” was destroyed with the awful mastering. Kurt’s vocals shine on the original 1991 Nevermind release. Here the album loses some of its dynamic range and that makes me sad. When I put on the original cd I’m back in the 1990’s and feel like a kid. But, with this new release I can’t seem to get there… Strange how the 1997 Foo Fighters album Colour and the Shape record was remastered properly in 2007 and just sounds clearer (Dave’s alive and over sees). Whereas Kurt’s catalog doesn’t get the proper treatment (makes you think…). That being said In Utero was remastered properly except the awful Steve Albini remixes of songs like Verse Chorus Verse… Therefore, I will give credit where credit is due. But, this record is too significant for them to keep getting it wrong….

It’s analogue tape mastered to digital. ADA.

Look. When this came out I was very active like you say in the music scene. There was a Huge buzz about the Seattle scene especially after the NME article about it. However Bleach came out and I was very underwhelmed. Later When this one came out , ok it was better But groups such as TAD, soundgarden and a few others inpressed me more. I have come to like it more over the years but I have not found it sooooo great. Maybe i have some strange bias. I still have a few versions But would not consider it such a great title to remaster. Mind you, in utero has turned out great in reissues so Maybe I was wrong about this band.

Gotta love a German and English pronunciations..... for a moment i thought Michael said the inner sleeve was "poorly lined". hehe

I picked up one at Target and was the only one they had

smells like teen spirit had a very special drumbeat, if you were to slow it down, it actually sounds like some type of club dance beat

Is the Grundman on Universal?

Didn't the Nirvana master tapes burn in the Universal fire?

I compared the 30th Anniv. Edition with the current in print "Back to Black" Version. For me the Back To Black version just has more punch, more dynamics due to the fact that its using die Grundman Master (BG scratched in the dead wax)

I glaube Mike aus Phoenix war sauer, dass er nur eine (!) lp von dieser version bekommen hat, obwohl er 600 (!!!) bestellt hat, und hat deshalb schlecht über den klang geredet^^ RKS STERLING in der Auslaufrille. Deshalb hab ich mir die lp bestellt, obwohl ich sie zuerst nicht wollte; und obwohl Mike sie nicht gut fand, aber ich wollte mir selbst ein bild machen. Und siehe da, die Gitarre klingt MONSTER auf dieser Pressung !!! Hab mir vor einigen Jahren, als der Vinyl Hype noch nicht so irre war, die dt. 1991 Vinyl -Erstpressung von diesem Album gekauft und finde, dass diese neue version fast genauso gut klingt wie das original ! die ganze band klingt in der Erstpressung vielleicht insgesamt gesehen einen tick besser,okay, aber wie gesagt, die Gitarre ist bei dieser RKS STERLING lp MONSTER !!! Absolut MONSTER !!! Jetzt spare ich auf die 8 lp box im nächsten Jahr....^^

If you are really looking at Nirvana I think the live Unplugged album is hard to beat. It has this very warm intimate nature. Michael - Thanks for pointing out the limitations - I’ll stick with my old one Abbey Road butchered Peter Gabriel, Amy Winehouse, Brian Eno, etc Half Speed bastered

its strange but i prefer the sound from my 2015 pressing back to back. I find this 2021 resmater like a Cd.

they wanted it to sound ok on every bodies set up ! I wonder if the boxset version will sound better

Analog or digital? Does it matter..? It sound very good on my system and love the package and 7 inch🤘🏼 Crazy what a buzz this release created 😃Good video Michael!

which special edition is that? that's not the 4lp 20th anniversary from 10 years ago is it?

I wonder how Michael's Special Edition compares sonically to the ORG release?

I'm not sure what's so controversial about this release. It's remastered to a high-resolution quality of 192kHz 24-bit from the original half-inch stereo analog tapes. That really shouldn't come to a surprise to anyone as it's been in the press releases for some time now. I have yet to hear the vinyl from the 30th but thought running the digital files through a good DAC and sound system was quite impressive. I suspect in the end, this release will be the best digital release and compared to the 2011 release, the vinyl version will be just "OK". Almost all new vinyls pressed these days are sourced from digital masters. This isn't new...digital mastered LPs date back to the 1980's although mixed with plenty of good pressings of analog mastered LPs until the turn of the century.

What outer sleeves do you use?

So, if I buy the us pallas cut that is back ordered now, I get the BG-cut? What about the 20th anaversary 4LP set. Is that as good, even though it’s Chris Bellman?

This is really interesting because I recently received my copy of the 30th Anniversary pressing and I currently have the Grundman pressing from Pallas and an OG from 1991 in NM condition. My own A/B on the Grundman vs the 30th was a lot closer than your comparison. Yes, the Grundman is more open and has a bit more dynamics, but not a lot more. The soundstage is wider on the Grundman, while the 30th seems a little bit more narrow. But the highs, in my opinion on the 30th were more tamed, not in a bad way, but very crisp and well mastered. The Grundman had more oomph in the bass, while the 30th was a little more lax in that department. But overall, the 30th doesn't deserve the negative reviews that people are putting on it. I truly believe that a lot of what is out there is coming from people parroting Mike from the InGroove, who I honestly feel he's bringing it down because of sour grapes (getting only 10 of the 500 hundred he ordered). If you have the Grundman, you really don't need this copy. If you don't have a Grundman, then you won't be disappointed in buying the 30th. But, to be honest, neither comes close to the dynamics and punch of the OG. I bought Nevermind when it first came out in 1991 and have kept it in beautiful shape. When I compare the other two to the OG, neither has the raw power of the OG. Anyway, thanks for the review and keep up the great videos.

Michael.... Mike at the in groove has it on good authority that this release is a digital transfer and not analogue.

it's for sure not what now?

I haven’t played mine yet, heard from multiple sources that the sound is shitty. Must give it a spin to see

Shocker the German guy champions the Palla’s cut

anyone elses not have the 7 inch inside? kinda pissed .

Someone is pulling Mike's chain...I NEVER buy vinyl from Amazon but they just delivered this evening 11/15 (3) Nevermind 30th anniversary copies of this SO CALLED "LIMITED EDITION" w the 7" for $28.00 apiece. Just looked again tonight and they have the album IN STOCK for $27.99. Sounds like a crock of shit to me, Mike.....

LABELS: Please stop using the false advertisement of "Sourced from the analog tapes". This is cut from digital files. You're confusing people! End rant. :)

Not sure the original tapes are "still out there," as they were burned in the Universal fire on June 1, 2008

what Ive heard, its not AAA. Its digitaly sourced...

IMO the 30th Anniversary sounds like "Nevermind" was recorded originally. IMO it is completely from the original analog tapes, not from digital at all, like so many want to think. The BG version as a comparison makes many think it is digital but IMO they are wrong. The Bernie Grundman version was super "enhanced" digitally. IE, added bass, treble, etc... that wasn't in the original analog tapes. This fools many buyers on the actual analog sound from the original. Kurt hated "Hifi". I have both the 30th Anniversary and Bernie Grundman version. Both sound great IMO but..... IMO the 30th Anniversary version sounds more like Nirvana wanted overall per Kurt. The BG version sounds great but it sounds "way" hifi, which Kurt personally hated. Kurt hated the hifi sound, like stated before. Kurt even thought "In Utero" was to hifi and polished up to his liking overall. That makes me think this 30th Anniversary version is probably the best true analog version of "Nevermind" we have ever received! IMO it sounds way more like Kurt stated he wanted the album to sound over the Bernie Grundman version.

People talk about Nevermind all the time, but In Utero is a better sounding album.

Butch Vig (Nirvana producer and engineer) is famous for recording and mixing "in the box" meaning all ProTools. Unless you have seen otherwise, Nevermind was all digital from the start. It was common in the '90s to mix to DAT at 44.1 /16 bit and to run a 1/4" 15ips analogue master at the same time. Even when they say mastered from original tapes DAT is tape. They can also claim mastered from original analogue tape, but it originated as digital. Once digital always digital and no analogue tape will change the fact. That being said, many albums I played on did have a better sounding Analogue tape as compared to DAT, but it doesn't negate the fact that it was digital from the beginning. Most DAT recorders just had terrible Analogue to Digital converters.

Ooo a controversial comparison if ever there was one.

A disappointment yes as I'm sure we all we're looking for the best version. What we got is the best jacket for sure but the lp did not live up to our expectations. The emotion you expressed is probably what we all feel

I probably belong to a minority but I never understood what was so interesting about this band.

Didn't the baby who is now a man try to sue the record label as he didn't like the exposure it had on his life?

I really thought it sounded nice

If you ask a 14 year old who is Nirvana, I believe you might get a blank stare back from most of them. When it came out in 91, vinyl was on it's way out and trying to get a copy on vinyl was next to impossible. Here we are 30 years later, I believe for most people it's mostly the fact of owning one. Vinyl is back in, but again with a lot of people it's about being in. I always have the feeling on older albums such as this, there's a tendency to mix it for current tastes which most times defeats why the album was so big to begin with. In general I believe it will get a lot of play.

The original mastertape has been destroyed in a fire, I don't know when but it was a big fire and many mastertapes of classic albums were destoyed in that fire. I don't know whether the 4lp version of 2011 has a comparible source as the recent rerelease but with this album a lot of other reissues have the same problem, the original mastertape is gone.

I hate the new mix. Never liked Dave Grohl and now they turned his vocals up. The worst part of Nevermind is the poor backing vocals. They should have removed Grohls voice completely but they turned his voice up. Sounds awful.

Childish way of thinking from the extreme low class. I've stopped listening to guys years ago. You're still struggling to deal with them. You wanted something different for the 30th anniversary. But the moronic idiots won't shut up about comparisons. Their goal IS to dismissal the object. The opposite IS truth. the original IS the only original object. The anniversary is another GEM. You collected different jewels over the years. SO, what gem did you buy? Obviously you don't tune the sounds. You're a detune type of listener. Why do you buy a mid range tuning and detune it buy adding bass and treble? If you want that experience, just play the CD version.

THIS ALBUM IS A DIGITALLY SOURCED PRESSING FROM A HIGH-REZ FILE- YES, IT CAME FROM THE ORIGINAL ANALOG TAPE, THEN TRANSFERED TO A HIGH-REZ FILE AND PRESSED TO VINYL - MARKETING DOES NOT TELL YOU THE LP IS PRESSED USING A DIGITAL FILE (IMANGINE THAT) BUY THE BG CUT (ORG) AND BE DONE WITH THE BEST PRESSING YOU CAN BUY - PERIOD-END OF STORY....