Armageddon 2-Disc SE sound (1 Viewer)

[Iain Lambert]

OK, quick question time. Does anyone (I know its unlikely) own both the new UK 2-Disc SE of Armageddon and the Criterion edition. I know about the picture being slightly better, but frankly the Criterion's picture is pretty good as it is, and I have the previous anamorphic UK release already. However, that release has got really feeble sound in comparison to the Criterion release, to the point where I'd gladly switch back to laserdisc to achieve that quality. So, my question is: Is the sound on the new release as bad as the previous two UK releases, or do we finally have the proper sound mix?
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"I'm a reasonable man, get off my case" - Thom Yorke

 

[YANG]

For "impressive" audio,the only release that you will look for is the japanese R2 release,which may cost you several times more that the current R1 CRITERION edition.

 

[Iain Lambert]

Thanks for the recommendation Yang; thats the one that is DTS, isn't it?

 

[Roland Wandinger]

I have the previous anamorphic UK release already. However, that release has got really feeble sound in comparison to the Criterion release

I have compared the Crit. Edition with the German R2 version (which has a BBFC rating on it so it must be identical to the UK version) for sound quality and could not detect a big difference between the two. I only compared the scene in the beginning where the shuttle gets destroyed by meteors however.
The Crit. has slightly tighter bass than the R2 but nothing an increase in subwoofer volume wouldn't cure.
Otherwise they seemed to be identical.
Can you recommend a scene where you heard a big difference?

 

[Iain Lambert]

I've not dug it out in a while, but I was very much underwhelmed with the sound overall; the opening credits were quite good but afterwards, there didn't seem to be any real oomph there, and I had to overcrank the R2 by about 8-10 dB to get 'normal' sound. The scenes on the asteroid and also the crash in the far east seemed really flat on my system. I didn't notice any problems like this when I heard a friend's Criterion disc however.