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If this CD doesn't sound amazing on your system, then you might need a new digital player, or you might need to flip the audio polarity (details below), or both. I bought this CD and the Wilson-remixed Thick As A Brick CD at the same time, and I listened to them a few times and wanted to believe that I liked the sound quality, but the fact that I stopped listening to them showed that I actually didn't like it. The lackluster sound quality even led me to wonder why Aqualung is considered to be Tull's best album. Months later, I was in the mood to listen to TAAB again. So, I listened to it for a bit, and then it occurred to me that the polarity might be wrong, as it is on quite a few CD's. So, I inverted some of the tracks and listened to them, and was stunned by the dramatic improvement in sound quality. The difference is so profound that you haven't really heard this CD until you've heard it with the right polarity. Then it occurred that the same might apply to Aqualung, so I compared the regular and inverted versions of the title track, and found that the inverted version blows the doors off the regular version. So, I inverted all of the tracks, and listened to them, and then I realized why Aqualung is considered to be Tull's best album. I got so involved in it that I lost track of time, and it just flew by. As with TAAB, you haven't really heard it until you've heard it with the right polarity. Perhaps you already have because you somehow got a copy with standard polarity (it seems unlikely, but I can't prove that it's impossible), or perhaps your system has the wrong polarity so that CD's with the wrong polarity sound better on it than CD's with the right polarity. A simple example of audio polarity In a live setting, a kick-drum's head moves toward the audience at the beginning of each drumbeat. So, if a recording of nothing but a kick-drum were played, the woofers should move toward the listener (outward) at the beginning of each drumbeat. But with the wrong audio polarity, they would initially move inward, which would obviously reduce the recording's impact on the listener's ear drums. How to change audio polarity Audio polarity can be changed by "flipping" the polarity of each speaker-connection, or the equivalent such as inverting the .wav or FLAC with an audio-editing program. There is a standard polarity for CD's, and most CD's have standard polarity, but I've run across quite a few with nonstandard polarity in the year or so since I got my $100 Nobsound Bluetooth 4.2 Lossless Player in 2018 and went on a CD-buying binge. I gave the Nobsound player 5 stars on Amazon, and I still don't know how good it can sound since I haven't been able to get my hands on any high-res source material. However, I wish it had a polarity-control button, preferably in its Android remote-control app, but as far as I know, only pro-gear and a few high-end preamps (such as a couple of units made by Audio Research) have polarity-control capability. Many DAC-chips have features which would make it fairly easy for audio gear designers to add safe polarity controls to digital players. (Safe polarity controls quickly ramp the volume down, known as soft-muting, before flipping the polarity, and then un-mute after flipping it.) ======== WARNING If you somehow add a simple polarity control to your system (such as the example below), do not flip the polarity at high volume levels, or you might blow out an amplifier. ======== An example of a simple polarity control is a DPDT light (wall) switch with cross-connected throws (throw A+ to throw B-, throw A- to throw B+) in line with each speaker connection - apply the input across the poles and take the output from across the throws, or vice versa. Light switches and suitable enclosures (plastic outlet/switch boxes) are widely available, and the switches have screw terminals and hefty switch contacts. Solder wire terminals on the speaker cables for solid connections. (I would avoid using the push-in terminals on the back of the switch due to the flakiness of these contacts, which might be fine for making toast, but not for making music. Speaker connections must be solid to prevent distortion.) It's not the most convenient way to flip polarity, but it's cheap and an easier way to check polarity that having to fiddle with speaker connections or invert files with and audio editing program, and I doubt that such a switch would degrade the sound quality significantly. Read full review
Verified purchase: No
Wonderful album great music very creative artist in his day
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
This is a timeless recording with so much musical, spiritual, and intellectual depth that revisiting it at age 70 was a completely enjoyable experience.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
The 40th Anniversary remastered CD sounds great.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Always did like the sound came quick and Jethro is the man thank you Tom and family
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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