Hey everyone.
So I was happy to read that the French steelbook was the one and only flawless release available and promptly ordered it. Yay!
BUT, now I'm surprised to notice that the sound quality is dramatically lower than the UK release I had before (on the 5.1 tracks). The sound clips a lot (overall volume is also much lower) and I have tried the different soundtracks on the disc (French, English etc) and they are all the same, quieter than on the UK release and with pretty severe clipping especially when there's music. The various audio glitches that we had to deal before are fixed though.
Luckily for me the mono track is flawless (and that is after all the true "original track" for this film) with no clipping and no issue whatsoever, so I don't think I'm going to return it (haven't even checked out Destroyer yet but I'm not too worried about it and I never liked it as much as the Barbarian). I can just enjoy the film with mono audio, still a bit sad since surround can be really lovely.
But the 5.1 track is simply painful to listen to for me, I have really good audio gear (and my young ears are probably pretty healthy too) but I'm sure anyone could notice the difference easily - it's nothing subtle trust me. Clearly a different audio master compared to before, but fixing a glitch here and there at the cost of overall quality? Urgh no thanks...
So, word of warning for future buyers. Btw it can't be a damaged disc otherwise the French soundtrack wouldn't have exactly the same issues as the English one. Picture is also flawless.
edit : actually I can probably make recordings and upload them for you guys when I got time. Send me a pm or something if I forget to check back here
