The Who – Who's Next

It is pretty stable and plenty loud. Can’t compare to other versions but no complaints for this one.

Hoffman says Kevin Gray worked as a mastering engineer at MCA at this time. Gray was tasked with remastering a slew of classic albums owned by MCA. He did not always sign his work at MCA.

Might this 1980 remaster be one of them? Side 1 of my 1980 W'sN has a "TML" matrix, so it's quite possibly a Doug Sax cut. But Side 2 is a "W1" cut. My 1980s MCA label reissues of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Steely Dan's Greatest Hits bear "W"-digit in the dead wax; the latter album's matrices bear Kevin's signature "KPG/MCA". Both reissues sound fantabulous, so I'm inclined to say Kevin may have cut Side 2 of my W'S N.

W1 crossed out = Doug Sax and US metal - THE BEST version ! Amazing sound...

W1 = Doug Sax cut. Easily the best version of this !

Easily the best version - W1 = Doug Sax cut !

This is my absolute favorite Who album as I have so many copies of this great record, now I am very fortunate to have both variants of this pressing one’s a 72 Decca repress and one is my near mint 71 first press, This is the definitive Doug Sax cut and sounds absolutely fantastic this album will never sound better than the Decca having both the Uk first Press and Uk second press it’s a waste of time they sound great but this has the sheer volume and singing cymbals and powerful kick drum you get from a fresh Doug sax cut! W-1 is the 1

I would like to give my insight into this release,
Now most people still go to that outdated Hoffman forum Thread which has good info but is very inaccurate when it comes to the first pressing of Who’s Next, this was mastered by Doug sax as the tape box says but there is no etching of any kind like the Decca or the first side of the Uk, which doesn’t mean anything since all the Who’s first pressings all had the catalog number stamped along with an A/1 B/1 before 1973 when you started to see TML in deadwax this version is very much a hidden gem of this record and is the best of the best the 2005 Classic records cut is the only one that comes close. It’s not as hot as the Decca but more like the UK but imo it’s got more detail and openness. I’d really recommend getting this over spending 2x more for the made in the UK press.

Hugely better than ANY other mastering of this album. This is the one to buy!!

Wow, this is terrible. All due respect to Miles, and as Nick said below, this album has always had audiophile issues? and I am sure he did the best he could? but wow does it lacks punch, clarity, you name it. The sad thing is — because of Rhino HiFi, we KNOW this could sound amazing AND at the same price point. Oh well.

Out of many German pressings, this one has phenomenal dynamic range and powerful sonic purity. This is a good 'un. Get a super clean one and you're set for life.