The 2023 hi-res remaster sounds significantly different from the HDAD disc. I don't want to discuss our personal tastes in mastering, but simply comparing the EQ of these two remasters shows some radical differences. For example, in Games People Play, the 2023 hi-res remaster has a 3dB boost between 500Hz and 3kHz, and about 1dB above that frequency. It's also about -2/3dB at 80/100Hz. These differences are audible and result in a quite different presentation, definitely mid-centric, brighter, less punchy, with less bass overall.
The only track that I have found really annoying on this 5.1 set is Games People Play. As you have noted, the EQ is awful. The rear voices have a lot of 'grain,' as if it was an obnoxious DD master, and the bass sounds like it was sucked out of the mix. A very close listen to the same track on the HDAD, also reveals the 'grain' in those voices. But it really becomes grating now that they have segregated the voices in the rears AND boosted the EQ.
Other than that, the rest of the tracks sound OK. However I did find myself lowering the volume as the album progressed...possibly due to listening fatigue? I suspect that our resident audio engineers can probably tweek the EQ on this set. The mix is really good.
Oh, and for those who are interested, that middle section of Games People Play on the HDAD is pretty wild when upmixed with Dolby Surround.
[Edit: Would rate this 5.1 a 9 but knocking off a point because of the fatiguing EQ as noted above.]
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