Which is the best sounding version of Pet Sounds on CD?

From what I've researched, there have been many versions released.

1) 1990 mono CD
2) 1993 DCC CD (rare, difficult to get)
3) 1997 Pet Sounds Sessions Box (mono and stereo mixes)
4) 2001 mono & stereo CD (same as 1997 mix)
5) 2006 40th Anniversary (mono and new stereo mix)

So which is the best sounding version?

Not the first one. It's the only one I have, but the over use of noise reduction is quite horrible.

Cheers,
David.

Being a huge fan of The Beach Boys my whole life, I find for just CD only listening, the 2001 version to be the best. You mention it as being the same as the 1997 mix, and that is partially correct. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is a new stereo mix on 2001 with Mike Love (not Brian Wilson, as on the 1997 stereo mix) singing the bridge as in the original mono hit version. As for the 2006 edition, that has some Hi Res 2002 and 2005 mixes on the DVD. The CD portion is exactly the same as the 2001 release.

If you don't mind spending the few extra bucks, get the 2006 CD+DVD 40th Anniversary Edition and then you are fully covered for all the latest mixes.

Yeah, the first 3 versions would be difficult to get (either very expensive or out of print). So it only leaves me with the 2001 and 2006 versions.

I'm not so sure that the 2001 and 2006 versions are the same though. See wikipedia (near bottom of page, Re-issues) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_sounds

Also see the review at Amazon (scroll down to the 2nd review, by Mark Lineitt
http://www.amazon.com/Sounds-Anniversary-L...7709&sr=8-8
He says it's been remastered so has compression/clipping been introduced?

Wow, I was not aware of the 2006 Mono remaster. I checked the booklet and Linett is correct; there is no mention of this anywhere, except for page 17 that says "CD tracks 1-13 2006 Capitol Records, Inc.". I will say this, upon re-listening to the 2001 and 2006 mono versions, the 2006 version does sound better, but not drastically. As for clipping/compression, Mark Linett has done a very fine job of remastering the whole Beach Boys catalog. He put a lot of care and attention into remastering the catalog and you will not be disappointed in the sound quality.

FYI, yet another CD version of Pet Sounds is being released in January on the Audio Fidelity label to be mastered by Steve Hoffman. It's unknown as of now if he'll use the same mastering as the DCC CD or create a new master using a newer ADC. Mono only.