1994 Paramount LaserDisc [LV6812-WS]: This is a wonderful sounding disc. No hiss reduction and presumably just a straight transfer of the original magnetic track.
2001 R4 Paramount DVD: Global noise reduction, making everything muffled.
2012 Paramount Blu-ray: Same mastering as the DVD.
2023 Arrow UHD Blu-ray: The 1.0 track is a new mono reduction of the dialogue, music, and effects stems. I caught only two mixing differences (though I haven't searched exhaustively for more): at 7:54, Fonda's line flub has been edited ("ob-object received" → "object received"); and at 25:59, the end guitar note carries on for another 3 seconds, continuing beneath Fonda's moans. The sync of the music/effects relative to the dialogue is consistently different, though imperceptibly so. The biggest problem with both the 1.0 and Atmos tracks is the noise gating: most of the film sounds nearly identical to the LaserDisc, but the hiss drops out entirely during quiet moments. This gating is aggressive at times and its activation pretty arbitrary. Whether or not it has removed audible detail is arguable (you can certainly notice it if you know what to listen for), but the fluctuations in hiss are noticeable. All in all, not too bad, but the mastering work is completely unnecessary and the LaserDisc sounds better.
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