Equinox Flower (1958)

The 2014 Shochiku blu-ray of the 4K Shochiku restoration generally sounds better than the BFI blu-ray (which sounds exactly the same as the Criterion DVD). It doesn't sound like earlier generation sound elements were rediscovered or anything, so it's usually just slightly better.

Some observations:

• The pops and crackles that marked just about every edit (between shots) on the BFI/Criterion are now gone. This is probably the biggest improvement.
• Oddly, the noise floor is higher on the new track. In some scenes, it sounds like someone's tearing paper offscreen. I say it's odd not because these sounds exist, but because they were kept -- the older track filtered them out, mostly without causing much harm to other sounds. It's not very intrusive, though, and doesn't bother me.
• The spectrals for the new track look weird. But it sounds fine, so no biggy.