NB: Posted here instead of the usual place so I can reference it outside the forum.


Without commenting on the authenticity of Sapphire (Reprint), I would like to point out some irregularities in the audio data.

http://redump.org/disc/37047/

Tracks 6, 13, 15 all have clearly audible clicks at the start.

Those tracks click even when starting past the 2 second "pause" or index that all the sequential audio tracks seems to have. (The 2-second indices for series of audio tracks are another unusual feature of this disc. I've only seen 1 PCE game that has such a pattern, Ryuuko no Ken.)

Here is the track 6 click starting at the 00:02 mark.

http://s11.postimg.org/i1nj7sslf/6_F_2_L.png


***

Looking closer we can see that just about every sequential track continues slightly into the following track, although it's mostly inaudible. Different scales were needed to visualize it for certain tracks.

Almost every track starts similar to these

http://s11.postimg.org/yjob3wx4z/4_F_DB.png

http://s11.postimg.org/5ijyuicoz/5_F_S.png

http://s11.postimg.org/5jtwnxeir/6_F_DB.png

http://s11.postimg.org/eb0xi6xtv/11_F_L.png

Here's what some of the tracks look like at the back end. You can see the audio is cut off.

http://s8.postimg.org/wwm5bcp2t/4_R_DB.png

http://s8.postimg.org/4xrzkhng5/5_R_DB.png

http://s8.postimg.org/xoteoainp/6_R_DB.png

Here is an illustration of how the audio continues into the next track.

http://s23.postimg.org/jpb3vbnmz/10_R_DB.png
plus
http://s23.postimg.org/nx5w42p2j/11_F_DB.png
equals
http://s12.postimg.org/awmaeokt9/10_11.png

In summary, the audio tracks start with about 2 seconds of the preceding track's audio, a brief click of less than a sector (not always present), and around 10 sectors of absolute silence. Then the correct audio begins.

***

Analysis

That sort of audio track spillage often occurs when discs are not ripped with proper tools. This particular disc WAS imaged correctly though, so the audio track spillage must have been mastered onto the disc, which is something I've never seen before.

I don't know about the clicks other than to say they were probably intended to be skipped by the track indexing point. Unlike the spillage, they are audible.

Unfortunately there is no other image to compare with because the original printing of the game was never dumped properly and is far too expensive to purchase anymore.

MigaMan wrote:

Unfortunately there is no other image to compare with because the original printing of the game was never dumped properly and is far too expensive to purchase anymore.

One of our dumpers had purchased the original a few months ago, though, no idea about when will we see the dump.

Btw, according to the necstasy.net, the last data tracks should differ in size and crc, so, not only audio tracks differ.