Mine arrived today and listening now. I A/B’d it with
this 1979 Canadian press that I like a lot more than the Discogs 3.82 rating and less than the extremely positive comments in the reviews.
The Rhino HF smokes the ‘79 Canada press in almost every respect, but the Canadian press has a bit more snappiness in the sound of the snare and tom drums. The Rhino drums sound really good, but there’s a punch missing compared to 79 Canada. As one commenter on the ‘79 press says, “the drums kick you in the chest.” One reason for this difference is likely the Canadian press is hollowed out by comparison — the Rhino has way better midrange and more defined/controlled bass and is much more balanced. I’m not saying drums in RHF are problematic. They sound really good, but I do like a rock record with drums that kick me in the chest. RHF also has silent noise floor.
On the etching in runout — I have two numeral 1s in the spot discussed above. All the etched numeral 1s look like carat symbols to me, but I think the handwriting is a little odd bc the look of those two 1s matches the look of the 1s in the A1 and B1 portions of the runout.