Well now that I have both sets- though I have not been able to listen on the M gear yet- my impression is very surprising. By and large I prefer the stereo version!
On everything from Help! forward I think the stereo version has better dynamics and I think I should underline something very important- the very first Beatles LPs I listened to were the stereo (US) versions- so thats what Im most used to. And I have the CDs which were stereo except for the first 3-4 albums. By contrast the mono versions sound lifeless. Im really surprised at how negative a reaction I have to them.
I understand the analogy to the colorized version of a movie, but like all analogies its not perfect.
First off the stereo albums were obviously sanctioned by the Beatles or at least their management- so in the case of the movie- it would have to be that the movie company put out a colorized version at the same time as the B&W version. Secondly, there are many people, myself included, who grew up with the stereo mixes and thus accept that as the authentic one. Where as colorization is usually done to a movie long after it was made and thus there is no built in audience that legitimately thinks of the colorized version as the accurate one.
I will add the exceptions to my preference for the stereo is the past masters- on all the vol 2 songs I prefer the mono mix. The biggest improvement of whole set IMHO is Day Tripper- the stereo mix totally destroys this song. And also I prefer the mono of Rubber Soul. That 1965ish stereo experimentation was a little too echo for my tastes.
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