Ok, few things have changed now.
First and foremost, no more mp3s. We're back to m4a AAC files, they just sound way more like the wav. I rarely compared the mp3s to the original wavs and every time I do its just mind boggling how people listen to those things, every encoder I've tried just screws with the top end.
Next, the masters were level matched, before this, the RMS was hitting the final limiter 1 db harder.. my bad.
Third, no more giving away which file uses which comp, but one was mastered with the Smart C1 at 2:1 autorelease, the other with the RMS 1.5:1 hi pass dual release.
www.blacklinerock.com/music/echo1.m4a www.blacklinerock.com/music/echo2.m4a
I own both the C1 and the SSL 384 and I love them both, and I don't want to make it seem like I'm dissing them in any way. I just find for my personal taste, the RMS does what I want more on most two buss applications, and especially as a mastering comp. To my ears, it doesn't flatten things as much, and the master can still "breathe".. In future mixes I'll probably have the C1 on some drums and maybe the 384 on bass (yes it kicks ass on bass).