I challenge anyone, even the most aurally uneducated of folks, to listen to the opening scene of the film back to back with the dvd mix and any other version, and not be able to tell that it is completely screwed up. This is easily done with the GOUT dvd release, since both the 2004 and 1993 mixes are available together in one case. Switch between them a few times and you'll hear how the '04 is muffled and distorted while the '93 is crystal clear. If you pay even a little bit of attention you'll be able to tell that several laser blast sounds in the '04 are out of synch, background noises frequently overpower everything else, and the general rhythm and flow of the sound design is severely compromised. And that's just the opening scene!

If you can't hear that while making a direct comparison between a correct version and a hideously garbled one, then you should get your ears checked. ;)

Flipped music in the surrounds was definitely not a problem in the 1997 mix, because the rear channels only contained music in certain key scenes, such as the opening flyby, the sunset, and the Falcon approaching the Death Star. The rest of the time they contained sound effects only, and the music came solely from the front. The music error in the 2004 mix can only be heard with a 5.1 system--downmixing to stereo masks the problem--but with the right setup it is very easily noticed and highly distracting, particularly with high notes from the violins, which occur frequently. Hearing them emerge simultaneously from the front left and the back right is disorienting and just plain wrong.