Fagen/Becker/Nichols were always going for the best sound quality of their albums.
On mixing “Katy Lied”, they used high-end audiophile Audio Research tube amplifiers to drive Magnepan loudspeakers - a design that looks like a large screen.
A friend of mine remastered “Katy Lied” but due to contractual limits, the project was stopped and his mastering was destroyed. There are a few “out there” and, reportedly, have THE best sound quality of all the commercial versions of “Katy Lied”.
It’s a shame the dbx screwed what could have been an even better album project.
IIRC, someone stole masters of “Aja” and it’s why that album has never been remixed into surround. Fagen & Becker even offered a reward for those masters...but no one came forward.
Thank you for these most interesting comments. I have done some work in this field. It would be cool to speak with you sometime.