What are your most recent Hi-Res purchases? - Page 5

I know what you mean but how can one resist?

Just picked up:
Spyro Gyra Good to GO-GO
Tania Maria Come With ME
Clapton 461 Ocean Boulevard

On the way:
Billy Joel The Stranger and 52nd Street

Man I just received my long awaited Depch Mode Ultra But I bought a used Stevie Ray vaughan that I cant take out my uni player



djoel

Danny Elfman - Serenada Schizophrana

Chris

Hey all, could you guys rate the recordings when you list you latest buys? Not so much performance, but how well it translates to hi-res IE sound quality, and 5.1 mix. Nothing detailed, just maybe 1-10 10 being best. It would certainly help me and probably other people when deciding their next purchase. TIA

Picked up Jeff Beck Blow by Blow - I haven't heard this CD since the 80's, excellent SQ and mix, one of my favorites.

Neil Young Road Rock VI - Decent, I haven't heard the whole disk yet, SQ is good, mix is OK for a live disk.

Fleetwood Mac Live at the BBC - A bit disappointing, no better than a decently recorded CD - I can't sit down and seriously listen to this disk, but it works fine for background music.

If you like that, you may also enjoy Billy Cobham - Spectrum (if you can find it).

Interesting music, ain't it?

Yes, I am a fan of the Tim Burton films and Elfman usually writes the scores for those and I always like what he does. I am undecided as to whether or not I like this composition and will need more time with it. I do plan to listen a few times, it is just different than I had expected. He is a great film score composer but I don't know if he should have attempted this.

Chris

Alot of folks seem to have some SACD's in there selection that according to my searches on cduniverse say the sacd's are "stereo". Is this correct? For instance Dire Straits - Brother in Arms SACD, it is stereo. I thought the point of SACD is to get full surround 5.1 / 7.1 etc.. sound. So I am thinking I need to look for SACD/DVDA Multichannel recordings to get what I want.

I have a low budget jbl venue speaker system and its does well for the 5.1 sound but listening in stereo on the book shelf fronts wouldn't sound good or better than just normal cd music.

Is my thinking correct or wrong on this? Would SACD in stereo mix sound many levels better on a budget system versus a multichannel sacd?

My system is;
Onkyo TX-SR505
Oppo 980H
JBL Venue - Tour front and surrounds
JBL Venue - center
Dynamic Audio sub-12

Thanks for input,

Not at all. SACD first came about for higher than redbook STEREO resolution. Redbook is 44.1K SACD is 176.4K Multi Ch. is a big plus, but 2ch SACD (well done) blows the doors off of Redbook 2 ch.
If you want multi Ch thats understandable, but dont think that just because it's SACD stereo that the sound quality isnt better than Redbook

As far as stereo is concerned, how does this compare to FLAC or OGG or 320 MP3?

In attempt to answer this question, is it because the source is 176.4k, where even if FLAC, OGG etc is from a 44.1K source material? Could that be the case?

SACD started out as a 2 channel stereo format. Because of this, hi-rez 2 channel stereo is mandated on SACD whereas the regular CD layer and the hi-rez surround sound mix are optional.

Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms", whether on SACD or DVD-A, is indeed available as multi-channel surround sound. In fact, it won the Grammy for "Best Surround Sound Recording" when it was re-released about 3 years ago. The hi-rez 2 channel stereo mix, however, is not to be dismissed either....it blows away any previously available 2 channel version (including the XRCD version, according to what I read).

Many SACDs are simply 2-channel. Brothers in Arms IS multichannel, though. But all multichannel SACDs and almost all DVD-As (very few do not) have a stereo track on them for a reason. There are still people who have 2-channel systems that want to enjoy hirez music. And there are many of us who actually sometimes prefer listening to the stereo track over the multichannel track.

So, no, the real point of the hirez formats is not to get multichannel sound (5.1, not 7.1), it's to get hirez music. The multichannel thing is an added bonus. But there are many people who do frown upon stereo SACDs and don't really appreciate them at all, however there are many of us who can appreciate hirez music WITHOUT the bells-and-whistles of multichannel. Even though some of the SACDs which do not feature multichannel tracks WOULD sound great if also available as multichannel (the Peter Gabriel SACDs, for example), there are many that just don't really lend themselves that well to the multichannel thing. For example, a 1958 recording of John Coltrane doesn't really lend itself that well to a multichannel treatment whereas Pink Floyd's DSoTM seems almost perfect for it. That is not to say that there aren't some classic old recordings that have been multichannel-ized. Miles Davis's Kind of Blue SACD has a multichannel track, but it is very subtly mixed so as to only provide some ambiance. Saxophones and trumpets don't swirl around your head or anything like that, which is a very good thing in the case of this recording.



Not true. Even 2-channel stuff, no matter your speakers (within reason, of course), benefits from the higher quality offered by the hirez formats.



Others may disagree, but I don't think your thinking is correct on this. Since all the SACDs and most likely all the DVD-As you get will feature a 2-channel track, it's easy enough to check the 2-channel track out. For hybrid SACDs which have a standard CD track (not all SACDs are do, btw) youcan compare the 2-channel redbook CD layer to the 2-channel SACD layer.

Many people will not even buy a 2-channel only SACD and many are even angry when they DO buy a 2-channel disc and expect to find multichannel tracks on it, only to find out it is only 2-channel. But for many of us, the absence of a multichannel track doesn't bother us at all; it's the hirez music that is more important. Of course, most of us love a good multichannel mix, too!



I'm not really sure what you're asking, here. FLAC and OGG are audio compression algorithms. But you're asking a technical question that I can't really answer. Maybe someone else can. Even if you COULD 'rip' an SACD (which you can't), I don't know if there would be some limitation of FLAC that wouldn't allow you to make a lossless copy of an SACD.

I'm not sure why you think that an SACD is 176.4. The sampling rate of SACD is 2.8224 MHz which is 64x that of a 44.1kHz CD. 2-channel DVD-As are sometimes 176.4kHz (and can be as high as 192kHz). The max for each channel of a multichannel DVD-A is 96kHz. But comparing SACD and DVD-As on the basis of their sampling rate (or their bitrate; SACDs are actually 1-bit) is not really proper as the formats are completely different.



As an aside, since I have your attention, and you're just starting to buy hirez stuff, if you like Steely Dan at all, the hirez Steely Dan AND Donald Fagan releases are some of the best sounding DVD-As (Gaucho is avaialble as both SACD and DVD-A) available, IMO.

sivadselim, this is where I got the 176.4 number from. Guess I read it wrong.

I do love music and I want to get the best I can at what I can afford. I am just getting into this at a entry level system and would love to one day get into much better quality gear (speakers/electronics) so this is a brave new world for me and I am learning.

This forum has been a big help in both setup and learing what's what in everything audio. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and participating.

As far as the Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms, the SACD info I read said 2 channel but I guess there is another multichannel format for it. I guess I am one of the ones that is just interested in that aspect..for now. Full envelopement in the music. I know some feel it different being in it as aposed to outside of it as in an "audience" experience, but I definately want to be in it. I want to feel as though the guys are playing the instruments around me.

My father is a drummer and I grew up in his blues/rock bands and I love to play drums myself. So I have that appreciation of being in it...live, so to speak. It is an awesome emotional experience.

My car has a full rockford fosgate sound system in it, I would just LOVE to get hirez multichannel in that baby.

I tell you this to maybe to explain I want to feel and be apart of the music.

Anyway, thanks for the reading and I look forward to much more.


I will definately have to check that out!!

Thanks again,

The "another multichannel format for it" is DVD-A. I think it is available on both formats. Whatever info you read about the SACD, for whatever reason, was incorrect, or at least incomplete, because whatever hirez version you get, it is most definitely going to include multichannel tracks. There is not a 2-channel only SACD release of it.

Dire Straits is signed to a Warner Music label here in the States. As you know, Warner Music is a supporter of DVD-A, hence the DVD-A in the US. However, outside of the US, Dire Straits is signed to a Universal Music label, therefore the SACD version.

This arrangement is also what's happening to Mark Knopfler, Bjork, Genesis, Depeche Mode, etc. If you want these artists' SACD releases, you need to get them as imports.

Does anyone here have the Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out SACD? I was wondering how the multichannel sounds on it before I buy it.

Thanks

I picked up the latest batch of Genesis sacd's today.....not bad not bad at all.

I would call it a 3.0 mix with ambience in the rears but I like it although this is the only version of the album I have heard and I haven't yet listened to the stereo layer.

Chris

Just picked up Folk Singer - Muddy Waters. This stereo 43 year old recording is one of the most dynamic and clear recordings in my collection, and the performers could teach something to Mick Jagger, etc., about putting the blues across. Get this if you can find it; outstanding.

Richard

Like the real performance, no?

Your question is a little bit ambiguous. Answering it would depend upon what you mean exactly by "how the multichannel sounds" and what your preferences and expectations are.

As pointed out, it is tastefully mixed, like it should be for a classic jazz recording such as this. If you are simply asking about the multichannel layer's 'sound quality', it sounds very good for an older recording. If you are asking how the multichannel track sounds 'mix-wise', those of us who prefer a recording like this to have a subtle multichannel treatment probably think it sounds good. Those who expect a more aggressive surround mix may be disappointed.

Nah. That pretty much answers my question. I basically wanted to know if it sounded like I was in a jazz club or not. I already have the original cd.

But is that not what you actually hear in a jazz club? All the performers up front (depending on your table) and ambiance around and behind. A stereo CD can't do that by itself.

Yeah, this is sort of how I was going to respond.

Unless you are somehow lucky enough to sit amongst the musicians for an unmic'd performance, then the ambiance added by the surround channels by whoever mixed this SACD is precisely what you DO want if you want it to sound "like I was in a jazz club".

Two channel is not mandatory for SACD, though most SACD have a stereo "layer".

Not all SACD have a stereo track, though the great majority do have it.


No argument from me on this and for some SACD I do indeed prefer the stereo to the MCH.


Here I beg to differ: I rather have MCH in RBCD resolution than stereo hirez SACD. Happily I do not have to choose

The big difference, at least for acoustic music, is not between hirez and RBCD but between stereo and MCH.


For me the MCH "thing" is what attracts me. The quality difference between hirez and RBCD is small compared to the difference between stereo and MCH.

SACD specifiation (Scarlett book) requires stereo (with MCH being optional).

http://www.sonopress.co.uk/fileadmin...0on%20SACD.pdf

BTW, I agree about MCH, if SACD/DVD-A doesn't have it then I'm not really interested.

Seems I was wrong about that the stereo tracks are mandatory, but there are MCH SACD with no stereo tracks: http://www.sa-cd.net/faq#discs7

Those discs do not conform to official SACD protocols just as the "CD" side of the Dual Discs did not conform to "Redbook" standards. They are DSD and they play in SACD players (though I don't think they play in 2 channel only players as I've never seen or heard of a player that can downmix a MCH SACD track to 2 channels--players are designed to have access to the 2 channel layer that is expected to be there).