What are your most recent Hi-Res purchases? - Page 225

Looking forward to your "review". I'm confident you will like it!

Jeff,

But then you would be missing out on all those excellent stereo SACDs waiting for titles in 5.1 to be released . I have all the Patricia Barber SACDs and they sound outstanding. Not buying stereo SACDs is not going to push the powers to be to release more 5.1 titles IMO. Didn't you really like the Friday Night in San Francisco SACD?

Bill

My rig is a 2.0 rig, and I also have a headphone rig, so for me stereo SACDs are great, that's all I ever hear!. That's one reason I'll sometimes opt for the HD tracks download if available over high prices used. It depends on the mix so I usually check computer audiophile.com to see what those guys say about a mix/resolution before purchasing. For normal prices I'll definitely go the sacd route.

Wow, given I want that sacd that much I decided to go ahead and purchase from music direct. I got a shipping estimate of 2.66 this morning. Well I've never purchased from them so I had to sign up for an account. Went through the process and behold it updated the shipping costs to 10.60???

I deleted the cart contents and sent them the following note:

"I was purchasing the new Patricia Barber SACD. When it gave shipping estimates it was 2.66, which sounded like a reasonable usmail shipping fee for something the size of a cd. During checkout once an account was signed up for the shipping costs went to 10.60 by fedex??? That's just a blatant rip off so I deleted the cart and will from now on always shop elsewhere. "

Its availabe for purchase direct from mofi, but there shipping costs are also 7 bucks. I'll definitely wait on import cd or amazon.

I generally agree with you and rarely buy a non-MCH SACD.

The market is so marginal that I, unfortunately, have to agree with you regarding the effect of holding out for MCH on future productions. However, having made more than a few comparisons of 2ch SACDs and redbook counterparts during the past decade, I've decided that unless it is A) a new mix and/or B) reasonably close in price to the CD and/or C) it contains previously unreleased material of interest, I opt for the CD. My primary reason for getting into SACD/DVD-A was for MCH recordings. Second reason was for additional material available on them not found elsewhere. Third reason was potentially better SQ. YMMV

Steven Wilson's 5.1 remix of the 1st ELP album on DVD-A is IMO absolutely beautiful...especially "Take a Pebble" and "Lucky Man". It's a shame that some original multitracks were missing, "Tank" and two of "The Three Fates" are omitted but there's some extras included in the 2.0 remix that help compensate for this. Looking forward to getting the SW 5.1 remix of "Tarkus" soon.

I did/do, but the live and acoustic nature of the original recording comes through nicely in hi-res. Many others, while better than redbook, are disappointing. Admittedly, it is my tastes and I always include an "IMO" in my posts dinging simply remastering and not remixing. I still have two ELP packages to evaluate that will step through original stereo CD, remixed stereo CD and remixed stereo hi-res.

Jeff

Jeff,

I agree that the Friday Night in San Francisco SACD does sound quite good. I have many other stereo SACDs that were recorded live and in the studio that also sound outstanding IMO. Some of these I have compared to the RBCD versions and others I have not. I have a number of multichannel SACDs that I feel do not sound that great due to the way they are mixed. Jeff Beck's Blow By Blow SACD comes to mind as the worst IMO. When I first played the BBB SACD I couldn't believe JB's guitar was playing out of the surrounds on a few tracks . So for this SACD I listen to it only in stereo. But as you say it is all a matter of opinion and preference .

Bill

My ears thank all of you, my wallet curses all of you! I've been on a sacd/dvd-audio spree for several months. I just ordered Opeth's Blackwater Park legacy edition, because it features a 5.0 surround sound mix. I also recently received NIN A Downward Spiral sacd and Black Sabbath's first album (quad mix). Wish there was more metal, hard rock and alternative surround sound albums available.

Slightly off-topic: Has anyone picked up Alice in Chains or Nirvana's MTV unplugged DVD's? They sound really nice...
Edited by gloco - 1/14/13 at 7:30am

NIN also has With Teeth. I believe some of Trents side projects and soundtracks are also available in 5.1.

Give the Porcupine Tree albums a listen if you haven't already most of their stuff is available in M/C as this is Steven Wilsons band.

Most of the Depeche Mode catalog has been redone in 5.1 if you are into old school.

The Basement Tapes Stereo SACD

I also happened to notice they are selling Hotel California Japanese MCH SACD now for those of you that don't already have the DVD-A or SACD. I haven't listened to the Japenese issue but the DVD-A from a few years ago is spectacular. If they are similar recordings, the price is very reasonable for the SACD.

BTW, I think it is amazing that they can be selling Led Zep I in 200 gram vinyl for $180.00!

Death Cab for Cutie, GodSmack, Oasis, 3 Door Down, Keane are a few alternative disc out there in Hi Def. There are a few folks here with Alice in Chains, I hear that it's not the best recording, but if you're a fan it should be in you're collection.

I've been waiting on MTV to release Nirvana's Unplugged on Blu Ray for a very long time, but I'm running out of hope on that, I'm not sure what's the deal if it has something to do with Dave G and Courtney L, or what but that would be a killer disc if it was done right.


Djoel

Thanks for the tips, guys! I'll look into some of those bands and see what I dig up. I'd love to get my hands on more DM discs (I have two of the old school ones I believe).

The DM disc sound great, they're music is perfect for surround format with lots of surround speaker action. I was lucky to grab a few when they were originally release, I think I had to order them from China or Japan at a decent price.

GL

DJoel

Yea I think I had to import all the DM SACDs from the UK as I don't believe the US releases had the SACDs in them. I got all nine of them as they were released.

So mad I missed out on a "good deal" on Keb' Mo' Just Like You today. I was bidding on ebay and here in New York (on business) I couldn't get a signal on my phone to up my bid near the end of the offer period. Got outbid by one lousy dollar. I hate it when work interferes with my passion for music!

Sorry Steve about the missed auction especially when it's a sort after shinny disc like this one , it has happen to me too many times to count....And yeah works suck, it keeps me from getting a few extra hours in for music listening.

Dan

How about those DM versions on Amazon where there appears to be a DVD disc with the album in DD/DTS: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ESSTL0/ref=gno_cart_title_1

I went ahead and grabbed violator from the above link.
Edited by gloco - 1/15/13 at 7:17am

These are a good alternative if you don't want to pay the higher prices for the SACD equivalent.
The sound on the DTS disc is VERY GOOD and some in the past have claimed it sounds as good as the SACD.
I personally prefer the SACD version but the DTS version really does hold it's own.
Generally the DTS version is less expensive than there SACD counterpart, but the prices have really gone up on some of the more sought after titles

Thanks for the fast reply. Yeah, I figured let me bite the bullet and take a chance. Can't wait to hear Violator in surround sound!

I agree and have a theory that material that is compressed and limited by design doesn't improve (much) with the wider bandwidth and dynamic range of MLP/DSD. Not to take a swipe at anyone's musical taste, but my eyes roll back a bit when I read about heavy metal being available on SACD/DVD-A. I love Foreigner and have Foreigner 4 in hi-res surround, but I have no thoughts about how much better Mick's guitar sounds.

I have avoided Jeff Beck's BBB because of the comments on the SQ.

Jeff

Great avatar Jeff.

Dan

You got that right. I can feel the warm wind blowing and hear the surf crashing on the beach .

Bill

Had lunch there yesterday. El Merkadito del Mar in Puerto Morelos. Nothing is hi-res suround like real life.

Jeff

Excellent, enjoy ! I took a walk on the beach yesterday as it was 55' up here in So. Maine. But as hard as I looked I didn't see any palm trees .

Bill

Well I just returned from an exquisite lunch at the El Pollo Loco in Beautiful Downtown Burbank, and no palm trees in sight as well .

Blow by Blow was one of the first SACDs I ever bought, got it at BB when they actually used to carry a handful of them in the mid 2000's.
Haven't listened to it for a while, but I do remember the guitars being in the rear surrounds...I always thought George Martin did a nice job producing that album, especially like the orchestral arrangements on "Diamond Dust" and "Scatterbrain". Speaking of personal taste and preference, I also appreciated the Fender Rhodes playing of Max Middleton being mixed up in the front L & R (with the stereo panning tremolo effect) because I'm a keyboard player, but I can understand how that could be annoying to others.
Jeff I would be interested in your impressions re: ELP and Tarkus when you get around to it, or if anyone else has picked these up. Thx.

Hmm, i dunno, I have heard some pretty good Heavy Metal albums. Opeth's albums come to mind along with some of the early Ozzy solo albums. There's plenty of stuff out there deserving of the MCH treatment. have you ever heard Metallica's Black Album on DVD-A? To my ears it sounds great.

Non-Metal related: Several years back (2004-2005?) I attended the Stereophile show at the Hilton in midtown Manhattan and one of the rooms had these insane speakers. Very expensive and they sounded great, with the typical audiophile Jazz, Blues or Classical song.. The staff were Asian and very friendly. I listened to some other music before asking the male rep to play a song from Dave Matthews' solo album, Some Devil, track titled "Oh" You shoulda saw the look on the male rep's face...his jaw dropped and he was like "Wow!" And yeah, he wasn't kidding. It sounded magical. He quickly asked me for the name of the album and artist and of all things, which studio was the album recorded in.

So, I know some audiophiles put stock in only Jazz, Blues and Classical music, but there's a whole world of Popular music out there that is just as well-recorded and enjoyable as any other genre.

There's not a ton of MCH metal out there but Metallica/Black and Queensryche/Empire are decent discs. I have both of the Joe Satriani SACDs and Strange Beautiful Music is pretty incredible and not too heavy (but pricey and hard to find). The Godsmack acoustic release is an outstanding disc but also commands a high price. As mentioned the Alice In Chains disc is fairly awful as is the Ozzfest release. Some of the Porcupine Tree discs can get pretty heavy at times and are excellent, if that's your cup of tea.