Justin_P

Koch's Kinks SACDs- Stereo or Surround?

The other day I picked up Koch's new(ish) SACD release of Muswell Hillbillies by the Kinks and was surprised to see that the back of the packaging listed the disc as having SACD stereo AND SACD surround mixes. My understanding from the information I found online (which I found to be pretty sketchy- no reviews at all of the Koch releases and very little discussion outside of this forum), I was expecting that all of them would be SACD stereo hybrid discs with no multichannel mixes at all. Looking at all of the new discs that Tower Records had in stock I found that all of the Koch hybrid SACD discs but three litsed only SACD stereo, but was very surprised to find Muswell Hillbillies, Give the People What They Want, and one other album listing surround options.

Woo-hoo, I thought, and bought Muswell, only to take it home and find only a two channel mix. I'm not disappointed in the quality of the disc at all, but I am a little dissappointed by the misleading packaging...

Has anyone else bought any of these discs that say they have surround sound options? DO any of them have surround options, or is this simply a mistake in packaging design by the folks over at Koch?

Also, I'm just kind of curious what some of the people around the forum with better ears and/or equipment than mine think of the sound quality of these discs. I liked how the disc sounded to my ears, but my ears aren't as trained as some of yours. Any thoughts?

Justin

Rachael B

Justin, it doesn't sound as good as the 2 Mobile Fidelity discs but it's a different entity and maybe can't? It's an old recording by 2-dayz standards... ....well, it is. I used to have a vinyl copy but can't find it. I might have sold it? It also might be lost in my not-alf-best-tical section. Every time I look through it I find a suprise, it seems...

I think it sounds purr-dy average for the format. Koch Records is capable of better. I got the Robert Earl Keen's A Bigger Piece Of Sky and it's some notches higher, IMO. I'll try another Kinks album or 2, proably? The Keen man's album also lists a M/C program. I'll have to try it. I hope it exists. I just got this one and have only played the stereo once, yet.

I read that Musewell's labeling was off and never bothered testing it. I wish I'd find the vinyl of it....

Rachael, the big disc cat! I used to be looking for Hi-Vision Laserdiscs & D-Theater tapes, now I'm looking for HD-DVD's and Blu-rays.

I survived the AFI top 100 Film Challenge! I've seen them all.

favourite saying: hard feelings are for park benches... sit on that!

DaveDickey

Muswell is stereo only. I also bought One For The Road and Give The People What They Want - all stereo only. Kind of a bummer, but they sound good (not as good as the MOFI Low Budget, but hey...). The CCR SACD's were mislabeled as well (I still have the "Hybrid Multichannel" stickers on the front of Cosmo's Factory and Green River). A few others have been labeled incorrectly as well. I've learned to accept such oversights from the record companies. After all, how can you expect them to get the labeling right when they don't even make a serious effort to market the format?

Justin_P

Good points...

I guess I'll plan on picking up some more of the Koch discs with the understanding that many are mislabeled and with the assumption that they're all in stereo. That's fine, I just thought Alcahol would be cool in surround. (I guess if I had enough booze and then listened to the song really loud, it sould SEEM like surround- hehehe...)

If the companies won't support the format well, what makes anyone think they'll support it right? I guess it all just goes back to something that has been said about the stagnation of both advanced resolution formats a number of times: they're failing because you have to be a rocket scientist to figure them out! I have to do so much research and poking around before I buy just about any disc, it's absurd.

A few examples:

Does this retailer even keep them in stock? (there are two Best Buys near me that haven't gotten new stock of either format in MONTHS- thank god for Fry's and Tower Records)

Do I find those hybrid SACDs in the SACD section, or in line with the artist's regular CDs? (a consistent problem at most retailers with all major SACD releases, esp. Dylan, Rolling Stones, Kinks)

Is this even an SACD? (ABKO, I'm talking about your Rolling Stones discs here)

Does this disc contain SACD stereo or SACD surround or both? (Universal seems to have worked out a good system- now if everyone else would follow)

Is the packaging even correct?! (Koch!)

Speaking of packaging, what's with these Ray Charles and Henry Mancini SACDs being in DVD-A cases? How confusing is that to Joe Consumer??

Oh what a mess, what a mess....

Maybe I'll pick up the two Mo-Fi Kinks discs. I know they're stereo, and I know how great the Aimee Mann discs sound (as well as Mo-Fi's rep for being AWESOME), so I think the occasional $25 a pop is worth while...


This is a little off subject, speaking of Mo-Fi, I have to give them and Universal Music props for their support of SACD, as well as Duetsche Grammophon and some others. Universal's October 26th slate is formidable, to say the least:

Eric Clapton - 461 Ocean Boulevard (Polydor)
Eric Clapton - Slow Hand (Polydor)
Derek & the Dominoes - Layla (Polydor)
Nick Drake - A Collection [Greatest Hits] (Island)
Elton John - Captain Fantastic (Universal/Rocket)
Elton John - Elton John (Universal/Rocket)
Elton John - Honky Chateau (Universal/Rocket)
Elton John - Madman Across The Water (Universal/Rocket)
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection (Universal/Rocket)

Now, if only I could find an online retailer that even acknowledges their existence! Oh, the saga continues!

Justin