I guess thats an unknown, John. In fact, nothing in the announcement said it would be 5.1 either. But it damn well better be
FWIW, I have the latest Redbook remaster of TITA, and I did an informal, un-scientific comparo with the 2CH SACD track. FWIW, I really did not hear much of a difference at all.
The sonics on the Redbook are not that great, and the SACD sounded very, very similar to my ears. I even have an original vinyl LP, and via a decent TT (Rega P2) it sounded about the same too, as far as the frequency balance. If TITA were only a 2CH SACD, I would have been very disappointed.
But the 5.1 mix.....now thats a horse of a different color. definitely worth the price of admission for me.
Side note: Last week at my local Best Buy, I cruised by the hi-rez section, and a fellow had TITA in his hands. I looked over and said that is a killer disc. I mentioned that I have been a fan since the early 70's and the SACD in 5.1 made TITA sound fresh again. I asked if he had a full surround rig, and he looked at me kind of funny, like he had NFI that this was a 5.1 disc. Methinks he thought he was just buying a remastered CD. Oh well.
BGL
