Police "Every Breath you take" Hybrid SACD (1 Viewer)

[Dave Isham]

On the Every Breath You Take disc I'm hearing a mechanical click at the :20 second mark on track 5 'Don't Stand So Close To Me'. It's on both the cd layer and SACD stereo layer (can't check the multi channel mix on my current player)

Is this a disc defect? The click is pronounced and abrupt, seems to be completely removed from the source. I wonder if it's audible on anyone else's disc.

Otherwise the disc sounds great. SACD layer shows a marked improvement is resolution compared to the cd layer. The early stuff is especially good.

Tracks from Ghost in the Machine however make me wonder if this was a concept album (where Sting is THE Ghost in the machine) vocals are far back in the mix and quite diffuse. I'm aware that it's a representation of the master tape, but wonder if they look back on the mix with regret...

I'll definately be purchasing the first three disc on SACD...

 

[Al B. C]

I have some mixed feelings on this disc.

I picked it up yesterday for $11.99 at Fry's so the price was certainly right. Some of the tracks sound great and others are simply OK, but on the whole I feel like it's really lacking in the bass department. Even "Walking On The Moon" sounds empty to me. At first I blamed the lack of bass on me getting used to my new speakers, but after I listened to this disc twice, I popped in another SACD and belive me there was no problem with the bottom end.

Is this just my ears deceiving me or does anyone else feel the same?

 

[Chris_Eff]

I have to actualy compliment the Best Buy in my area. Before I went there yesterday I checked their website to see if they carry it. It was 11.99 on the site as a CD but at the bottom they noted that it was an SACD hybrid. I went to pick it up and I found it in the normal CD section (not SACD in back) for 15.99. I asked them to match the website and they did. So I walked out with a great hybrid for 12 bucks.
I was not wowed by the redbook side as it seemed kind of soft and I noticed some hissing in the background on Roxanne but it still sounded nice in the car. I was very impressed with the multichannel but disappointed in the stereo in that Wrapped Arround or King of pain (sorry only got to listen for a little bit last night) lyrics sounded drowned out by the music. I will listen more tonight. Overall I am very happy with a great cd for the road and a multichannel music selection.

 

[Matt Birchall]

The Dark Side SACD is listed in the computer as belonging in the SACD section, so regardless of the fact that its a hybrid, corporate wants it to go in the SACD section. The Stones hybrids were not listed as belonging in the SACD section, so they technically belong in the regular CD section with the rest of the Stones catalog, even though they're hybrids. This is more about the inconsistency of corporate's listings, and not about the failures or incompetency of the local employees.

The Every Breath You Take was the only Police remaster I saw yesterday, and they were listed as belonging in the SACD section, so that's where we put 'em.

 

[Rich Malloy]

This is more about the inconsistency of corporate's listings, and not about the failures or incompetency of the local employees.

And this is exactly what I was told by the Best Buy employee (and which I also stated above).

I'm glad to hear that some stores have apparently gone against the home office and are putting them in the CD section. It's exactly where it belongs, as this disc is the only game in town for both SACD-capable and CD-only folks. Anyone who picked up "The Classics" in the regular CD bin of my local Best Buy (Landmark Center, Boston) yesterday, got the old version. I hope they notice, I hope they're upset, and I hope they seek a return. As it stands, you have to be fully aware of what you're looking for in order to find it at a Best Buy.

Matt, I'm assuming that Best Buy isn't stocking the SACD-only Police discs because they're not very committed to the format. But do you have any idea why none of the stores received the CD-only remasters yesterday?

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I picked it up yesterday for $11.99 at Fry's so the price was certainly right. Some of the tracks sound great and others are simply OK, but on the whole I feel like it's really lacking in the bass department. Even "Walking On The Moon" sounds empty to me. At first I blamed the lack of bass on me getting used to my new speakers, but after I listened to this disc twice, I popped in another SACD and belive me there was no problem with the bottom end.

I'm not sure if this is related or not, but somebody at Hoffman's forums ripped 3 tracks from the Redbook layer, and 2 of the 3 tracks were compressed by 4db compared to the old 80s CD release. 4db less dynamic range!

I understand that dynamic range is not the only element in sound quality, but why does everything have to get more compressed these days? How about we try to make every release sound like the original master played through good equipment and just leave it alone!

Nah, that doesn't sound 'commercial' enough.

Hopefully somebody will make a CD-R from the SACD layer (via the wondrous analog hole) and let us know if that got compressed as well.

 

[Matt Birchall]

Matt, I'm assuming that Best Buy isn't stocking the SACD-only Police discs because they're not very committed to the format. But do you have any idea why none of the stores received the CD-only remasters yesterday?

Don't know--I haven't looked any of them up yet. It could be that they thought that the Singles disc would be the main one everybody would be interested in, so they got those drop-shipped, but are only going to send the regular releases in through their Best Buy warehouse shipments, which would explain the lack of them yesterday.

Could be similar to what happens every week with some "obscure" catalog DVD releases--they'll get eleventy billion of The Ring in for a Tuesday release, but none of the Das Boot: Superbit, for example.

I'll look into it the next time I work and report back here.

 

[Larry Geller]

It has more natural mix while the DTS CD is quite gimmicky in comparison.

What's this about??? Everything I have heard about the release has led me to believe that both are EXACTLY THE SAME MIXES! Is this not true? I hope it is , because otherwise I'll have to keep both.

 

[Darryl]

I get most of my music from Border's Books. I checked for the new Police releases on Monday. They had the EBYT hybrid plus all the new redbook releases in with the CDs. EBYT was in a digi-pack to match the rest of the redbook releases. They didn't have any of the single layer SACDs.

Borders puts all SACDs in with the rest of the CDs. They mark non-hybrids with an extra "won't play on a CD player" sticker, but still put them in the normal CD bins. They also carry a meager selection of DVD-A, but put them in their own section next to the DVD movies.

 

[Justin Lane]

The Dark Side SACD is listed in the computer as belonging in the SACD section, so regardless of the fact that its a hybrid, corporate wants it to go in the SACD section.

Wow, that is terrible news for this release, if probably the largest retailer of music in the United States is going to relegate a big release like DSOTM to the SACD section of their store where nobody frequents. Maybe they will change their listing before the release, but this does not look good for the single inventory, high foot traffic model of the Hybrid SACD.

J

 

[Justin Lane]

Borders puts all SACDs in with the rest of the CDs. They mark non-hybrids with an extra "won't play on a CD player" sticker, but still put them in the normal CD bins. They also carry a meager selection of DVD-A, but put them in their own section next to the DVD movies.

I will have to check out Border's again. The last one I went into (a couple weeks back) appeared to have zero single layer SACD in the CD section (or for that matter the entire store). They did begin a DVD-A section in the CD section of the store though, which is a nice move for selling Hi-res. Maybe they will eventually do the same for SACD.

J

 

[Rich Malloy]

Wow, that is terrible news for this release, if probably the largest retailer of music in the United States is going to relegate a big release like DSOTM to the SACD section of their store where nobody frequents.

It's worse than that at the Landmark Center, Boston location. I'd love to set a group of you loose in there just to see who finds the SACD section first. Not only is it mixed in with the hardware, it occupies a shelf the size of a small footlocker pushed way back behind the surrounding displays of boomboxes and whatnot so that it's only visible if you're standing right in front of it, and so low that it'll likely fly right under the radar if you're not real careful to scan the entire length and breadth of the shelf. I knew where it was, and yet I missed it the first time I walked down the aisle!

 

[John Tillman]

I was just in a Borders by me and found all the re-masters and the hybrid-EBYT, no SACD onlys.

Picked up Ghost ($9.99) but sadly, it lacks top end. Listened in my car, plenty of bass but the rest is muffled.

 

[Rich Malloy]

John, you're talking about the CD "Ghost" or the SACD "Ghost"?

 

[John Tillman]

Redbook there Rich. I want traveling music and SACD only don't travel :frowning:.

 

[John Royster]

KeithH,

On my Police box set you can hear all sorts of studio noises before and during the songs. Including some paper shuffling at the start of "Walking on the Moon".

 

[Mark All]

The Best Buy closest to my house is a little strange. They had about 20 copies of the Police's "Singles" disc in the SACD section. They still have REM's "Automatic for the People" in the SACD section (it's DVD-A). They had none of the remastered Police CDs anywhere. They had several SACDs mixed in with the DVD-A section. I found Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" there with the DVD-A (it's SACD) and bought that. So, come March 25, I'll be looking in three places in the store for "Dark Side of the Moon." I didn't pick up a copy of the "Singles" disc because I prefer the whole versions of each original album and I never could stand the version of "Don't Stand..." they remade in the mid-80s.

 

[John Geelan]

My local BestBuy (Westbury) had plenty of hybrid "Classics" SACD's in the CD section. No other Police sacd/cds though.

I also picked up REM's Document and The Who's My Generation on SACD.

Disappointed I couldn't find The Band "Music From Big Pink" in the DVDA section.

I think the new Police SACD sounds great. Nice to have a quality Multi-Channel sacd for demo purposes.

 

[KevinJ]

i haven't listened to the ebyt disc yet but the live one and zenyatta mendata are both great imho

 

[Steve Raimand]

Well I have been playing the EBYT SACD and have to say I like some of the tracks in multi-channel but not all. In some cases the mix is way to gimmicky in the rears.

Perhaps what we have is a new format that engineers are just now exploring and as with all new toys they'll get it right after a while.

Overall, it's good not great.

Interesting at my Best Buy they were just putting the CD's out in the aisles and when I asked if they had it they called it the SACD version.

What I found hilarious is they put their price sticker right over the ampersand in the sticker that states plays in SACD & CD players. Therefore it reads plays in SACD CD players. Gee I wonder how many were put back by potential customers because of that.