***Official "Dark Side of The Moon SACD" Review Thread*** (1 Viewer)

[Ed St. Clair]

Greg Br,
Thanks for your review!

 

[John Milton]

Just received this SACD today and have already played it once. The clarity in the 5.1 track is superb! And to think this is coming from a non-Pink Floyd fan.

 

[John Tillman]

Whoa! Was just listening in the car after picking it up @BB. Very rangy. Something tells me this is the new reference sacd and after one listen you'll see your gear as 'stud' or 'scud'. Yea, that's the ticket, the mother of all sacd's .

 

[Jeff Adams]

I love the world of high rez audio, it has opened the door to new music. I am still pretty young and a lot of the music that I now thoroughly enjoy was made before my time. I have both sacd and dvd-audio and have come to know goups such as Neil Young,Steely Dan,Miles Davis,The Greatful Dead and now Pink Floyd. Of course I have heard of these groups before but never really got into them until I heard them on dvd-audio or sacd. I can't wait to get home to fire up this sacd.

 

[DamianA]

Listening to it now on SACD.

Reminds me of when my father used to put me and my sister between all 4 of his towers and "make us listen" to Dark side off the turntable when we were little kids...home made early quad of course.


The highs are piercing like a live concert and the bass transients are just amazingly clear... thumping in the chest with no "overhang" just like a live performance... amazing.

Just a quick question though.... is the bass in "Us and them" sound a bit distorted or has it always sounded like that and I never got such a detailed recording of it that I never noticed.

 

[KeithH]

I'm listening to the stereo SACD track as I type. At this point, I am underwhelmed. Now, I have not yet compared the stereo SACD track to the CD portion on the hybrid disc, the MFSL gold CD, or the '92 remastered CD. Still, the stereo SACD track just doesn't jump out at me like some SACDs have on a first listen. Perhaps my expectations are unusually high based on all the positive reviews I have read of this disc. Frankly, I got more of a charge from my first listen to the stereo SACD track on The Police Every Breath You Take: The Classics hybrid a couple of weeks ago. :frowning:

 

[Rob M.]

Keith-I'm glad I'm not the only one who was less than impressed by the stereo SACD track. I did A-B a few tracks with the '92 remastered CD, and, well, it's a good thing I'm a multi-channel fan. I haven't bothered with the CD layer, but based on the stereo SACD tracks, I told my brother not to bother replacing his copy of the '92 disc unless he plans on getting a SACD player soon.

I do love the multi-channel track, though. But, as far as 30 year old albums go, the Fragile DVD-A is much more impressive.

 

[Greg Br]

Ok, have now listened to all three tracks, cd, 2 channel and 5.1 sacd. IMO this disk shines in the 5.1 format much more so than the two channel. While the 2 ch stereo sacd is still better than the hybrid redbook, it does not overwelm you with the fidelity like the 5.1 mix does. In my opinion the 5.1 mix may be the best fidelity I have heard on a music cd. The cd portion of this disk is also such a upgrade from previous versions, as I stated earlier in this thread I was very impressed.

If audiophiles are buying this for the 2 channel his res they probably are not going to be taken with it as much as the general public or home theater enthusiast. I have not wandered over to audio asylum to see what the scuttlebut is, it may be interesting to hear as 5.1 is practicaly outlawed over there.

 

[Emil Stoica]

Well this album in multi-channel was very impressive to me. It brought back a flood of college memories. And I even remember some of them.

I will post a review once I have listened some more. So far, I have listened 3 times and can still not wipe the grin off my face.

 

[Justin Lane]

I'm listening to the stereo SACD track as I type. At this point, I am underwhelmed.

My thoughts exactly. I first spun the redbook layer in my truck (note: I have a pretty decent soundsystem in my truck with in dash 6 disc changer, properly crossed over speakers, a 12" subwoofer, PPI and Kicker amplification, Phoenix Gold wiring) on the ride home from the store, and was a bit disappointed with the presentation. Maybe it was just high expectations, but I thought this layer was lacking something, and had a what I would call a digital edge. Spun the stereo SACD layer at home and noticed improvement but not to the degree I expected. Still this is the best I have ever heard DSOTM sound, but not a stereo track that makes your jaw drop.

Next I listened to the multichannel, and here is where this disc earns it keep. It is now in my top five for best multichannel recordings to date. From start to finish, this track pleases and provides constant new discoveries. Having never heard the quad version of this album, I cannot give an opinion from that standpoint, but standing alone this is one of the best on the market. If you are a fan of the album and on the fence about buying a SACD player, go out and buy one already...you will not be disappointed.

Overall I have to give this release a . In a digital format, this has to be considered the definitive version of DSOTM. CD layer, Hi-res stereo and surround for 11.99 at many stores. A total no brainer.

J

 

[KeithH]

Justin, thanks for your comments. I have not listened to the surround-sound track yet, but I will do that in the next couple of days. As you probably know, I am a stereo fan, so I will listen to the stereo SACD track on the Dark Side of the Moon disc most often. I can't help but wonder if it could have been better. It sounds good, but it just doesn't jump out at me, as I said. I'll have to compare the CD and stereo SACD tracks to my other Dark Side of the Moon CDs.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/890499.asp?0cv=CB20&cp1=1

Interesting story on DSOTM from MSNBC.

 

[Greg Br]

I notice some peope underwhelmed by the stereo sacd on this disk but wasn't the main effort of the producers to make the best possible 5.1 mix, so less time and effort would have been spent on the stero track? So is this really a surprise?

 

[Walt O]

You have to remember that for the stereo mix, they used the 2 track master, which had been mixed from the original multitrack tapes, and is thus one generation down the line. For the 5.1 mix, they used the original multitrack tapes, so of course its going to sound better. If they had remixed a new stereo version from the multitrack tapes direclty into SACD, as they did for the 5.1 version, then the stereo track would sound better too. Of course, then there would be cries of blasphemy from the audio community. No matter how careful they were, the resulting stereo track would differ in some way from the original, which we have had 30 years to listen to (well, 5 for me). Unless you are willing to throw out the orignal stereo mix and make a new one, this is probably the best it will ever sound. And to think, I dont even have the disc yet. If it's better than the MoFi disc, and sounds more "real" like the aerosmith greatest hits disc (and all sacds I have heard so far), then I will be happy. Now bring on WYWH and the Wall.

Walt O

 

[Greg Br]

Justin,

When I got to the end of the 5.1 mix the one thing that came to my mind was how long for the release of The Wall. Though this disk can be listened to in 5.1 dvd video, I doubt it would reach the levels of this release(i have not watched it as of yet). WYWH would also be epic! I have a feeling this disc will do very well sales wise.

 

[Anthony Monaco]

I checked about 6 different stores in the Toronto area yesterday & could not find it. To-day I called up a place that’s out of my way (Sound City at Queen Street) & was informed that no one has it due to a major problem. That being that the 5.1 SACD mix is not 5.1 but mono. They have been recalled & new (proper) ones will be shipping out shortly. I assume that this would be an EMI Canada pressing or a lot of people are full of ...

 

[Seth_L]

Don't you Cannucks get the save versions as the US?

Seth

 

[Anthony Monaco]

That's what I thought.

 

[KrisM]

It seems to be a common thing for SACDs to be delayed in Canada. The Police hits disc was delayed, DSOTM is delayed and the Stones were delayed a long time. Kind of disappointing, but not the end of the world.
I talked to a salesman at A&B yesterday and he knew nothing about when the Floyd disc was coming out. On the bright side he looked in an EMI box and there was no Floyd, but there were TONS of Beatles Anthology discs. So at least us canucks will be getting these on time.

Regards
KrisM

 

[Rich Malloy]

I'm listening to the stereo SACD track as I type. At this point, I am underwhelmed. Now, I have not yet compared the stereo SACD track to the CD portion on the hybrid disc, the MFSL gold CD, or the '92 remastered CD. Still, the stereo SACD track just doesn't jump out at me like some SACDs have on a first listen.

Very peculiar.

In the leadup to this, I closely listened to the Mofi and the 20th Anny edition (mostly on Sunday afternoon). Actually, I spent not so much time with the 20th Anny edition because I dislike it so much, and was more than a bit worried for the SACD release since Guthrie and Sax were also responsible... nay guilty for the 20th version. But the Mofi is much better, and my previous reference.

And I briefly listened to the Mofi disc before putting on the red book layer of the new release. To my ears, the new red book layer is far superior to the Mofi. Vocals cleaner, transients faster, and midrange even more open (and this, to me, was one of the better aspects of the Mofi over the 20th Anny version).

Then I listened to the SACD stereo layer. It was a clear improvement over the redbook layer, and miles beyond the Mofi. (At this point, I'm no longer even concerned with the 20th Anny edition. To my ears, it's shit, and always has been.)

Then the multichannel... my god, the multichannel. Do I need to add any comments here?