What Hirez Discs Have You Purchased Recently? (1 Viewer)

[jcroy]

Since most of the stuff I listen to has a bad reputation for being brickwalled to hell, I've been very reluctant about buying anything as hires downloads.

Even with stuff that was made before the 2000s, I suspected the original studio recordings might have had extensive peak limiting and compression done deliberately at either the final mixdown and/or the mastering stages. So even a "power ballad" sounds just as "loud" as the rockin type songs on the same album.

For example, I noticed a common studio trick was to use a peak limiter on the kick bass drum. Another common practice was to put the entire bass guitar through a compressor either at amplifier (ie. built-in), or applied after it is recorded through a direct box to tape (ie. bypassing the amp).

 

[Ruz-El]

At this point I wonder if the official flac 24 bit 96 khz of Nickelback's "No Fixed Address" sounds just as brickwalled as the cd version. (And "Feed The Machine" hires).

Looks like they're all the same. great resource for this stuff is

Album list - Dynamic Range DB

dr.loudness-war.info

 

[jcroy]

There may be some remixed versions of that guitar hero one out there that keeps the range but reflects the original mix version. One I have is Moderius II or something, where they tried to mix it and is pretty good though I've never A&B compared it.

The one I was listening to was called marckiii



It doesn't sound like it was mastered.

 

[jcroy]

In spite of this marckiii version sounding very flat and probably not mastered, it sounds great when I play it on my standalone stereo and differences with the brickwalled generic cd version are immediately noticable.

For example, the bass guitar is very noticable on this marckiii version while it is buried on the cd. Also there is no artificial "brightness" on the marckiii version.

 

[titch]

Managed to get my mitts on this before Acoustic Sounds ran out. Have been waiting for ages to try and find a used copy of the old Analogue Productions Jazz Samba SACD.

 

[jcroy]

I suspect the primary reason why Metallica's "Death Magnetic" earned its notoriously bad reputation for being one of the worst examples of brickwalling, was due to the existence of the non-mastered non-brickwalled version from the guitar hero video game.

Also insult to injury were the vinyl and hi-res versions which purportedly sounded almost just as bad as the brickwalled cd verison.

Kinda silly when a lossy 128kbit/s unofficial version on youtube sounds way better than the original official cd/vinyl/hires lossless versions.

 

[Paul.S]

If you can play DVD Audio, the best sounding Mahler 2 is (IMO) Zubin Mehta with the Israel Philharmonic. The organ at the end sounds like a jetliner flying over. It is a fast, driven performance like Mehta's earlier one in Vienna. The only drawback IMO is that soprano Nancy Gustafsson has too heavy a voice for the soprano part.

I just checked pricing on this and holy moly Amazon has DVD-A copies for as cheap as $4 (yes, four dollars and change). Time to check out that jetliner!

(A bit of pushback on the CD preference, DBK: There's def something to be said about surround sound and Mahler, especially for the antiphonal/off-stage ensemble parts. I liked the way this was handled in the Chailly/RCO DVD-A I just bought.)

 

[jcroy]

A question for folks who have a lot of live dvd-audio/sacd/hires/bluray-audio albums wth real surround sound.

How common are such live concerts mixes, where the rear speakers are more than just the audience cheering between songs/performances ?

 

[jcroy]

Looks like they're all the same. great resource for this stuff is

Album list - Dynamic Range DB

dr.loudness-war.info

Poking around further through this dynamic range database, there was data for two dvd-audio discs which potentially I might have been interested in back in the day.


The Metallica black album dvd-audio 24 bit 96khz 5.1 mlp looks ok.

Album list - Dynamic Range DB

In contrast, the Megadeth "Peace Sells" dvd-audio 24 bit 96khz lpcm looks like it is brickwalled to death.

Album details - Dynamic Range DB

dr.loudness-war.info

For that matter, the 25th anniversary deluxe five-disc release of "Peace Sells" had a dvd-rom disc which had *.wav files of the entire album at 24bit 96khz. It was also brickwalled to death!

Album details - Dynamic Range DB

dr.loudness-war.info

Grrrrrrrrr .....

 

[jcroy]

(Speaking in terms of hypotheticals).

In an alternate universe where dvd-audio and/or sacd had skyrocketed and displaced the redbook cd entirely in the 2000s decade, I speculate brickwalling likely still would have happened anyways. So just about every newly released rock/pop/country/hiphop album would have still sound like "loud" shit, and ultimately defeating the entire purpose/advantage of a higher resolution.

The only folks who would get any benefit from dvd-audio and/or sacd booming in such a scenario, would be the patent holders collecting royalties. The redbook audio cd patents had already expired by 1999-2000 worldwide.

 

[David_B_K]

I just checked pricing on this and holy moly Amazon has DVD-A copies for as cheap as $4 (yes, four dollars and change). Time to check out that jetliner!

(A bit of pushback on the CD preference, DBK: There's def something to be said about surround sound and Mahler, especially for the antiphonal/off-stage ensemble parts. I liked the way this was handled in the Chailly/RCO DVD-A I just bought.)

The SACD recording of Mahler 2 by the amateur conductor Gilbert Kaplan has some creative use of the multichannels for the offstage brass and the organ.

I bought some cheap DVD-As a few years ago of Mahler by Abravanel and the Utah symphony. I always thought of Abravanel's Mahler cycle as "the little Mahler cycle that could". It never got a lot of attention, and is pretty straightforward, but quite decent. #2 has good organ sonics and Beverly Sills is the soprano.

Speaking of organ on SACD, I highly recommend the Eschenbach/Philly recording of the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony. My wife loves that piece. It brought tears to her eyes when she first heard that disc.

 

[Paul.S]

I bought some cheap DVD-As a few years ago of Mahler by Abravanel and the Utah symphony. I always thought of Abravanel's Mahler cycle as "the little Mahler cycle that could". It never got a lot of attention, and is pretty straightforward, but quite decent. #2 has good organ sonics and Beverly Sills is the soprano.

I have the M3 from that cycle. They needed more rehearsal. Workmanlike, I find.

Having said that, Lenny gets a lot of attention for starting a decades-long crescendo of attention being paid to Mahler. But my understanding is that those Abravanels with, excuse me, Utah are the first commercial recordings of Mahler done in the U.S.

Funny how being drawn to a symphonic perf by a particular vocalist can sometimes be nevertheless unsatisfying even if the vocalist acquits his/herself admirably. I got the Slatkin/St. Louis Telarc M2 because of Kathleen but ended up finding--ironically, not unlike the Abravanel M3--the orchestra not as tight as they should be on several big attacks/downbeats.

 

[David_B_K]

I have the M3 from that cycle. They needed more rehearsal. Workmanlike, I find.

Having said that, Lenny gets a lot of attention for starting a decades-long crescendo of attention being paid to Mahler. But my understanding is that those Abravanels with, excuse me, Utah are the first commercial recordings of Mahler done in the U.S.

Funny how being drawn to a symphonic perf by a particular vocalist can sometimes be nevertheless unsatisfying even if the vocalist acquits his/herself admirably. I got the Slatkin/St. Louis Telarc M2 because of Kathleen but ended up finding--ironically, not unlike the Abravanel M3--the orchestra not as tight as they should be on several big attacks/downbeats.

The Utah recordings are sometimes a tad underpowered. I don't know if they needed more rehearsal or if that was as good as it could be for them. Still, I admire them for just doing it. I have that M3 on DVD-A but have not listened to it in ages. I like the Chailly RCO version on SACD. The Utah M2 has the soloists a bit more out in front of the chorus which is an interesting choice. Good organ, though.

I had that Slatkin M2 at one time. I think it was the only version on CD then. I also thought it would be a winner with those soloists. It always seemed a slack reading to me.

 

[Paul.S]

All this Mahleria inspired me to finally get a high rez M7.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I have not purchased a music cd in over 20 years! I have purchased a few records but nothing recently ether after I started having some turntable issues. Just recently replaced the cable and and getting back into listening to music again. I have a few SACD's and a few DVD-A's. I am going to search around for a copy of Dire Straights Money For Nothing on SACD. Need to get my Denon DVD/SACD/DVD-A player back in the rack so I can use it and will most likely go multi channel analog out from the player. I am under the impression that they still sell SACD albums in Japan. Is poorly mastered SACD's a problem?

 

[Todd Erwin]

I am going to search around for a copy of Dire Straights Money For Nothing on SACD.

I have that album on Dual-Disc with DVD-Audio on one side, CD on the other. It sounds fantastic!

 

[titch]

I have not purchased a music cd in over 20 years! I have purchased a few records but nothing recently ether after I started having some turntable issues. Just recently replaced the cable and and getting back into listening to music again. I have a few SACD's and a few DVD-A's. I am going to search around for a copy of Dire Straights Money For Nothing on SACD. Need to get my Denon DVD/SACD/DVD-A player back in the rack so I can use it and will most likely go multi channel analog out from the player. I am under the impression that they still sell SACD albums in Japan. Is poorly mastered SACD's a problem?

I have never purchased so many music discs, as I have during the last three years - almost all of them multichannel SACDs, DVD-audio and blu-ray audio discs. Since most people on this forum have multi-channel setups in their home for home cinema, it's actually a no-brainer to be able to experience stunning audiophile music in a completely different way. The only thing is, it's an extremely expensive hobby, as most of the multichannel SACDs and DVD-audios went out of print 15 years ago. Dire Straits Brothers In Arms multichannel SACD is one of the few that is available for a reasonable price.

See on Amazon

Discogs is also a very good source to purchase used multichannel discs.

I have all types of multichannel music, from classical to heavy metal. Even a film soundtrack or two. If you want to experience an album that will blow away anything that is available on blu-ray or 4K UHD, try Yello's Point, mixed in Dolby Atmos. Currently at the top of Quadrophic Quad's hires poll (after only being sold for three months). There is nothing in my film library that can equal that!

QuadraphonicQuad - Surround Polls

Find the best Surround Music releases on Blu-ray, DVD-A, SACD, Quad LPs and Tapes

www.quadraphonicquad.com

Point can be ordered from JPC.de in Germany at a lower price than elsewhere.

Yello: Point (Limited Dolby Atmos Edition) (Blu-ray Audio) – jpc

Yello: Point (Limited Dolby Atmos Edition) jetzt probehören und portofrei für 29,99 Euro kaufen. Mehr von Yello gibt es im Shop.

www.jpc.de

 

[Mike Frezon]

I have made some EXCELLENT high-rez music purchases recently.

I got the Beatles' several-disc set of Let It Be (including Blu-ray with Atmos and DTS-HD MA tracks).

Then I found this gem. This is a Sinatra recording which was completely unknown to me(!). A 10-track LP from 1950 which beautifully represents Sinatra's transition from the young Columbia crooner to the swingin' Capitol recording artist. It features arrangements by George Siravo. It is put out by Impex and sounds great for a mono recording of its vintage. It also has several bonus tracks tacked on to fill out some disc time.

And then I finally pulled the trigger on one of my favorite pop albums of the '70s, Cat Stevens' Teaser and the Firecat. If I had a nickel for every time I played my copy of the LP...! I have always considered it one of the best-sounding records I ever owned. The recent "Super Deluxe" CD/Blu-ray release is right in my wheelhouse. As I type this I am listening to the gorgeous Blu-ray version of the album.

I heartily recommend ANY (and all) of those three releases.

Because I had a hard time stomaching the prices of those two big, deluxe sets, I got them each on Amazon USED. The accompanying print material is nice enough, I guess...but I really wanted to hear the main events and buying used allowed me the chance to do that and cut into the price substantially. I tend to just keep the Blu or SACD of those sets easily available to myself for listening and keeping the packaging and extraneous discs tucked away.

And, of course, I have spun up my MoFi SACD of Bat Out of Hell this week. RIP Meat Loaf.

 

[Phil A]

Always forget about this thread. Probably from the list below, I've left off half of it (went crazy for a bit buying downloads)

Carmen Gomes – Ray! (24/352)

Joe Bonamassa – Time Clocks (24/96)

Robert Plant/Alison Krauss – Raise the Roof (24/96)

James Blunt – The Stars Beneath My Feet (24/96)

Eric Burden – ‘Til Your River Runs Dry (24/96)

Steve Winwood – About Time (24/44)

Youn Sun Nah – Immersion (24/48)

The Beatles – Let It Be (24/96)

Eva Cassidy – Live At Blues Alley (24/44)

Anette Askvik – Liberty (24/48)

Eric Clapton – Another Ticket (24/96)

Ry Cooder – Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (24/48)

Art Blakely – The Big Beat (24/96)

Joe Bonamassa – A New Day Yesterday (24/48)

Libertango – Point of No Return (24/96)

The Bee Gees – Timeless (24/96)

Butterfield Blues Band – The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw (24/96)

Matchbox 20 – Yourself or Someone Like You (24/96)

Emily Barker – A Dark Murmuration of Words (24/96)

Damien Rice – My Favourite Faded Fantasy (24/96)

Jeff Healey – Heal My Soul (24/96)

John Lennon – Gimme Some Truth (24/96)

Simon and Garfunkel – Live in Central Park (24/192)

Barry Gibb – Greenfields (24/96)

Norma Jean Wallace – Blueswoman (24/96)

Shirley Horn – Softly (Double DSD)

 

[Mike Frezon]

I recently spotlighted some GREAT high-rez music purchases I've made.

Here's another one! I'm on a roll!

Had to order this from Germany via Amazon.uk. Worth the wait. Beautiful PQ and SQ. And a great selection of classic tracks from Clapton and company.