[Phil A]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA3uNsqTc_s     I haven't tried the headphone mix since I'm not a headphone user but the speaker mix was really cool.

[Housteau]

I downloaded the 192 speaker mix.  I found it ok.  My system naturally creates a very broad soundfield in width, depth and height with good recordings.  With most of these downloads I found the presentation sounding a bit forced trying to be expansive at the expense of detailed center fill.  In listening to my own files I find them just as expansive, even more so on the good ones and more fleshed out across the entire arc in front of me. 

My room is 21 x 25 x 12' cathedral peak and I listen in a 9' equilateral triangle.  The presentation is wall to wall across in an arc coming towards me along those side walls.  As I am writing this I am streaming the new Tangerine Dream Raum, which does this rather well.  Of course a bad mix is still a bad mix with very little of this magic happening.   

[Phil A]

The instructions talk about the (60 degree) equilateral triangle set-up of one's speakers as being ideal.  Mine is close to that.  It was definitely a bit more more than ordinary stereo.  I do have many excellent recordings with great soundstages.  I would have liked if he made a sampler of some of Chesky's really good recordings in both original and new formats.  Would be much easier to compare.  I also have a modded Carver C-9 Sonic Hologram Generator in a spare 2-channel system.  Due to being busy with other things, I haven't gotten around to listen to it tons.  At some point, I may give that more of a try.  I'm not a headphone user so I haven't tried that mix.  A friend of mine is and I'll let him give it a try.

[HAL]

Phil A,
Thanks for posting this!  Downloaded them and will give both a listen. 

[Housteau]

  I'm not a headphone user so I haven't tried that mix.  A friend of mine is and I'll let him give it a try.

I am not either and mostly for the reason that he highlights is the video.  If those headphone recordings can actually move the image to more in front of the listener, then that could be a big game changer for many.

[newzooreview]

I also found the mixes for loudspeakers to sound processed and muddied a bit in the high frequencies that would otherwise be providing stereo soundstage cues. There are a lot of good stereo recordings that don't use any DSP and that achieve a better and more natural soundstage in my system.

I got the impression that this DSP processing might benefit systems that are not reproducing accurate spatial cues. The M3 Sapphires, and I assume a number of other good speakers, are terrific at providing the spatial cues in the recording.

It seems as if the DSP processing is using frequency-specific phase shifts to bring spatial cues down into lower frequency ranges (e.g., ≤15kHz), and attempting to make these cues less susceptible to the typical degradations in the playback stream. The result for many audio systems would be imaging that the system previously wasn't able to reproduce, while for more capable systems (that already reproduce the "fragile" spatial cues) the result is not as good as a good stereo recording without processing. That is all just a wild-a$* guess, but the recording definitely sounded off on my system.

[WGH]

I also found the mixes for loudspeakers to sound processed and muddied...

The Chesky Sampler didn't sound good on my stereo either. My overall impression was like listening to a QSound mix with a metal bucket over my head, interesting but not in a good way.
JRiver doesn't play well with .wav files so I converted to .flac and edited the ID Tags to add track info and a cover photo. Right click on photo and Save Image as... for your copy


 

Raum, the new album by Tangerine Dream sounds more spacious or, for that matter, anything by Yello.




The gold standard for a recording with space is Andreas Vollenweider's 1982 album Caverna Magica - (...Under The Tree - In The Cave...)

[DavidS]

based upon this sampler I downloaded the Aayushi Karnik album.  Never heard her before but oh my gosh.  Vocally there is some Ricki Lee in her blues phase.  Best if all she is a guitar god - goosebumps like I got first time I heard Hendrix, of course a little Stevie Ray and no doubt some Jimmie Page.  Great sound although needs to be cranked a bit to get the full goodness.  And about $10 to download in three formats (have to get my headphones working) - great deal and recommended if you are into blues guitar and a unique voice.