Three new sacds and all sonically great

Ears · « **on:** 16 Sep 2003, 05:25 am »

Picked up three new sacd's yesterday and all three sound fantastic.
The first everyone already knows about DSOTM...which is by far the best version of this recording I have heard.

The second is "Steve Earle"Guitar Town' which is not my favorite Earle recording but never the less, sounds fantastic.

The third is Joe Satriani "Strange beautiful music" which is his best stuff since "Surfing with the alien" imo and offers some of the best sacd sonics available.

All listening was done in two channel only, even though DSOTM and Satriani are multi channel.
My 963sa is getting ready for open heart so I had to get by with my Modwright 9000 es.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 Sep 2003, 09:25 pm »

Strange Beautiful Music is a great SACD & a super album. I have the CD & the SACD, and I definately prefer the MC version to the stereo. Personally I think the his previous one, Engines of Creation, was a little better album, but the SACD version is just stereo. That's a shame, because that's a disc that begs to be opened up into MC.

Ears · « **Reply #2 on:** 6 Oct 2003, 12:37 pm »

Rob, if you took the rave music off the Engines of creation it might be a good sa-cd

Anyway, i bought two more that have great sonics.

The first is Allison Krauss Live double sa-cd...some of the best acoustic sonics ever recorded live.
The second is the Police Every Breath You Take,,,The Classics...I bought this because I wanted to hear the difference in the original and sa-cd on the Police individual alblums.

This discs sonics are much better than the originals whith a soundtage 4 feet outside my speakers and a cleaner more detailed sound.

Ears · « **Reply #3 on:** 6 Oct 2003, 12:57 pm »

Amost forgot to Mention Bob Dylans Blood On The Tracks on sa-cd.

This disc is superior to the cd version and worth buying,if you like Dylan....and maybe even for those that don't.

JoshK · « **Reply #4 on:** 6 Oct 2003, 01:08 pm »

Agree w/ the Satriani and DSOTM, great stuff for SACD!

I recently had bought that Steve Earle (not on SACD) and I didn't care for it at all.

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #5 on:** 7 Oct 2003, 12:22 pm »

Quote from: JoshK

I recently had bought that Steve Earle (not on SACD) and I didn't care for it at all.

I had always heard/read how great "Guitar Town" is, but it never appealed to me either. I re-listened after hearing Shawn Colvin's version of Earle's "Someday," but still the original never did anything for me.

Of course, many people love the album.

MaxCast · « **Reply #6 on:** 7 Oct 2003, 12:48 pm »

I've had Blue Man Group - Audio for two weeks. Just got to listen to the first three tracks last night.

Pretty cool.

Ears · « **Reply #7 on:** 7 Oct 2003, 02:40 pm »

Guys, I probably was not clear enough but all my reccomendations are sonics first.
SA-CD, like every other format has some releases that don't sound much better than cd.
You can pretty much count on any new material released in SA-CD to sound fantastic but some of the older releases from the 80's back are questionable.

As far as Steve Earle...his music is not for everyone but I reccomend "Copperhead Road" "El Corazon" and "Transcindental Blues"which are all either great sonic redbook or vinyl recordings and all Grammy nominated I believe.

I don't like Diana Kralls music as it sounds like a lounge singer to these ears but yet she seems to be popular among audiophools and I imagine her SA-CD sounds fantastic sonically.

I am sick of Aerosmith tunes from growing up in the 70's but all there SA-CD's "Toys in the Attic" "Rocks" and "Oh Yeah.ultimate hits" are a sonic improvement over redbook and worth buying if your into there music.

I would like to hear some other reccomendations based on sonics from others before buying or re-buying music on any hi rez format. and this is why I started this thread.

While not exactly a format, I am interested in hearing opinions on Dire Straits XRCD release of "Brothers in Arms" and where to buy it as it is one of my favorite all time recordings.

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #8 on:** 7 Oct 2003, 02:50 pm »

Ears,
your post was clear enough; I think Josh & I were just making some tangential comments about Steve Earle musically (and personally). Not really any disagreement with what you posted.

PeteG · « **Reply #9 on:** 7 Oct 2003, 02:57 pm »

Quote from: Ears

Amost forgot to Mention Bob Dylans Blood On The Tracks on sa-cd.
This disc is superior to the cd version and worth buying,if you like Dylan....and maybe even for those that don't.

I've been listening to Freewheelin & OH Mercy, these SACD's have
amazing sound quality.

-Pete

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #10 on:** 7 Oct 2003, 07:38 pm »

I haven't heard the XRCD of Brothers In Arms, but it would be hard to imagine how it could sound better than the recent Warner remaster. It sounds like a brand new album, and the other albums get the same treatment. It you don't have it yet, run, don't walk, to the nearest record store and pick it up.

Thump553 · « **Reply #11 on:** 8 Oct 2003, 01:15 pm »

Reading through this post makes me long to get a SACD player.

About Steve Earle, I've grown to absolutely love his music. My first introduciton was Guitar Town. I was not all that impressed with it, it sounded like an ok/average album. Isn't it funny how three of us here had almostly exactly the same opinion about an album that got nearly universal critical acclaim? He has developed into a great and quite varied artist though. My personal favorite is Transcendtal Blues, followed by the live album and Copperhead Road. Jerusalem, his last studio album with the controversial song (John Walker's Blues) on it, was somewhat of a letdown for me. He is supposed to be releasing another live album real soon, if its not already out.

Speaking of Dylan, I would absolutely love to hear Blonde on Blonde with improved sonics.

Ears · « **Reply #12 on:** 9 Oct 2003, 03:37 am »

Quote from: Rob Babcock

I haven't heard the XRCD of Brothers In Arms, but it would be hard to imagine how it could sound better than the recent Warner remaster. It sounds like a brand new album, and the other albums get the same treatment. It you don't have it yet, run, don't walk, to the nearest record store and pick it up.

I picked up On Every Street in the latest remastered version which sounds quite a bit like the last Warner remaster .. which is to say it sounds great for redbook imo.

I have heard German and Japanese remasters of Love over Gold that were better than the Warner remaster but these are hard to find.

Thump, I have the first Blond on Blond sacd release and it is an improvement over redbook but some of the latest releases of 15 Dylan alblums including Blond on Blond are are 2/multi channel whith a cd layer and this version I have not heard.

Greg

MaxCast · « **Reply #13 on:** 9 Oct 2003, 11:06 am »

Thump, may I suggest you go out and get yourself an inexpensive universal player. I will also suggest the Pioneer 563. The $170 is nothing compared to the discs you will enjoy in 2 or multi-channel.

Vedric · « **Reply #14 on:** 21 Oct 2003, 08:59 pm »

Dont waste your time with the XRCD of Brothers In Arms. I have both the Warner remaster and XRCD. The XRCD is clean but thin.. pumped up treble or something. The Warner remastered CD is better. In fact all of the Warner remastered Dire Straits is worth owning if you're a fan of the band.

Vedric

SWG255 · « **Reply #15 on:** 1 Nov 2003, 09:49 pm »

Hi,

I have a dumb question based on record company or record store paranoia. How does one recognize that a disc from a commercial label like the Warner Dire Straits discs, is a remastered version?

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #16 on:** 2 Nov 2003, 03:35 am »

The Dire Straits discs are all very well labelled as remasters and they're packed in clear jewel cases. All the originals were in standard jewel cases.

I do have the entire DS back catalog remastered, and I can honestly say they're among my absolute favorite bands. If you could only have 3 of them, I'd say the best are Love Over Gold, Brothers In Arms and On Every Street. Not that the rest aren't great, too, just that those 3 are my faves.

I'm glad to hear that the new Warner remasters are the best sounding; you'd expect that they would be given the newness of them and the care lavished on them. True Redbook reference discs.