Hi-Res Blu-ray/CD disc set arrived today and the Blu-ray sounds very good.
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To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Acoustic Sounds they are releasing 40 albums on both vinyl (2x 45rpm) and hybrid SACD. I’m really looking forward to these, many of them have not been available on SACD before.
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I started another thread about this, but is relevant here: Steven Wilson launches MKV Virtual Blu-Ray audio:
This is a new initiative launched by Steven Wilson. There are some interesting options here, including specific mixes for headphones. I’m going to try one of the MKV formats that I should be able to download to my iMac and then access through my Blu-Ray players and HDMI de-embedder for hi-res output to the ND555. I do like this concept of buying direct from the artist and knowing the files are the best digital versions available. From the announcement:
I am thrilled to announce the launch of Headphone Dust, a new online platform dedicated to studio-quality immersive sound.
For some time, I’ve wanted a permanent home for my work where listeners can hear the music exactly as I envisage it, without compression or compromise and in every audio format available.
While I remain committed to the Blu-ray format, I know they are not practical for everyone, and physical releases often go out of print. Headphone Dust solves this with ‘Definitive Digital Editions’ which establish the MKV format as a “virtual Blu-ray,” making high-res, 5.1, and Dolby Atmos mixes as easily accessible as possible.
To celebrate the launch, an exclusive live album: Impossible Tightrope: Live in Madrid is now available. This captures the final night of the European leg of The Overview tour and includes the full two-hour show mixed in Stereo, 5.1, and Atmos. There are no plans for a physical release of this recording; it is exclusive to Headphone Dust.
Also available today is a brand new Dolby Atmos mix of The Raven That Refused to Sing, alongside high-res editions of The Overview, The Harmony Codex, and more. A new Atmos mix of Hand. Cannot. Erase. will follow soon.
What are people’s views on how some of these are created? By which I mean it looks like quite a few of these are created from stereo mixes fed into stem splitting software to create the ‘surround’ mix as opposed to getting hold of the original multi-track tapes/files. I’ve bought a few recently and the quality varies massively. I was quite disappointed by for example Prince’s Purple Rain, but found Kraftwerk’s Autobahn much better. Also Queen’s recent release of their first album was hugely disappointing, and I know they’re in the process of doing something similar for Queen II… I’m sure the original multi-tracks were MIA, and to me the stem processed sound is quite un-natural. Is it just me? 
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I have a very large collection of Music DVD’s and Blu-ray discs, with about 200 of those being Hi-Res.
I very rarely listen to the surround/5.1 tracks on the music discs, much preferring the stereo tracks, especially the Hi-Res ones.
My main problem with 5.1 music is that my rear speakers are Bi-Pole Design which were selected to optimise the sound for 5.1 Movies when they were installed 25 years ago, so are not really any good for 5.1 Music which works best with Direct Radiating Rear Speakers, according to the experts.
Obviously, technology has moved on in the last 25 years, especially in Home Theatre equipment, but my rear speakers are still great for movies, but they are not good for 5.1 music, which is why I don’t listen to it much as stereo is far superior in my system.
If the source material is not available in surround/5.1/Atmos etc, then I think its a sound quality compromise to try and make it from a stereo source only, but, I’m aware that that is what is happening with some older albums that have been and are being re-released.
For Music Concert discs, the rear sound is normally only the ambient sounds from the concert venues e.g. crowd sounds, which is pretty worthless anyway, in my opinion, as all the music is normally coming from the front in the vast majority of concert venues.
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Never heard a release like that, but I can imagine it being a bit ‘uncanny valley’. I certainly look out for references to using the original master tapes in the blurbs to these things (Dutton Vocalion are very good about it, for example).
Faith - My latest purchase from the SDE Shop in London.
@Ian_S This has ATMOS/5.1/Hi-Res Stereo which is pretty much the same for all the SDE Relesses and we are up to No.61 now, and Ive bought about 35 of them, as per my previous post, for the Hi-Res Stereo tracks.
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Back in the early seventies Quad Music was a thing and Warner Music has been re-releasing some of these albums with Hi-Res stereo tracks as well, this is my latest purchase that arrived in the post today.
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Oooh… where did that come from?
It turns out some of those 70s Quad mixes were very good - great that they’re getting a second lease of life.
Dutton Vocalion has released a lot of them in SACD: from my experience, I’d really recommend their Tomita, Weather Report and Donald Byrd discs. Busy 70s Jazz-Funk in Quad is a revelation!
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The Quad version of Dark Side Of The Moon is reputably pretty good, so a bit surprising it hasn’t had this treatment, as it is a different mix. I vaguely recall that a CD version may have been released back in the day by Alan Parsons?
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Warner Music Australia On-Line Store, they have quite a large collection of albums/discs.
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There was a DVD-Audio image on t’internet quite a few years back purporting to be the original Alan Parsons mix… It surfaced around the time Pink Floyd commissioned the SACD 5.1 mix, the rumour being Alan Parsons thought the Quad Mix was pretty good in the first place so ‘leaked’ it. It then appeared officially on the Immersive Box Set, but only in lossy DD on DVD, not on the included Blu-ray that had the SACD 5.1 mix in high res.
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I bought a number of these from rhino.com in the U.S.
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Thanks @Ian_S for the tip about Queen 1 in Atmos - somehow I missed this. Happily picked up a copy and have now played it through my full Atmos AV rig.
Thoughts - initially sounded really odd. Then I realised my amp was not set to AV and so the main speakers weren’t working! Doh. Corrected this and I was surprised that I quite liked the difference and it was certainly much easier to listen to different instruments / melody lines - eg when an acoustic guitar came in and out.
I will give it further time but it has not discouraged me from trying other discs - particularly if Queen 2 is treated the same way when re-released. I do think having dedicated Atmos speakers in the ceiling helps a lot as does the integration I have achieved between the other 5.1 Audiovector speakers in my set up. A worthwhile experiment so thanks a lot for the tip.
You’re welcome! You’ll notice the odd differences more if you compare the new stereo mix with the older one.
@moondrifter Just got my copy of Tres Hombres by ZZ Top in quad audio, however it might as well be called Tres Speakers as I’m only getting three channels, with a silent rear right. Tried my Oppo and the Panasonic 4K player, both the same, so can only assume my Arcam receiver doesn’t like the DTS-MA 4.0 stream for some reason. Ruins it though. Other Blu-ray audio’s all work fine, i.e. the rear right speaker isn’t broken! It’s a shame as I was really looking forward to that release.
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Hi Ian
The DTS-Quadio track is playing perfectly via my Denon AVC-X4700H AV Amp and it does sound very good, although I dont usually play 4.0 or 5.1 music, this disc sounds particularly very good, so the original Quad mix was done very well, plus its 24/192 Hi-Res.
Shame you appear to have a problem with it via your Arcam Receiver, are there any settings you can check/change on the receiver, assuming it plays DTS 5.1 OK on other Hi-Res music discs?