Thought I would balance up the thread a little with some recent Bluray purchases:
The SDE Shop have just announced the 40th Anniversary release of Dire Straits Brothers In Arms on exclusive Bluray - Atmos, 5.1 and Hi-Res Stereo on the disc - My Pre-Order is in, get yours before it sells out as this will probably sell out really quickly.
This album is what got me into CDs in 1985, it was the go to demo album to showcase CD back in the day.
I just got that on SACD a few weeks ago, it’s quite an excellent recording and mastering.
Just got these three audio Bluray this week. They are each quite excellent, I’m really enjoying this format, sound quality is top notch - along with SACD and DSD files, the best replay in my system.
The Alan Parsons is quite interesting, as I also found a DSD download a while ago. The DSD is superb, and has more emphasis on the bass than the Bluray. The Bluray has more clarity and detail and the soundstage is much more open - which suits the orchestra sections nicely. Different mastering it seems, both lovely, but different.
The Steven Wilson is a great recording, but crikey, The Pineapple Thief is reference quality.
So having determined that Bluray audio, SACD and DSD are the best sources for me, a little disappointing that more is not available considering how much better it is.
@MoonDrifter, I was wondering whether you can help me with a numpty question please? The Alan Parson audio Bluray I posted above has two versions, described as “a new 5.1 surround sound mix by Alan Parsons and a high-resolution remastered original stereo mix has hit the streets”. In the menu you can select either the stereo version (LPCM 24/96) or the 5.1 version (Bitstream or 5.1 LPCM 5.1). As I understand things, the stereo version is a remaster and the 5.1 version is a new mix as well. I have played both using the stereo and 5.1 LPCM versions, and they sound very different. Is this usual, and if I am choosing the 5.1 LPCM am I right in understanding that the 5.1 mix is down mixed by my CXUHD to a stereo stream - in which case I can choose which one I prefer? Do other audio Blurays have these options?
In my experience if you select the 5.1 version that is what is output by the Bluray Player on its HDMI or 5.1 analogue outputs from a player that has these.
Thus its the 5.1 mix you will be listening too regardless of what you have the Bluray Player connected too, so the player wont downmix the audio.
Noting that 5.1 mixes are very different to stereo mixes so will sound very different if your only listening to the front left and right of the 5.1 mix on your streamer/stereo amp.
The stereo mix obviously is pure optimised stereo so on a stereo only playback system that should sound perfect as its mixed for stereo only and quite often on Bluray discs you get a Hi-Res stereo mix so even better.
I have not tried just listening to front left and right channels of a 5.1 mix on my stereo system, I would imagine it would sound quite strange depending on how the 5.1 was mixed at the studio.
For your system I think you will always get the best sound sticking with the stereo mixes on the discs.
All regular Bluray audio discs (concerts and albums) normally have a stereo and 5.1 and/or now ATMOS tracks so depending on your home set up you choose the audio track to suit the system you are playing it on be it stereo, 5.1 or ATMOS.
The exception to this is the original (2012-2015) Pure Audio Bluray discs which are normally only stereo, often with a choice of stereo tracks e.g LPCM, DTS HD Master Audio or Dolby True HD.
In the last couple of years The SDE Shop and Warner Music have been releasing Pure Audio Bluray discs with stereo and 5.1 and/or ATMOS tracks.
I’ve seen the Brothers 40th options. I’m wondering what version/ mix of the album they’re using across the formats?
Is This what you mean @Jamiewednesday ?
Five audio streams on the Brothers in Arms SDE exclusive blu-ray:
2022 Dolby Atmos Mix (48/24)
2022 Dolby Atmos Instrumental Mix (48/24)
2005 5.1 Mix (96/24)
1985 CD Version Stereo Mix (96/24)
1985 Vinyl Version Stereo Mix (96/24)
Nope I mean, they had BiA, then remastered BiA, have they done any others? And which is this release?
As far as i know, there is BIA and BIA Remastered as you mentioned, then there was a hybrid SACD released as a 20th Anniversary edition and now the forthcoming Blu-ray disc that I posted above. But I’m no expert.
I would be pretty confident that the 2005 5.1 24/96 mix would be the same as that on the 20th Anniversary SACD as that was already readily available.
The two stereo mixes explain themselves, both from 1985 so not the later ReMaster, otherwise Im sure they would of advised that thay had provided that mix on the Bluray disc but they have not.
I hit a bit of a snag that I hope you can help me with @MoonDrifter - probably user error on my part. To recap, I have the CXUHD HDMI audio connected to the HD11AU and coaxial output to my ND555, enabling me to get the higher resolution LPCM and SACD audio. All works fine for that.
For the TV I have the CXUHD audio/video HDMI output connected to the TV, and the TV optical output connected to the ND555, this always worked with any bluray or 4K audio output. But I tried a regular 4K movie today and the 7.1 mix wouldn’t play properly through the HD11AU for the reasons you explained. When I tried the usual TV optical out to the TV I wasn’t getting any sound at all. I have now connected a second optical out from CXUHD to the ND555 and that solves the problem for the 7.1 movie. I didn’t have this issue before when I just used the coaxial out from the CXUHD to the ND555, the 7.1 mix would play in full stereo (there is only one mix on this particular disk). I expect this is because I am using both HDMI outputs on the CXUHD? Should I be using the HDMI output from the HD11AU to the TV, rather than the audio/video HDMI output on the bluray? I find the HDMI connections confusing!
There should be no problem using both HDMI outputs from your CXUHD at the same time, one straight to the TV and the other to your HD11AU, I do this on my Panasonic 9000 Bluray Player and it works fine.
Optical Cables have a bandwidth limitation so can only pass through basic Dolby Digital 7.1 or DTS 7.1 so no Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD Master Audio or DTS:X etc, which require the higher bandwidth of HDMI, so check your movie disc audio to ensure that’s not the problem, but you say the optical from CXUHD straight to the ND555 works OK, so maybe not that problem.
Also check your TV digital output settings are correct and will pass-through the basic 7.1 to the optical output, sometimes that is the problem, assuming your TV spec has that functionality.
However, when playing discs, I would just use the HDMI to HD11AU to ND555 connection to get the sound straight off the disc and not try to route it via the TV and it’s optical output and just use the optical from TV for TV Apps and regular TV channel sound to your ND555.
Your ND555 wont process 7.1 and will only process stereo, so check the TV digital output settings and make sure it is down-mixing the 7.1 to stereo, also your CXUHD might have a down-mix setting to stereo that you can activate also for your current set up.
This is where I’m getting unstuck, it’s only sending through the L & R channels via the HF11AU. If I use the optical output from the CXUD to the ND555 I get the full audio mix but in stereo.
In that case the CXUHD must be down-mixing the 7.1 to stereo only and outputting it on optical or coaxial for that to work with your ND555, where-as the HD11AU has not got the internal processing to do that and will just pass-through the audio signal from it’s HDMI input, which is obviously fine for stereo content (which is all I use it for) but not so good for basic 5.1 and 7.1 content, unless your going into an AV device that can process the 5.1 or 7.1 like an AV Processor or AV Amp/Receiver.
Found this used copy whilst looking for an old original LP record and couldn’t pass it by. Technically a CD, being an “Ultradisc II” as a MOFI Original Master. On-line reviews rate this as the reference version. It sounds fabulous with a massive dynamic range. Anyway, yet another format to add to my collection.
