Dire Straits Self-Titled SHM SACD

Sorry, I'd listen to Tonepub's opinion before yours (laughing).

Right off the top, what's in your equipment profile? Nothing! Not even a boom-box.

Further, a high-res transfer cannot make up for wrong-minded mastering.
So something done at 20 bit, 24 bit, 32 bit, DSD, none of it impresses me.
They either know how to master it well, or they don't. The latter is the most likely option.

 

Yes, he is. He will respectfully recognize he hasn't heard every offering. But he doesn't concern himself with LPs, and while each various CD pressing might have its particular merits, he simply selects one and lives with it.

Indeed. One is either a collector or one is not. Misterbritt prefers to free himself from such shackles of burden. He has now more music than he can get to. He likes to recall -- though his advanced age reduces him to paraphrase the exact wording of -- the rhetorical question: How many jet boats can a person ski behind at one time?

Misterbritt has accepted the fate that he can only ski behind one single boat at a time. He settles on the best that is available to him in that class, and lives with it.

 

Don't you listen to these things side-by side? Don't you trust your own ears??

There are a scant few ears I trust that are not attached to my head.

 

Ooh, I can barely stand to listen to GBYBR on sacd.
They managed to make it both insanely bright AND airless!!

The MFSL easily trounces that one. You must despise air, depth and scale,
all three of which the MFSL has in spades. (I'm sure this is not the case)
Find an equalizer/tone control and turn the treble up on the MFSL cd
and see if you don't change your mind on further listening.

 

Thanks!

 

Who you calling "lesser"?

 

I'm not too technologically savvy. Could you briefly clarify "made from Universal Classics 24/96 stereo PCM archives?" Is this deemed an unacceptable "master tape" or what? Anyhow, it is en route to me and I'll live with it. But I am interested in what you're getting at, even if its academic to me (us) at this point. Thanks.

 

Universal Classics, owner of Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and Philips has decided years ago to archive it's huge analogue vaults in 24/96 PCM. All their CD and SACD reissues come from these archives (and BTW the Esoteric SACDs and LPs too)

For SACD, this is suboptimal, as transferring the analogue tapes directly to DSD would be best.

The first japanese SACD reissue of the Colin Davis Symphonie Fantastique was made from the 24/96 PCM copy and is now being reissued on SHM-SACD. But in the meantime, Pentatone had reissued the same recording, captured in quad at the time, transferred directly from the analogue quad tapes to DSD.

If the quad tapes aren't shot or their transfer sucks, this will sound better than the Universal 24/96 copy. So the JSACD reissue is completely superfluous (especially at that price), unless one believes SHM pressing makes more of a difference than the quality of the source material and the A/D conversion.

 

The Elton John series seems to have transfer problems. I like some of them, they're much better than the vinyl issues. Others aren't (like the 'self titled').

It doesn't seem to be SACD's problem. No point in speculating, at least until we have more examples to compare.

 

Okay, cool. Well, we shall report when my SHM-SACD arrives. Of course, I don't have the Pentatone reissue to compare it against, but my initial understanding is this is a fabulous recording regardless. Thanks for the heads-up and the clarification.

 

Not I. I bought Aja in June, and it's still the only one I own. The Dire Straits disc is on the way to me, but only because I love the album and it's never been released on SACD before. I won't be buying all of them.

 

Likewise, having good equipment doesn't make one's assessment the law.

 

We should let Claude weigh in on this one. I had to read it a couple times myself. If Keith and I are on the same page, I might have worded it different. Something like:

Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and Philips are under the Universal Classics umbrella. Universal Classics years ago elected to archive their huge "Classics" analogue vaults in 24/96 PCM. All their CD and SACD reissues (and BTW the Esoteric SACDs and LPs too) "Classics" come from these archives.

I don't know if this is what Keith was wondering about, but they way this information was originally presented initially gave me the impression that all the Universal titles were from the 24/94 PCM vaults. Rather, it is just the "Classics," as I now understand it.

Well, let's see how this unravels as more information comes to light. Thanks again, Claude, for the information.

Indeed, I'm not buying all of the either. But if there's something I want, I'll buy it. If I already have a copy, I'll replace it. That way I don't have too much tied up in any one title.

 

I sure do (trust my own ears that is). But I used to sell the old when the new came into existence without thinking about it - thinking "it's remastered so it has to be better than the old".

I now keep everything just in case I want to pull out the "old" copy or the "new" copy, or whatever copy and see what I think, or if someone says the London CD of a specific Rolling Stones album kills the SACD, I can listen for myself and make my own judgment.

 

As do I.

Looking forward to a comparison from you of the SACD to your best CD of Dire Straits.

 

And they would be wrong in my experience.

 

So those that make their own judgments are wrong? Well if they are doing it solely based on the the cost of the disc like many here do then OK. That aside I would not trust your judgment on sound at all, the only one I do is my own. Which is something I advise everyone to do, as most in threads like this seem more concerned with justifying an expensive purchase then anything else. Even if they are trying to do their best to hide that.

 

I picked up 2 (Let It Bleed and Aja) of these and simply do not agree. I'll put the fact that they where boosted way too loud aside, the EQ was horrid and they had a dead low ceiling sound, possible due to NR but I am not sure nor do I care. To be blunt I thought the sound of the SHM-SACD's I have heard were akin to excrement. I recouped most of the high expense by selling them, but still I ended up loosing $20 when you factor in shipping, paypal costs, etc

rstamberg, nothing wrong that you like the the SHM's, SHM-SACD and mini-lp's. BUT perhaps in good conscience, given the extremely high cost of these discs, instead of definitive statements like "every one of 'em I've heard sounds really nice", you should tell people that the type of sound they feature is simply not for everyone. They are pretty much for a small subset of the community here. That way you wont have some launching "vendetta's" like the guy with the old pirates baseball card avatar.

 

Oh...it's you?

See my post on page 1 in this thread:

 

Love this place. It saves me lots of ca$h.

 

Did you ever think "the guy with the old pirates baseball card avatar" has a vendetta going against anyone who likes Japanese mini lp sleeve cds and SHM-CDs? I mean he has "avoid mini lp cds" right next to his avatar-if that isn't an "agenda" I don't know what is

 

Nice points, thanks! Regarding the Fantastique we still have Munch's first recording on SACD! Who need Colin Davis after this one ?. However, my first ever Fantastique was this one by Colin Davis and the Concertgebouw - later on i also bought his Vienna Philharmonic remake (his 3rd effort by then). What a work!

Since you mentioned Esoteric, I purchased the much loved and adored Brahms 4th with Carlos Kleiber and the Vienna Philharmonic while ago and I was EXTREMELY dissapointed from the lack of edges that objects dramatically to Kleiber's interpretative choices. 40 Euro and my DG 1st issue CD is still the winner (I do not have the "Originals" reissue). :thumbsdn:

Any other would comment on these highly expensive ESOTERIC Cds (their titles are so tempting: e.g. Mravinsky's Tchaikovsky)?

 

Good grief. What an inaccurate statement.

 

Read my sig.

It's my opinion of the sound I heard from those discs. Therefore it is totally 100% accurate for me/my ears. If you feel different that is fine, but don't try to tell me or anyone how we should feel. You have some nerve!