King Crimson 2009 re-issues CD / DVD stereo/5.1 all inclusive thread (Part 2)

The 24/96 stereo "Poseidon" is mind-blowingly good on a high-end headphone system. Really exceptional. Haven't gotten around to "Islands" or the MC tracks yet.

 

How does the piano on Track 3, Cadence and Cascade sound? Seems distorted to me on the previous remaster (HDCD Holland Mini-lp cd.)

 

Pretty clean here, I'd say.

 

I still haven't played all of the possible permutations of Islands that are offered. I really appreciate not only the sound quality but the work that went into the presentation of these remasters.

 

It is not only a no, no, it is against Visa Merchant rules to bill your CC before shipment. No merchant wants to lose their Visa Merchant status - so complain, LOUDLY!

 

+1 on Burning Shed - that's for me from now on, too - great service.

As to the other guys (DGM) - if a company has a lot of problems all the time, that company IS the problem, if everybody else can do it OK, why not them? DGM burned me on the big box AND the other two releases last year - same as you - charged me two months before they finally shipped, every time I emailed them about it a different "reason". I posted about it here last year and got slammed for it

 

It was the comments here on the forum that led me to ordering from Burning Shed (rather than DGM), and I can't recommend them highly enough. Excellent service all round. I'm hoping Islands and ITWOP will be in the post when I get home this afternoon.

It just seems a bit odd that Fripp's own company does not function as well as this, given his general concern about being able to get music out as efficiently as possible. Plus their overseas shipping is quite exorbitantly expensive.

 

As I stated above, the new "Poseidon" is outstanding in stereo. I also listened to the MC mix today and was impressed by the 24/96 MLP version. Very, VERY nice!

 

It just seems a bit odd that Fripp's own company does not function as well as this, given his general concern about being able to get music out as efficiently as possible. Plus their overseas shipping is quite exorbitantly expensive.[/QUOTE]

This is puzzling me also, since he is quite involved in nearly every part of the KC operation. Maybe time to shoot him an email or two, if perhaps he isn't keenly aware of the problem. Anyway, no problem here as I go Burning Shed anyway

 

The two new ones showed up yesterday... both sound great (I've only listened to the 2 channel DVD-A tracks), but Islands is particularly stunning.

Interestingly, something strange happened with the DVD of Islands. I play DVD-As on my computer using Foobar 2k, and to do this you need to drag the Audio TS ifo file onto the playlist (from there you have to work out which tracks are which as they are not named, but it's not usually too hard). When I did this only the 24/96 tracks turned up - it omitted the 16/48 tracks (the Alternate Album and the other outtakes). I had to cue up the DVD using Windows Media Player to access these via the menu (which worked fine).

 

Are you sure the alternate album and outtakes are 16/48? I ripped all DVD-A contents and, AFAIR, everything was 24 bit.

 

Yes, they are 16/48. Tested. And it's clearly mentioned in the booklet, it's not like they're trying to hide it. I'm sure they would have put them in 24/96 if the files size wasn't a problem.

 

Sorry I insist... The "Alternate Album" and the section of outtakes called "Assorted ladies" are 24 bit regardless of what the booklet says. The only outtakes in 16bit format are the "Routes To Islands" section.

 

I re-checked these tracks and my DVD-A player indicates 16/48... weird.

 

Someone should maybe check with Neil Wilkes at QuadraphonicQuad.
He's a member there and his company Opus Productions does the DVD authoring on these KC releases.

 

The DVD-A is authored in a strange way. I used "DVD-A Explorer" to extract the audio part and all the extra stuff was 16bit. However later I also looked at the DVD-V with another ripping software "DVD Extractor" and I could find the 24bit version for most outtakes in the DVD-Video structure. I wonder if they made a mistake with the authoring software.

 

Hmmm... So it could be that the 16/48 files are on the DVD-Audio part while ironically the 24/48 ones are on the DVD-Video structure?

DVD authorig can be tricky, and it's not the first time I have experienced an error... for instance on my player, the Porcupine Tree Stupid Dream DVD-A can't play through track 3 as a DVD-Audio but plays fine in DVD-Video mode... same Hi-Res stereo tracks, just one way of reading them doesn't work properly...

 

Placed my order with BS the other day. Just out of curiosity, how long does it usually take to get here (in the U.S.)?

 

To Texas, less than a week.

 

Cool, thanks fuse999. Do they send out a shipping email by any chance?

 

Britian to Long Island NY, ordered on friday got it on thursday from Burning Shed. Wonderful!

 

Awesome. Ordered mine this past Wednesday, so hopefully by mid-week. Can't wait!

 

Yes they are one of the best companies I buy from. Very friendly, always answer emails in a timely manner. Unfortunately I only buy Porcupine Tree and King Crimson from them. Wish other companies would follow their lead of customer satisfaction

 

Just got my Amazon UK box too...I love ordering from Amazon UK...very fast shipping and significantly cheaper than Amazon Canada on most items.