Miles Davis: Which versions of Agharta and Pangaea are on the new Japanese Blu-Spec?

Blu-Spec CDs are a Japan only deal - even if they made their way to US retailers they would cost the same. They are 2-disc sets, and if you order from HMV in Japan, the more you order the less shipping costs you over your entire order.

In this last Blu-Spec order I got "Pangaea", "Agharta" and "Miles Davis at Fillmore" all for $125.00 shipped. Obviously that comes to about $41.00 each 2 Blu-Spec CD set, but if you want them go for them. Blu-Spec CDs are supposed to be limited edition issues anyway - I believe they will be sold for only 6 months from the time of release (from what I heard - although I may be wrong).

 

Try a cup of coffee. If you can't hear the difference, does it matter?

 

I've been seeing many Out Of Print Agharta and Pangaea 2006 DSD remastered SICP series Mini-LP CD's going on Ebay for around that price (50/60 USD), well some times a little more... I would still prefer these to the Blu Spec ones, even if I'd have to pay a little extra.

All the Original Jacket Collection Miles CD's sound great! I have them all, recently added the nice "piano black" box that holds all the 30 titles... gorgeous looks, gorgeous sound, original mixes... what else can we ask for these days?

(to answer a previous question, I believe they all say DSD remaster on the sticker, so I guess they are all DSD)

 

Why would you prefer the mini-jacket CDs over the Blu-Spec CDs if the master (2006 DSD) is the same, and the possibility that a Blu-Spec can? sound better than a regular CD?

 

Just for the original artwork and value for collectors

I couldn't care less for blu spec technology... I'd say that the sound is probably exactly the same.

 

If your originals were produced anywhere outside of Japan, then they have a pretty awful western mix of the records, and run the same length as the LPs. Does the artwork have a red border?

I started with those versions too, and loved them till I heard the Japanese mixes... wow. What a difference. In Miles Beyond, Paul Tingen also comments on the difference.

I have heard that Sony Japan own their own sets of masters for all of Miles' Columbia work, and don't release them to anybody, even Columbia/Legacy/Sony elsewhere in the world.

 

Yes my originals are U.S. issues and have the red border.

Are you sure about Sony Japan owning their own sets of masters for Miles' work ... since I have every Miles SACD released in Japan and most, if not all of them, IIRC, are mastered by people like Mark Wilder in NYC.

 

Thanks. This info helps.

 

What information did you believe the link added? I didn't see anything more than the fact that there is unreleased music from those concerts. People have been clamoring for a box set of this stuff for years, that's nothing new.

As for the claim of superior mixes and mastering, I'd be interested to read Tingen's book but I'm not interested enough to buy it.

 

Sorry, I meant for the stuff that was released in Japan first (like Agharta / Pangaea / Dark Magus and so on).

And when you look at those '06 DSD masters, I don't think many have been used in the US/Europe for new reissues...

 

The fact that somebody at Legacy as tagged the title as 'Under Review.' See my reply to Rockman... I may have misunderstood.

 

Can anyone tell me if the mastering between the '00 Agharta and the '06 is very different compression wise? My '00 copy of Agharta is pretty badly compressed. I cant imagine a mastering made 6 years later would be less so, but you never know...

 

As far as I can tell, based on my own testing, all of the 2006 DSD remasters have less compression and sound quieter than all the 1999/2000/2001 remasters, japanese or Legacy.

The 2006 SICP series is the best sounding Miles on CD, except maybe for a few early 80's first press CD's which are not really better, just different, IMHO..

 

Any way you can post a WAVform from the first track on Agharta? Then I'll post one from mine so we can compare

 

I think you can find that here:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=145781&highlight=Agharta&page=2

 

it means exactly that, just like Dylan's Blood On the Tracks is a "planned" release for Columbia, the Miles Davis sets are under review by Columbia for release.

 

I received my copies of Agharta and Pangaea yesterday. I've love the music and was curious about the Blu-Spec sound. This seems to be the most active place for the discussion of this release.
Now to my understanding through scant info over the internet written in english, Blu-Spec allows a disc to be written with a blu-ray laser which improves the accuracy of writting bits to the pits of the disc which is of a new high-polymer polycarbonate material. The result is less reading errors and jitter, and translates to the human ears as a more open, vivid, and realistic sound that is closer to the quality of the master tapes.
Also the new high-polymer polycarbonate disc is supposed to be more scratch resistant than a normal disc (???)

Now being that the sources of Agharta and Pangaea were taken from the 2006 DSD Remasterings, The Blu-Spec versions can't be any better than those right? Blu Spec quality should be limited by its source. If the original masters were created with a high audio quality Bluray format, then Blu-Spec I'm sure would sound amazing.

Now I only previously owned the 1991 Columbia release of Agharta. It is'nt terrible, but I did wish it had more bass, but I was aware that it was the worse sounding of the releases. So when I compared it with the Blu-Spec disc, I was a bit underwhelmed. It does sound better, but my mind just was'nt blown.
The instruments come through clearer, and each have a disctinct presence. This is great but it does create a problem. Since sections of the music are very complex, theres a ton of different sounds flying out of the speakers all at once. It creates a very dense and claustrophobic wall of noise, and it does'nt help too much that the Blu Spec version adds more electronic and instruments in some places, that the 1991 version left out of the mix. Since some intruments in the 1991 release had less presence, its sort of easier to listen to.
The bass is stronger also, but only by a fraction, maybe because the kick drums and bass instruments come through more closely. But both the 1991 and the 2009 release benifit from some sort of EQ adjustment to aplify the bass as bit. There is also more depth to the sound stage. I beleive that every improvement from the Bluc Spec CDs is because of a better mastering rather that the Bluray writting procedure.

Another thing I don't like is how the Japanese engineers combined parts 1 and 2 of the Prelude, and combined The Interlude with Theme from Jack Johnson. I liked how they were seperated into thier own tracks on the 1991 release.

Bottom line is if you have'nt picked up the Blu-Spec CD yet, then don't rush, and don't ignore the 2006 release either. The 1991 release still has some advantages also, so don't throw it away.

 

Welcome Leroy... I have the 1991 CD and the Blu-Spec CDs also for the two Miles Davis albums you mention in your post. I am not sure it is a fair comparison to put the Blu-Spec CD up against a totally different master than the one that the Blu-Spec CD was sourced from.

Since I don't have the 2006 DSD masters other than the Blu-Spec CD, and as you indicate they are "different animals" in their respective mixes, I am ok about owning the Blu-Spec CD over a different version of the same master.

I like Blu-Spec CDs, not only for what I perceive to be an improvement of sound over the same master on regular CD, but because my "little" brain thinks they are cool. On top of that they are supposed to be "limited editions"?!?

 

You are probably right, they are not fair comparissons, but they are all I have to compare. I'm sure it can help some.
As for as improvement of sound over the original master...has that been proven? How can a copy be better than it's source, unless its been re-mastured?

What I'm really curious about is the bass on the 2006 releases compared to the 2009. I've read a couple reviews stating that the 2006 release had very strong bass, but I did'nt detect this on the 2009 release.

 

Welcome Leroy. I have the 2006 DSD versions of these titles so if you want, you can send me your blu spec versions and I can compare them for you.

 

Sure,
Heres some clips in Flac

Agharta
http://www.mediafire.com/?znmzjengcow

Pangaea
http://www.mediafire.com/?4fywjjy3zn5

 

Has anyone had a chance to compare the different releases?

 

Not yet, have you.

 

It looks like we can download the entire 2 CD set from amazon.com for under $2.00, this has got to be a great deal.

http://www.amazon.com/Pangaea-Miles-Davis/dp/B00000273I

I think a deal like this is hard to beat.