Sunday, October 02, 2005
The Radio Free Nerdy Audio Review
So there are about 3 people that read my stuff on a semi-regular basis that just might find this the slightest bit interesting.
I bought two new DVD-Audio discs (the first in a while) from Acoustic Sounds. I have to go there because there is NO WHERE in Southern Illinois that sells the format (for that matter, there were very few in St. Louis) so I’m pretty much forced to go the on-line route.
The first was Orff’s “Carmena Burana.” For those of you not familiar with it, it’s the cool choral arrangement that Ozzy walks out to when he plays live. Or, it’s one of those heavy classical pieces that you’ve heard, just not sure what it’s called. Anyhoo, the recording quality is top notch. Even among the stunning amounts of LFE’s that are a result of the composition itself, the HFE’s still have the ability to pierce through like a knife (also a result of my speakers having such kick ass dynamic response, in conjunction with the high currents at my receiver’s disposal- but that’s a whole ‘nother story). The downside would be the lack of effects coming through my two surround speakers, there’s really nothing there at all, save a few echoes. I hate it when mixers take the easy way out like this. I mean, what’s the point of mixing (or listening) to something in 5.1 when you’re only going to utilize 3.1 (there is some separation through the center)? This recording is one of those rare instances where I prefer the 2.1 over the 5.1. Sometimes I just gotta let my towers have all the fun.
My other purchase was “Seal: Best 1991-2004.” How does it sound? Well I’ve read that it sounds amazing, but I’ve yet to experience it myself. It was the strangest thing- I grabbed my little cardboard box from the Fed Ex guy, ripped open the package, threw in disk, and….. nothing. Well, not nothing, there was background music while viewing the menu and the bonus videos had music, but the main soundtrack had nothing. The counter was running, so it was reading, I just couldn’t hear anything. I switched from multi-channel to digital coax- still nothing. Since it’s a newer recording it had to be the disk right? You’d think so, but after some research I found I’m not the only one to have this problem. It seems that the bit rate is SO high that my Pioneer DV563 can’t really handle the sampling (or something to that effect). It’s a newer phenomenon that seems to be happening more and more (Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” for example). Luckily there is a firmware fix that Pioneer is sending me that’ll take care of the problem with some ease. So the recording should be a doozie. Give me a week or so to fix it and I’ll fill ya in.
In the meantime, these recordings are both available on regular CD, so if you don’t have DVD-A or SACD (your missing something really special) you can still check them both out. I’d highly recommend it.
I bought two new DVD-Audio discs (the first in a while) from Acoustic Sounds. I have to go there because there is NO WHERE in Southern Illinois that sells the format (for that matter, there were very few in St. Louis) so I’m pretty much forced to go the on-line route.
The first was Orff’s “Carmena Burana.” For those of you not familiar with it, it’s the cool choral arrangement that Ozzy walks out to when he plays live. Or, it’s one of those heavy classical pieces that you’ve heard, just not sure what it’s called. Anyhoo, the recording quality is top notch. Even among the stunning amounts of LFE’s that are a result of the composition itself, the HFE’s still have the ability to pierce through like a knife (also a result of my speakers having such kick ass dynamic response, in conjunction with the high currents at my receiver’s disposal- but that’s a whole ‘nother story). The downside would be the lack of effects coming through my two surround speakers, there’s really nothing there at all, save a few echoes. I hate it when mixers take the easy way out like this. I mean, what’s the point of mixing (or listening) to something in 5.1 when you’re only going to utilize 3.1 (there is some separation through the center)? This recording is one of those rare instances where I prefer the 2.1 over the 5.1. Sometimes I just gotta let my towers have all the fun.
My other purchase was “Seal: Best 1991-2004.” How does it sound? Well I’ve read that it sounds amazing, but I’ve yet to experience it myself. It was the strangest thing- I grabbed my little cardboard box from the Fed Ex guy, ripped open the package, threw in disk, and….. nothing. Well, not nothing, there was background music while viewing the menu and the bonus videos had music, but the main soundtrack had nothing. The counter was running, so it was reading, I just couldn’t hear anything. I switched from multi-channel to digital coax- still nothing. Since it’s a newer recording it had to be the disk right? You’d think so, but after some research I found I’m not the only one to have this problem. It seems that the bit rate is SO high that my Pioneer DV563 can’t really handle the sampling (or something to that effect). It’s a newer phenomenon that seems to be happening more and more (Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” for example). Luckily there is a firmware fix that Pioneer is sending me that’ll take care of the problem with some ease. So the recording should be a doozie. Give me a week or so to fix it and I’ll fill ya in.
In the meantime, these recordings are both available on regular CD, so if you don’t have DVD-A or SACD (your missing something really special) you can still check them both out. I’d highly recommend it.
