<font color='#000000'>Hi. Well, I bought DK's newest album on SACD a while back, just thought I'd post my impressions; this is a disc I initially discussed on Audiocircle.com. I realize that a lot of folks don't care much for this one, so it may not interest everyone. However, I have them all, and I must admit it's probably my favorite overall. I must state for the record, though, that I generally don't care much for jazz. If this isn't a "real jazz" record, I for one don't have a problem with that!
The first thing I noticed about the album is, of course, the rear channel activity. I generally wince when I hear horns, vocals, etc coming from behind me, so my first inclination was to worry. As I got into the first song it became more apparent that while there was a little percussion in the surrounds, no vocals pop out; largely the surrounds are used to "fatten" the sound of the London Phil, and create ambience.
For someone that hasn't heard a DVD-A or SACD, one of the first things you notice is the "blackness" behind the music, the level of quite. Very remarkable; the music really springs out of silence. Now, a CD isn't exactly noisy, and you certainly wouldn't think so unless you compared it with something of higher resolution.
The next thing you notice is the sense of air, and the total "naturalness" of the sound. Not "hi-fi" at all, just musical.
I could discribe the sound, but a more apt comparison is going back to the Redbook layer; this is a hybrid disc, it has a CD layer, 2 ch SACD & Multichannel. Now, good as SACD sounds, it doesn't so much bowl you over when you hear it as crush you when you go back to the CD! All of a sudden, that wonderful air goes stale; the cymbals that sounded so lifelike suddenly get brash and steely. You suddenly realize it's a recording again!</font>
