5.1 Music?

[Rob Babcock]

I have several now and they are pretty impressive but, DVD-A still sounds the best to me. The DVD-A's I have are incredible. Queensryche's Empire is one of my favorites. Listening to it right now.

Shinerman

I was pretty disappointed with the Empire DVD-A. The vocals seem too distant and there's to much reverb. Plus, there's very little discrete channel stuff from the rears. But that's just me, I guess.

Have you heard Tate's latest solo album on DVD-A? It sounds good, but the music is disappointing to me. It's definately nothing like QR. Hell, it's barely even rock. I can't criticize him to much- they had four fantastic albums, which is four more than a lot of bands. But I want the *real* Queensryche back.

 

[Starmax]

Dsotm

You are correct, Stiletto Pat, about when Dark Side was recorded. I was in mid-rant and didn't feel like looking it up, so I guessed. My point still stands, however, despite the five-year discrepancy... some "remixed" SACD and DVD-Audio discs sound better than others, and the age of the original recording is not necessarily a factor.

 

[mfabien]

DTS Music records are simply great.

Just received and played "Hell Freezes Over" with the Eagles. It's a live concert and, understandably, everybody was waiting for "Hotel California".

And with an ordinary DVD player (no multi channel) I play Steely Dan's DVD-A "Everything Must Go" in DD 5.1 (digital audio) and just love it. The bass is very good even without a sub (LFE going to Front Mains Energy XL-250's). But in a little over a month, I should be ordering a SVS PB12-ISD sub.

 

[DrSunnysock]

Well, it depends on how your music is recorded. If you're listening to a CD (which is recorded in stereo only), then it's pointless to run the signal through extra processing to put in 5.1. In this situation, it would be best to enable a "Pure Direct Mode" if your reciever has it (That's just a Yamaha term, but it simply indicates a mode where the reciever doesn't do any processing to the signal from the player). However, if you're listening to an SACD or DVD-A that's encoded in 5.1, then it makes sense to enable this mode on your reciever. You can find many old stereo recordings that have been redone in 5.1, but some newer releases have been recorded specifically for 5.1 sound. A good example of this would be "Everything Must Go" by Steely Dan.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, I didn't know that.

 

[nasd90]

I agree with zumbo & jaxvon... if you have the luxury of having the information as to what it was recorded from, then by all means. Then again, I sometimes flip through the many formats, "just to see".

And what about 4.1 ? Since someone brought up DSOTM, there was a 4.1 Alan Parsons Quadmix that's floating around the internet somewhere, I actually have a copy. (email me if you can't get a hold of it...) Now, that one's a tricky one to tell the difference between that and the 5.1 remastered SACD, through all the formats. Maddening. I've spent a decent amount of time trying to figure out why Floyd didn't go with that one, but some say 'the politics' of the time. The SACD is better in my opinion.

Anyway... blah, blah, blah.

nasd90

 

[Pyrrho]

I listen to my music in the format I have it. Thus, with 5.1 channel SACDs, I listen with 5.1 channels, but with standard CDs, I listen in 2 channel (or 2.1 with bass management). Some people like the artificial processing they get with various surround modes applied to 2 channel music, and it is fine for them to enjoy that. But I don't like artificial surround sound, so I listen to it as it is on my disc.

What I recommend doing is trying different discs in multiple ways, and then playing them however you happen to prefer. It isn't a bad idea to try out alternatives at a later date, as sometimes people's preferences change over time, and you may decide later on that you prefer something different than what you enjoy most at first.

 

[john72953]

I listen to my music in the format I have it. Thus, with 5.1 channel SACDs, I listen with 5.1 channels, but with standard CDs, I listen in 2 channel (or 2.1 with bass management). Some people like the artificial processing they get with various surround modes applied to 2 channel music, and it is fine for them to enjoy that. But I don't like artificial surround sound, so I listen to it as it is on my disc.

+1...anything else and you're listening to an artificial rendition of the intent. It might be an interesting listening exercise, but you're diluting the sound otherwise.