NEW Surround SACDs from Dutton Vocalion (December 2017)

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Ubertrout, I'm still wading through D~V's latest Classical QUAD SACDs and I think they're pretty magnificent and hopefully, D~V will continue releasing those oldie but supremely goody QUAD classical titles. I fully realize D~V is first and foremost a reissue label of older easy listening, jazz and big band titles but we are at the end of the physical disc era [five years, perhaps] and the U.S. reissue labels have NO intentions of releasing the more popular rock and jazz QUAD titles so if D~V were to veer off into territory outside their normal comfort zone I think it could work and be a win~win situation for all concerned.

And keep in mind, D~V has released MORE QUAD SACD titles in the last two years than all the U.S. reissue companies combined in the last 10. IMO, they're our last bastion of hope to realize the release of more popular fare as I'm sure it would sell well and they're all limited editions so the risk is minimized.

And listening to these older Classical RCA/Columbia QUAD titles has left me pondering even more why labels BIS, Pentatone, Chandos, etc. continue to utilize the rears for ambience only when they could judiciously utilize them to literally fill the listening space with SO MUCH MORE.

So, I will buy any harder rock D-V releases, so I'm not trying to be an absolute pessimist, but I think this makes a couple of foundational mistakes. The biggest one, I think, is the assumption that there's a large group of 18-30s or even 25-45s looking to music in surround and to buy physical media in surround. It just isn't how younger folks are consuming media these days - I'm in my 30s and I'm part of a vanishing cohort of people who listen to music on physical media at all (and I use a mix of Spotify and Google at work and while driving myself - I only listen to physical media while at home and listening to my "big" system). I don't know one other person in my age bracket who listens to physical media, except for a few friends who vinyl. Surround had its chance to break through in the early 00s, and it had everything behind it. Yes, there was a format war, but the labels were still riding high, and they had pinned all their hopes on next-gen formats in hopes of using superior fidelity and surround to sell copy protection that would nip ripping in the bud and keep people using physical media. Needless to say, that didn't happen, and the format war ended with only losers, because the demand just wasn't there.

Look what we got in the early 00s...recent releases by major rock, pop, and hip-hop artists got released in suround, as did label catalogs of a number of prominent bans, including REM and Genesis. We got Dark Side of the Moon, surely the most essential and popular album for someone to listen to in surround, and it was sold cheaply and widely available. It didn't matter. The labels discovered that surround music was going to be as much of a niche in the 21st century as it had been in the 20th, and left it to speciality labels. It isn't going to become mainstream now, unless we get something like unlimited streaming of surround music as part of Tidal or something like that (not as crazy at it sounds, just as an aside).

This isn't an off-topic ramble. D-V has realized, I think, that the surround fans are over 50, and that there's a cache of quad material that a sizable percentage of people of that age bracket will enjoy, even though it has zero commercial viability with younger music fans. Sony is happy to license it because this is stuff no-one else is asking for, and I'm sure any surviving artists or heirs are just surprised anyone remembers this stuff. The issue AF hit, I think, is that they had to make their releases really expensive because they were focusing on high-demand material, which I suspect is why the effort foundered - their licensing costs for stereo were already high, and getting the quad mix presumably removed any profit unless they sold out fairly quickly - which didn't happen for most of their quad titles. D-V is focusing on low-demand material and as such is able to offer a two-fer for half the cost of a single album from AF, and is able to rely on their easy listening fanbase coupled with a new surround fanbase to recoup their costs. I don't think the calculus would be the same for high-price licenses.

But if I'm wrong, I'll be (among) the first in line to order.

Edit to add: for classical labels, I think the preference is for concert-hall ambience because it's atmospheric rather than surrounding, which I think is what most classical fans are looking for. Tacet and AIX have tried to be more engaging with surround presentation, but it's not clear it's paid dividends in sales.
 
So, I will buy any harder rock D-V releases, so I'm not trying to be an absolute pessimist, but I think this makes a couple of foundational mistakes. The biggest one, I think, is the assumption that there's a large group of 18-30s or even 25-45s looking to music in surround and to buy physical media in surround. It just isn't how younger folks are consuming media these days - I'm in my 30s and I'm part of a vanishing cohort of people who listen to music on physical media at all (and I use a mix of Spotify and Google at work and while driving myself - I only listen to physical media while at home and listening to my "big" system). I don't know one other person in my age bracket who listens to physical media, except for a few friends who vinyl. Surround had its chance to break through in the early 00s, and it had everything behind it. Yes, there was a format war, but the labels were still riding high, and they had pinned all their hopes on next-gen formats in hopes of using superior fidelity and surround to sell copy protection that would nip ripping in the bud and keep people using physical media. Needless to say, that didn't happen, and the format war ended with only losers, because the demand just wasn't there.

Look what we got in the early 00s...recent releases by major rock, pop, and hip-hop artists got released in suround, as did label catalogs of a number of prominent bans, including REM and Genesis. We got Dark Side of the Moon, surely the most essential and popular album for someone to listen to in surround, and it was sold cheaply and widely available. It didn't matter. The labels discovered that surround music was going to be as much of a niche in the 21st century as it had been in the 20th, and left it to speciality labels. It isn't going to become mainstream now, unless we get something like unlimited streaming of surround music as part of Tidal or something like that (not as crazy at it sounds, just as an aside).

This isn't an off-topic ramble. D-V has realized, I think, that the surround fans are over 50, and that there's a cache of quad material that a sizable percentage of people of that age bracket will enjoy, even though it has zero commercial viability with younger music fans. Sony is happy to license it because this is stuff no-one else is asking for, and I'm sure any surviving artists or heirs are just surprised anyone remembers this stuff. The issue AF hit, I think, is that they had to make their releases really expensive because they were focusing on high-demand material, which I suspect is why the effort foundered - their licensing costs for stereo were already high, and getting the quad mix presumably removed any profit unless they sold out fairly quickly - which didn't happen for most of their quad titles. D-V is focusing on low-demand material and as such is able to offer a two-fer for half the cost of a single album from AF, and is able to rely on their easy listening fanbase coupled with a new surround fanbase to recoup their costs. I don't think the calculus would be the same for high-price licenses.

But if I'm wrong, I'll be (among) the first in line to order.

Edit to add: for classical labels, I think the preference is for concert-hall ambience because it's atmospheric rather than surrounding, which I think is what most classical fans are looking for. Tacet and AIX have tried to be more engaging with surround presentation, but it's not clear it's paid dividends in sales.

Ubertrout, I suppose you're right and I'm just blowing smoke. Presupposing what ANYONE wants today is probably a moot point. The young generation streams everything and hates to pay for music and physical disc collections are becoming a thing of the past.

D~V is doing a great job and knows their target audience and continues to 'surprise' us every once in awhile with some fantastic releases, beautifully mastered and at a GREAT price point. Why mess with success?

As far as classical music in surround.........I do find ambience rather boring. I always surmised we're not in a live concert hall with visuals and these labels could take some liberties by utilizing the rears more effectively.......but that supposition is not mine to make. Hopefully, D~V will supply us with more RCA/Columbia discrete titles which I'm sure will be their next batch of QUAD releases as they usually alternate between popular and classical fare. Fingers crossed.
 
Ubertrout, I suppose you're right and I'm just blowing smoke. Presupposing what ANYONE wants today is probably a moot point. The young generation streams everything and hates to pay for music and physical disc collections are becoming a thing of the past.

D~V is doing a great job and knows their target audience and continues to 'surprise' us every once in awhile with some fantastic releases, beautifully mastered and at a GREAT price point. Why mess with success?

As far as classical music in surround.........I do find ambience rather boring. I always surmised we're not in a live concert hall with visuals and these labels could take some liberties by utilizing the rears more effectively.......but that supposition is not mine to make. Hopefully, D~V will supply us with more RCA/Columbia discrete titles which I'm sure will be their next batch of QUAD releases as they usually alternate between popular and classical fare. Fingers crossed.

Here's a random thought...if they want to get the younger generation to listen to surround music, why not put some of the surround albums on Netflix? Great way to expose people with 5.1 systems but who haven't thought about it to the possibilities of surround. Netflix surround is I believe 192k Dolby Digital Plus, but that's enough to get a modicum of surround quality (but certainly not audiophile) Getting off topic, but seems it would make a lot of sense to grow a market and make some more money in the process.
 
Just saw this thread today, ordered 5 of them. Wow, DV sure has been busy. Fantastic.
 
Everything from this new batch is in stock now, aside from the Doc Severinsen and Chet Atkins 2fers which should be in soon.
 
Everything from this new batch is in stock now, aside from the Doc Severinsen and Chet Atkins 2fers which should be in soon.

Vocalion just sent out a notice indicating that while the Doc Severinsen SACD should arrive on Monday or Tuesday and switch to In Stock status, the Chet Atkins SACD has been delayed.

I'm going to have Vocalion remove the Chet Atkins from this order so that they can ship me the other 7 Surround SACDs on Monday or Tuesday when the Doc Severinsen shows up.
Much as I'm looking forward to the Chet Atkins in Surround SACD, this will get the other 7 heading out faster. Definitely the way to go! :)
 
Vocalion just sent out a notice indicating that while the Doc Severinsen SACD should arrive on Monday or Tuesday and switch to In Stock status, the Chet Atkins SACD has been delayed.

I'm going to have Vocalion remove the Chet Atkins from this order so that they can ship me the other 7 Surround SACDs on Monday or Tuesday when the Doc Severinsen shows up.
Much as I'm looking forward to the Chet Atkins in Surround SACD, this will get the other 7 heading out faster. Definitely the way to go! :)

I did the same in order NOT to delay shipment of the other 7 QUAD SACDs in my order. And in the email to me they stated that they would be releasing more SACDs in the near future and they'd include the Chet Atkins SACD in that shipment. Well, that's encouraging to say the least.
 
I did the same in order NOT to delay shipment of the other 7 QUAD SACDs in my order. And in the email to me they stated that they would be releasing more SACDs in the near future and they'd include the Chet Atkins SACD in that shipment. Well, that's encouraging to say the least.

I am glad others hear noticed the wording in the E-mail. I was wondering if I was reading the E-mail correctly or reading something into it that was not there.

Well now that the cat is out of the bag the new titles have to be known. There are a few on this board that know what they are, time to cough them up:).:banana:
 
the batch is back! I mean, the 1st batch is here! :yikes :wave :worthy :woopie

in this bundle, I ordered;

Hugo Montenegro - Mammy Blue & Rocket Man: A Tribute To Elton John (Hybrid MultiCh SACD),
Henry Mancini - Symphonic Soul & Return Of The Pink Panther (Hybrid MultiCh SACD),
Ray Conniff - Send In The Clowns & Theme From S.W.A.T. and Other TV Themes (Hybrid MultiCh SACD),
Percy Faith - Clair & Joy (Hybrid MultiCh SACD),
Ray Conniff - Alone Again (Naturally) & Love Theme From The Quadfather (Hybrid MultiCh SACD)

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