'The Beatles' - The White Album Listening Thread - Your thoughts

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I finally received mine today from Deep Discount. The outer skin was slightly damaged [I took Jon's advice and carefully peeled the cellophane off but there WAS already a cut in that skin....no BIG deal] but when I went to play the blu~ray Audio/Video in my secondary system [An Older Oppo BDP~93] I could not access the multichannel layers.....when I tried to manually switch to DTS or Dolby HD 5.1, the TV monitor said OPERATION BLOCKED BY DISC [?]. Hopefully it'll play in my OPPO 205 and 105 without a hitch. Could be a firmware update issue with the 93.

Will listen to it in my main system tonight [hopefully without the aforementioned glitches].
 
I finally received mine today from Deep Discount. The outer skin was slightly damaged [I took Jon's advice and carefully peeled the cellophane off but there WAS already a cut in that skin....no BIG deal] but when I went to play the blu~ray Audio/Video in my secondary system [An Older Oppo BDP~93] I could not access the multichannel layers.....when I tried to manually switch to DTS or Dolby HD 5.1, the TV monitor said OPERATION BLOCKED BY DISC [?]. Hopefully it'll play in my OPPO 205 and 105 without a hitch. Could be a firmware update issue with the 93.

Will listen to it in my main system tonight [hopefully without the aforementioned glitches].

I have a 203 and find it works best when you select the audio options at the front menu. Lots of scrolling if you go to the next page and you also miss part of USSR.

A well done surround IMHO. The album works much better for me now for some reason. Seems more cohesive. Still have to stop before Rev 9 because doesn’t bear repeated listens (to me) and I still find Goodnight unbearable as well.
 
Couldn't get through the entire album last night, so today starting back up at "Revolution 1"... man, the last 5 or 6 songs really gave GREAT surround mixes... Absolutely LOVING those "Savoy Truffle" horns behind me!!!

Having discovered this album in the CD age, there were plenty of songs that I regularly skipped when listening over the years... but NEVER AGAIN! They all sound great :)
 
I have a 203 and find it works best when you select the audio options at the front menu. Lots of scrolling if you go to the next page and you also miss part of USSR
Wouldn’t it be faster and easier to use the color-coded buttons when switching audio inputs?
4FBC01A5-BA40-4BB8-AE5D-36DAED2E843C.jpeg
 
Wouldn’t it be faster and easier to use the color-coded buttons when switching audio inputs?
View attachment 36587

No matter what I do via the remote on the BDP~93, it will not play any of the Surround codecs. It has to be a firmware issue. Utilizing the red coded button, the manual audio button and even pressing Dolby True HD or DTS MA on the main menu inevitably defaults to STEREO.

I'm sure I won't have similar issues once I play it on the 105 or 205. I thought I had all my OPPO firmware updates but apparently NOT!
 
Probably like a lot of you, I rely on American QQers, who usually get new releases first, to provide an accurate assessment. I've enjoyed reading all of the comments, so thanks everyone (from down here at the bottom of the planet). Great to hear they got it right.

Amazon.com/.co.uk prices/discounts seem to vary from day-to-day and I'm trying to combine with Electric Ladyland. Might see if I can hold out until Black Friday sales on 23 Nov. Still might be able to get 'em both delivered before Christmas on Standard Shipping. Hmmm, what to do...
 
No matter what I do via the remote on the BDP~93, it will not play any of the Surround codecs. It has to be a firmware issue. Utilizing the red coded button, the manual audio button and even pressing Dolby True HD or DTS MA on the main menu inevitably defaults to STEREO.

I'm sure I won't have similar issues once I play it on the 105 or 205. I thought I had all my OPPO firmware updates but apparently NOT!

The firmware in your 93 may well be the latest version, but still not be able to interpret the newest bluray standards. I was told that when I complained that Pepper would behave sluggishly when played in my 83.

Try loading the disk and shutting the player off with the disk inside. Then turn the player on and let it load up.

I was also told by one of the OPPO tech guys that its best to leave a disk in the player when its off, well, for my model anyway. Some players develop an issue with not wanting to open when empty.
 
I just loaded the BD~A/V of the White Album into my OPPO UHD 205 and NO problems whatsoever.

I'm sure older Universal Players might have a problem playing this disc as EVERYTHING I've tried to engage the Hi Res 5.1 codecs failed with the OPPO UHD 93.
 
Other than my big sister’s copy of the American “Help!” and the Red and Blue albums I bought as a young teen, this was the first full Beatles album I owned. I wanted to hear it after having seen the “Helter Skelter” movie on TV and reading the book. So much of it wasn’t The Beatles I was used to, and I was first listening to it through that Charles Manson prism. It was weird and a bit scary and I loved it!

After that I started buying up their other albums. All the later ones first. The pre “Revolver” stuff was just “early rock” I didn’t fully appreciate until later.

For years this was my favorite Beatles album. After finally burning out on it a bit by the late 80s, I went through a phase where I think every one of their albums was my “favorite” at one time or another. At one point I started to dismiss the WA as a bit too self-indulgent and a sad document of the band on the verge of breaking up.

This new surround mix has brought back to me why I fell so in love with the album in the first place. Weird and a bit scary and beautiful.

It took a couple of plays to get the EQs and speaker placements just right, but now it’s about perfect.

Unlike Pepper’s, where I clearly preferred the Dolby, this one I still can’t decide which one I think sounds best or if maybe I just can’t hear a difference.

I DO think it’s a bit too “fatiguing”. Wish he hadn’t compressed so much or whatever causes that, but other than that it’s perfect.
 
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The firmware in your 93 may well be the latest version, but still not be able to interpret the newest bluray standards. I was told that when I complained that Pepper would behave sluggishly when played in my 83.

Try loading the disk and shutting the player off with the disk inside. Then turn the player on and let it load up.

I was also told by one of the OPPO tech guys that its best to leave a disk in the player when its off, well, for my model anyway. Some players develop an issue with not wanting to open when empty.

I just tried that. Still cannot engage the Surround codecs. The Apple Logo comes on and then in minuscule print it says 'set~up' [NO graphics like on my 205] but when I press either the DTS MA HD or Dolby True HD codecs it defaults to stereo ONLY. Oh well, at least I have other players that WILL play it without a glitch but wonder if other QQers with older players will encounter similar problems.

But thanks, anyway!

And if this is an example of the 'latest blu ray standard' then I'm sure it's going to alienate a lot of purchasers with older [and no back~up] players.
 
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I just tried that. Still cannot engage the Surround codecs. The Apple Logo comes on and then in minuscule print it says 'set~up' [NO graphics like on my 205] but when I press either the DTS MA HD or Dolby True HD codecs it defaults to stereo ONLY. Oh well, at least I have other players that WILL play it without a glitch but wonder if other QQers with older players will encounter similar problems.

But thanks, anyway!

And if this is an example of the 'latest blu ray standard' then I'm sure it's going to alienate a lot of purchasers with older [and no back~up] players.
I have a couple of discs in my collection that I can’t seem to access the surround layers for whatever reason. Some work on other players. Some not at all. Never had that happen wirh a BluRay. Yet anyway.

Some players just don’t like some discs I think.
 
No matter what I do via the remote on the BDP~93, it will not play any of the Surround codecs. It has to be a firmware issue. Utilizing the red coded button, the manual audio button and even pressing Dolby True HD or DTS MA on the main menu inevitably defaults to STEREO.

I'm sure I won't have similar issues once I play it on the 105 or 205. I thought I had all my OPPO firmware updates but apparently NOT!
I have an OPPO - BDP93 and the multi-channel mixes play fine.
 
My Beatles White Album package arrived from Deep Discount on Tuesday. I immediately handed it to my wife. "Hi honey, this is my Christmas list." Now I wait six weeks ... self-imposed pain. But I'll be stoked for Christmas!

Did you happen to inspect it to see if there was any damage...just sayingo_O
 
Ok, I'm liking this release more. I spent the morning listening to it at low volume using DTS 5.1. The 1968 Mono mix is a fun listen. I'm still taking it all in, considering the mix and EQ.

All in all, it's rather a miracle we would ever see a release as this. One thing that the music industry should understand, in all fairness, is not everyone is going to be able to afford everything at once. Perhaps a stand alone Blu-ray, with a couple of CDs might be in order once this box set sells out. And, oh hell yeah, it will sell out at some point.
 
Did you happen to inspect it to see if there was any damage...just sayingo_O
Good point. The package was hanging from the front of my mailbox which initially made me gasp. But none of the cardboard box looked dented, rounded or gashed so I cross my fingers that everything is good. Haven't had many issues with damage although I have read a lot of horror stories on this forum.
 
I listened to the White Album on my main system early this morning and think Giles did a wonderful remixing job [from 4 and 8 track multitracks] but it's still too HOT. Fatiguing after awhile. I never once experienced this sensation while listening to the LOVE album for its entire 81 minutes. I will vote a 9. The package itself is exceptional [a bona fide 10] and I've still to explore all the extras but I just received JT's THIS WAS and King Crimson's MELTDOWN: Live in Mexico [3 RBCDs/1 BD~A/V] today so the extras will have to wait.
 
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