HiRez Poll Rush - A FAREWELL TO KINGS (2011 5.1 SURROUND MIX) [DVD-A/BDA]

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Rate the DVD-A/BDA of Rush - A FAREWELL TO KINGS (2011 5.1 SURROUND MIX)


  • Total voters
    49
I am relistening to the Rush right now and this sounds awesome in the car. There are for sure discreet moments and absolutely love last track Cygnus X-1 in surround.
We get spoiled hearing SW and ES mixes but this mix is not to bad. I am giving it a strong 9 as its one of my favorites by the band and it is my go to listen as the 5.1 has enhanced by enjoyment of the album.
For the record company to force you to buy the mix in a boxset(would give them a zero for that marketing strategy) but if this is only way to get it and if this is only way for them to justify giving us a 5.1 I guess it is what it is.
Whole album sounds great and totally enjoying hearing the extra details from this power trio in 5.1
 
Tape Hiss, get over it!!!! I prefer tape hiss than no noising ...I would eliminate it from Audio altogether, except in extreme cases...

No puedo hacer, Jefecito. Hiss esta mala dos veces. :mad: Some people can get over the hiss, not me. My musical life has been one big quest for hiss free music. (y) For the most part we have that now, in general.

A Farewell To Kings has a surprising amount of hiss for a late seventies multi-track. Maybe the engineer chose to use no dolby at all? This is just a reply to your post about hiss, I didn't take off points for the hiss. The master source is what it is..

In general, I'm still heartbroken RUSH are so conservative with 5.1. Its no secret that their 5.1 mixes are barely 5.1 mixes.
However I think AFTK is still extremely enjoyable and I notice the soundstage to really have be increased so I can listen louder without fatigue compared to the 2.0 version.

So I really enjoy AFTK and since that is my favorite RUSH along with Hemispheres, I am VERY grateful it was mixed into 5.1, however subtle the remix was.

I have not noticed any of the things people nit pick about, perhaps since I simply love this band. RUSH has so many distinct musical lines in their early music it is a real shame they were not more aggresive in the 5.1 mix, but I treasure it nonetheless.

Xanadu is my favorite track from this 5.1 disc, or to say it seems to have the best impact in surround. Great thing about RUSH is that for this era they reproduced al the music live and in real time. Lots of extra foot-pedal action by both Geddy & Alex and tuned percussion from Neil. What a remarkable trio.

This gets a 9 from me. Contrary to your mythology(mudshark not withstanding) I do not vote all my favorite recordings 10s. Only the ones which are in fact 10's.:smokin
 
I'm not sure about anyone else's experience, but there's an issue with the LFE channel on my copy of this disc - it's way too loud. I compared it to the LFE channels on 4 of the other Rush 5.1 mixes, because they're all very very similar both in terms of instrument placement but also mixing levels and overall loudness. Relative to the other mixes the LFE channel on this disc is a little more than 7dB too loud (give or take 1dB depending on taste). There's no scientific way to pinpoint exactly how loud it should be, but when you're looking at the waveforms, the LFE track on this disc is regularly getting up to almost 0dB whereas all the other ones bounce around the -7.5dB level. It sounds much better to me with the volume of the LFE lowered - anyone else have a similar experience?
 
THIS is what I had imagined Rush would sound like in multichannel. I was really disappointed after hearing 2112 and Moving Pictures several months ago, so my Sector DVD-As sat on the shelf for months without a listen; I really expected more of the same when I took this one for a spin, but what a surprise! A much more active surround mix (Xanadu in surround sounds fantastic) and I believe less compression. The drum fills tend to roll around the listener and there are many more discrete elements in the surrounds than just cymbals (as on other Rush discs). I give it a 9.
 
I'm reviewing the version included in the "Sector" box set.

This is one of the worst bait and switches I've seen.
First of all, each of the 3 "sector" box sets only contains ONE album in HD on DVD. The other 4 are CD reductions only.

The 5.1 surround mix is unbelievably bad. The lowly American pressing of the vinyl trumps this in every way from fidelity to size and depth of mix - not good!
The original stereo mixes of these albums are very good. There is absolutely no attention to detail in this remix. Very sloppy. Very lo-fi. The crude gating of the tape hiss is just WTF! I suspect they just gave this to some intern to knock out in a couple hours. Comes across like a bootleg.

They advertized a box set of HD + surround remixes for 5 albums.
You get only one album with an incredibly poor 5.1 mix. It might have still been interesting as an alternate mix but the lo fidelity kills it. The only one album on DVD bait & switch is an insulting money grab.

Avoid this at all cost! (and the other Rush 5.1 titles - every single one is the same disaster)
I rated it a 1 only because 0 wasn't an option.
 
Lowdown on this disc...
GTRs are mostly in the fronts..
Bass is in FRONTS
Drums are spread between the FR and RE(Like SW does)
Synths are in the rears

This is what you get...
Better than a Stereo mix anytime...for me---

As for the Sector Box Set , dude, READ THE DESCRIPTION BEFORE YOU BUY IT..buyer beware...there was NO MENTION ANYWHERE that ALL the ALBUMS were gonna be in Surround...
You sound like one of those reviewers in Amazon that SLAMS the product just cause they couldn't be bothered to READ!!!!!

Don't like it??? --SEND IT BACK!!!!

(wah wah wah)
 
Weird thing is, I like all 5 Rush surround mixes currently available (discounting the live mixes, which I haven't heard and am not too keen to hear either).

I'm not the biggest Rush fan, but one of my closest friends is crazy about them. Personally, I own 2112 and Moving Pictures, and had some extensive listening sessions at my friend's for the Sector box set 5.1 mixes.

I like them all. No, it's not Alan Parsons' Dark Side of the Moon-level, but they do exactly what they should for the music. The sound quality is solid and there's enough 5.1 action to immerse you in the experience. It's true 5.1 with plenty isolated elements, and you can definitely tell. Even Signals!

While I wasn't willing to get the Sector sets myself, I'm definitely buying those 3 new Blu Rays very soon. No vote at this point since I want to give them good spins on my own system first though.

I'd probably give all 3 Blu Ray discs something around 6-7.
 
Weird thing is, I like all 5 Rush surround mixes currently available (discounting the live mixes, which I haven't heard and am not too keen to hear either).

I'm not the biggest Rush fan, but one of my closest friends is crazy about them. Personally, I own 2112 and Moving Pictures, and had some extensive listening sessions at my friend's for the Sector box set 5.1 mixes.

I like them all. No, it's not Alan Parsons' Dark Side of the Moon-level, but they do exactly what they should for the music. The sound quality is solid and there's enough 5.1 action to immerse you in the experience. It's true 5.1 with plenty isolated elements, and you can definitely tell. Even Signals!

While I wasn't willing to get the Sector sets myself, I'm definitely buying those 3 new Blu Rays very soon. No vote at this point since I want to give them good spins on my own system first though.

I'd probably give all 3 Blu Ray discs something around 6-7.

:confused::confused::confused::yikes:mad:@:
 
I've been a Rush fan since this album came out and the DVD-A sounds amazing in my Acura TL.
Cygnus X-1 has always been my favorite Rush song and this version is way better than any other I've ever heard, I'm hearing things that I've never heard before because of the clarity and separation.
Even my best friend who turned me on to Rush was blown away when he heard this in my car.
It's not perfect but I give it a 9.
 
I've been a Rush fan since this album came out and the DVD-A sounds amazing in my Acura TL.
Cygnus X-1 has always been my favorite Rush song and this version is way better than any other I've ever heard, I'm hearing things that I've never heard before because of the clarity and separation.
Even my best friend who turned me on to Rush was blown away when he heard this in my car.
It's not perfect but I give it a 9.

Totally agree, loving listening to this album in the car or at home. Have always been a huge fan of the trilogy of this and 2112 and Hemispheres, hope they still come out with Hemispheres in 5.1
I gave this one a 9, compared to some of the other great surround mixes maybe this should get a score of 8 but this is still my go to disk for this album , I can't be bothered with LP's anymore so can't compare to that.

peter
 
As for the Sector Box Set , dude, READ THE DESCRIPTION BEFORE YOU BUY IT..buyer beware...there was NO MENTION ANYWHERE that ALL the ALBUMS were gonna be in Surround...
You sound like one of those reviewers in Amazon that SLAMS the product just cause they couldn't be bothered to READ!!!!!

Don't like it??? --SEND IT BACK!!!!

(wah wah wah)

The description did mention only one album mixed in surround but strongly suggested the stereo mixes from all 5 were in HD on the DVD. In fact, only the one stereo mix was included in HD as well. And... it was clearly the master intended to be used for the CD version. It was brick-walled like you would expect for a 16 bit portable release. They just gave you the files before they down sampled them to 44.1k and reduced the bit depth to 16 bit. Pretty insulting IMHO and it was enough for Amazon to refund me and allow a return. That added to the bad attitude.

Did I kind of suspect such a thing from the description? Sure. But I was interested enough to hear the 5.1 mix (AFTK is one of my favorites) to spend a little too much for a release with a bunch of 16 bit CDs thrown in. They crossed the line pretty badly unfortunately. I expected the same or better fidelity in the digitized stereo mixes vs. the vinyl - not a downgrade reissue.

What can I say... I love surround sound. I think any authentic mix with the right aesthetic done in surround is better than stereo every time. It doesn't have to be perfect Alan Parsons or Steve Wilson level work every time either. But I absolutely prefer an original mix done by the band/engineer during the period regardless of format vs a remix is done long after the fact and especially when it's done just to fit a newer format. (Wilson's remixes are an anomaly. The man has the perception to get all the nuances of the original that were done right into the remix and more or less 'finish' the thing with the same aesthetic as the original mix. I'm not sure if I've ever heard that pulled off before and especially with such nuanced material as he's working with.)

The stereo mixes on my vinyl copies have far more fidelity and depth and reveal much more of the music that these 5.1 remixes. And it's not subtle!
I prefer mono mixes to stereo in similar situations too. I wish every last recording ever made could be presented in surround sound but I'll take the better mix regardless of format. I can't listen to a surround mix that sounds smaller and lower fidelity than a stereo mix. I'm extremely easy to please with surround offerings but only up to that point.

I will say that these surround mixes (all the Rush 5.1 remixes) are very much better than the circa early 2000's intern mixes on many DVDA discs where they did basically a crude stereo mix up front, awkward heavy reverb in the rears, and an awkwardly isolated vocal in the center. It's just that the bar was already set pretty high with the original stereo mixes and they missed it by quite a lot here. I'd agree that this disc sounds better than any of the 16 bit CD releases of this album but that isn't really saying much.

Caress - Pictures are some of my favorite albums. This was a big letdown. 2112 was no different either. Tried to listen to it multiple times and never got more than 5 minutes in with the clumsy balance issues that were going on. Just stepped on...

Apparently I'm in the minority on this one.

Only ever heard Rush after the fact on CD? Yeah... this release is better than that. But if you have the analog releases, you may be just as disappointed. HD and surround releases should be held to a higher standard.
 
Many apologies for necrobump. I just got the Blu-ray via Amazon US yesterday. Haven't had a chance to listen yet, but: it's my understanding that the package is supposed to include a download card w/code for the 2015 hi-res Sean Magee stereo master of this title (just like the Fly By Night Blu-ray, which I just got today via Amazon US and did include the card). Mine included no such card/code (the Signals Blu-ray, which I also received today, was also missing the card). Anyone else have this issue? If so, were you able to resolve it, and how?
 
Many apologies for necrobump. I just got the Blu-ray via Amazon US yesterday. Haven't had a chance to listen yet, but: it's my understanding that the package is supposed to include a download card w/code for the 2015 hi-res Sean Magee stereo master of this title (just like the Fly By Night Blu-ray, which I just got today via Amazon US and did include the card). Mine included no such card/code (the Signals Blu-ray, which I also received today, was also missing the card). Anyone else have this issue? If so, were you able to resolve it, and how?

HFPA are no longer including download codes for discs sold in the US due to a massive increase in publishing costs.
(Their own words for their Facebook page around the time of this Blu-Ray disc's release.)
 
HFPA are no longer including download codes for discs sold in the US due to a massive increase in publishing costs.
(Their own words for their Facebook page around the time of this Blu-Ray disc's release.)
I did see that, but someone on the Steve Hoffman forums received a copy that included a download card for the 24/96 WAV files. Why them and not me?
 
I did see that, but someone on the Steve Hoffman forums received a copy that included a download card for the 24/96 WAV files. Why them and not me?

Depends on where they ordered it from, I suppose (probably a European store if the download cards were there). I'm also in the US like you are, I ordered my Blu-Rays from amazon.com, and neither "A Farewell to Kings" or "Signals" came with download cards.
 
Baggy went with 8. Overall very good. The only track on which I notice hiss is Cygnus, but ee-gads, folks, WTF? It's like hiss shows up for no reason at least 1/2 dozen times.
I can understand hiss surrounding some important part that was just recorded noisily, but it's like just PURE HISS! I think it was an error. Some kind of occasionally unmuted track.
-2 points Rush!
Other than that, pretty much as good as Rush gets in 5.1...
 
Baggy went with 8. Overall very good. The only track on which I notice hiss is Cygnus, but ee-gads, folks, WTF? It's like hiss shows up for no reason at least 1/2 dozen times.
I can understand hiss surrounding some important part that was just recorded noisily, but it's like just PURE HISS! I think it was an error. Some kind of occasionally unmuted track.
-2 points Rush!
Other than that, pretty much as good as Rush gets in 5.1...

Hiss will always be a part of everything that's ever been recorded on analogue tape. It's a characteristic of the medium, and the more tracks you have running at the same time, the more hiss will be built up. It's especially in prevalent in quieter passages, and you can always remove it, but there does become a point where removing the hiss begins to affect the rest of the sound. It's been a while since I listened to this disc, but from memory, the hiss that I did hear only bothered me on a few small occasions.
 
Hiss will always be a part of everything that's ever been recorded on analogue tape. It's a characteristic of the medium, and the more tracks you have running at the same time, the more hiss will be built up. It's especially in prevalent in quieter passages, and you can always remove it, but there does become a point where removing the hiss begins to affect the rest of the sound. It's been a while since I listened to this disc, but from memory, the hiss that I did hear only bothered me on a few small occasions.

I've been involved with enough noisy recordings to stand by what I wrote. Hiss shows up for no reason.
 
Music is a 10, mix fair, overall disappointing. It does sound better than stereo, I was jus hoping for more. I would have to take 2 points off for the surround mix, I vote 8.
 
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