I picked up the "Eat A Peach" SACD and gave it a listen. Right off the bat the new surround mix just didn't sound right to me. I've listened to the original quad CD-4 LP so many times that I was quite shocked at how different the SACD surround mix is. I then spun up my CD-4 LP to do a side-by-side comparison. There is no comparison. The SACD sounds muddy and dull against the CD-4 LP. While the original quad mix was a wholly discrete, equally weighted surround mix, they’ve pushed most everything to the front for the SACD. I read reviews of the SACD and everyone says it is a “middle-of-the-band” mix. Hah! Obviously they’ve never heard the original quad mix. Now THAT’S a middle-of-the-band mix!
Once again another great classic quad mix has been compromised. They’ve sacrificed discreteness and individual channel quality, resolution and tonality for a somewhat muddled mix that is but a shadow of its former self. I am very, very disappointed. If they were to mangle the classic stereo mix in such a manner, you’d never hear the end of it. Oh, but this is just lowly quad… go ahead and hack away.
Personally, I don’t mind a new mix as long as the end result is as good, if not better than, the original. On its own, the "Eat A Peach" SACD surround mix is nice, and yes, even discrete in a lot of ways. It's a "stereo friendly" surround mix. They played it safe, just like they did with DSOTM, and we're left with something definitely different. Is it better? Is it worse? That's an individual determination. Personally, I think it is worse. Actually, in some ways I think it is much worse.
But hey, I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade. It’s a fantastic disc on its own. Just don’t spoil the excitement of the new mix by tracking down and listening to the real, original surround mix. FWIW, after doing my comparison, I shut off the SACD player and listened to the rest of the CD-4 set.