What's your favorite DVD-A?

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Hard to pick just one so in no particular order:

Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Doobies - Captain & Me
Britney Spears - In The Zone (great surround mix)
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells 2003
Seal - Hits
Steely Dan - Everything Must Go

All have great mixes and really nice sound quality as well.
 
I find it interesting that the Flaming Lips did not show up on anyone's list. For me, their surround is great and many of the songs are good, but they just don;t get played that much.

My current ones are:

Toy Matinee - Toy Matinee
Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits
Remain in Light - Talking Heads

I am also really enjoying Morph the Cat on my first couple of listens.
 
Mine change so often, it's very hard to pick.
Right now the most played here are these:
Bowie - David Live (stunning performance, superbly captured)
Bjork - Medulla (has to be heard to be believed)
Seal - Best of (for content, this is unsurpassed. 2 full albums & 11 Videos, all on one disc. This is DVD-A at it's best)
Diana Krall - When I Look In Your Eyes (simply wonderful)
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing.
 
Porcupine Tree - deadwing and In Absentia
Seal-Best of - 2cds and a packed Dvd-A
Jackson browne -Running on Empty
Dire Straits-Brothers in arms ( for showing exactly how good thi format can be)
Buena Vista Social Club

Next week , of course, it'll be an entirely different 5 :)

~M~
 
Well folks, Morph The Cat has just been placed at the top of my DVD-A list. The sound is just perfect!:smokin
 
Frantic said:
Well folks, Morph The Cat has just been placed at the top of my DVD-A list. The sound is just perfect!:smokin

This is a thing of beauty. The more I listen to it the more I like it. However, I don't know if I would say it is my favourite DVD-A. I actually couldn't pinpoint one particular title at this point. There are so many that are great. I would also have to plead the 5th on SACD as well. Just so many, how do you choose a favourite?
 
Hi Eelkiller!

eelkiller said:
Crowded House

I see from your profile that you have a Denon 2900 player. Is the Crowded House disc the DVD-Audio or the DualDisc? And can your Denon play the 5.1 HiRez track ok?

I'm asking because I have a Denon 3910 and got the DualDisc version; my player had problems playing the 5.1 HiRez track (no screen dispplay; sound dropout every 35 seconds, a complete freeze of the player in the second song).
I sent the DualDisc back (my friend had the same problem with his copy on his Denon DVD-A11) and since then I'm trying to find out if the DVD-Audio has the same problem on Denon players...

I really want this disc! :mad:@:

Best regards,
Oliver
 
Beck - Sea Change
Luis Conte, David Garfield & David Carpenter - The Latin Jazz Trio
Laurence Juber - Guitar Noir
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Frank Zappa - Quaudiophiliac
Neil Young - Greendale
 
El Guapo said:
Hi Eelkiller!



I see from your profile that you have a Denon 2900 player. Is the Crowded House disc the DVD-Audio or the DualDisc? And can your Denon play the 5.1 HiRez track ok?

I'm asking because I have a Denon 3910 and got the DualDisc version; my player had problems playing the 5.1 HiRez track (no screen dispplay; sound dropout every 35 seconds, a complete freeze of the player in the second song).
I sent the DualDisc back (my friend had the same problem with his copy on his Denon DVD-A11) and since then I'm trying to find out if the DVD-Audio has the same problem on Denon players...

I really want this disc! :mad:@:

Best regards,
Oliver

Oliver,

It is the original DVD Audio disc and my 2900 plays both %.1 and stereo Hi Rez - no problem. Sorry you were having trouble with the DualDisc.
 
eelkiller said:
Oliver,

It is the original DVD Audio disc and my 2900 plays both %.1 and stereo Hi Rez - no problem. Sorry you were having trouble with the DualDisc.

Barry, thanks for the information!

It was suggested somewhere that the DualDisc had some copy protection with a non-standard file system which causes trouble on some players.

I was really bummed that the HiRez 5.1 track didn't play on my Denon. I was able to listen to the DTS track and really liked the multichannel mix! And since this is one of my favourite records of all time anyway I will now try to get the pure DVD-Audio version! :D

Best regards,
Oliver
 
El Guapo said:
Barry, thanks for the information!

It was suggested somewhere that the DualDisc had some copy protection with a non-standard file system which causes trouble on some players.

I was really bummed that the HiRez 5.1 track didn't play on my Denon. I was able to listen to the DTS track and really liked the multichannel mix! And since this is one of my favourite records of all time anyway I will now try to get the pure DVD-Audio version! :D

Best regards,
Oliver

Hope you find one. I love the disc.
 
I second Homecoming. Quite an amazing album and mix. But whenever I want to "wow" someone with what hi-res surround is like, believe it or not, Flaming Lips and many other high-profile, whiz-bang titles don't make the impact that Laurence Juber: Guitar Noir makes. Don't know why...maybe it's the low-key, brilliant guitar playing by Juber, or the audiophile-quality sonics and mix. But I kid you not - people are dead-quiet, transfixed whenever I put that one on - they're completely stunned that Juber is not sitting in front of them with the band around the listening space. Other reviews and comments can be found in my list, including my full review of the Juber disc which came out a few years ago in DVD Etc. Magazine.
 
Felix E. Martinez said:
whiz-bang titles don't make the impact that Laurence Juber: Guitar Noir makes. Don't know why...maybe it's the low-key, brilliant guitar playing by Juber, or the audiophile-quality sonics and mix.

Pretty much all the AIX titles have this effect. After listening to them it is hard to go back to something else. You kind of have to take a break afterwards before putting on the non-AIX disc.
 
Pretty much all the AIX titles have this effect. After listening to them it is hard to go back to something else. You kind of have to take a break afterwards before putting on the non-AIX disc.
Waldrep is a friggin' genius. I mean, who would've thought I'd be into bluegrass (you have to know me - sorry for the rhetorical Q)?

I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting and interviewing Waldrep in his studios off of La Cienega in Hollywood (they're moving into new digs this month I think), and the one thing that has totally changed the way I look at recording is how Waldrep does not use any EQ or compression/limiting/outboard gear on his AIX titles. I couldn't believe it - and I saw it. He basically brought up the faders and there was the mix (I think it was Cheryl Bentine - sorry for the sp).

One of the "rules" one hears is how - for example - a mixer would roll-off low end on a hi-hat so it can get seated in the mix better and not cloudy up the low-end (a cumulative effect with other similar "bright" instruments). And yet, the AIX recordings are so balanced, with some of the most unbelievably smooth hi-end I've ever heard. In fact, in the Juber disc, there's one track - I think it's "Mosaic" - where there's a break and you hear this percussion instrument (chimes?) and it just raises the hairs on the back of your neck (in a good way). I don't think I've heard highs that smooth and defined on any other recording on any other medium. If anyone has that title, check it out and let me know if you agree. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that Waldrep's working with ace musicians who know what they're doing in a live setting - they're not recording a ton of stuff which is going to be cut and pasted in Pro Tools. The arrangements and performance are probably really well-planned so that Waldrep just captures it in the best way possible and then the recording speaks for itself.

BTW, I'm not paid by Waldrep or am an employee of AIX ;)

Amazing stuff indeed, the AIX catalog.
 
Felix E. Martinez said:
One of the "rules" one hears is how - for example - a mixer would roll-off low end on a hi-hat so it can get seated in the mix better and not cloudy up the low-end (a cumulative effect with other similar "bright" instruments). And yet, the AIX recordings are so balanced, with some of the most unbelievably smooth hi-end I've ever heard. In fact, in the Juber disc, there's one track - I think it's "Mosaic" - where there's a break and you hear this percussion instrument (chimes?) and it just raises the hairs on the back of your neck (in a good way). I don't think I've heard highs that smooth and defined on any other recording on any other medium. If anyone has that title, check it out and let me know if you agree.

I know exactly what you're talking about, and I agree. (y) It's like a chime or something. But as with everything from AIX I own, it has incredible detail, without ever being bright.

The Juber has been a favorite of mine for years, and as I got in on the title early in its release, mine is personally signed by Juber himself. Pretty cool.

I just got the Bad Haggis, Verheyen and Blues Head albums recently. They're all quite good.
 
Felix E. Martinez said:
How is that title? I've always been real curious about it...what are your thoughts?

I've only been able to give Bad Haggis a 20 minute spin or so, and that was with my 14-month old running around, so I can't say anything definitive as of yet. If you have the new HD Sampler from AIX, there's a Bad Haggis track on there.

My first impressions were positive though. It's different, but in a good way. It's like Irish-themed electric music, with a latin flavor. Like most AIX offerings, it's music you've never heard, but like most AIX music, if you go in with an open mind, it's pretty cool music, and I'm glad I have it. Though it's not like listening to the DSOTM DVD-A for the first time, if you know what I mean.
 
I just wanted to thank Felix and Guy for their encouraging comments...I work really hard to bring the best of high-resolution, multichannel recordings to life. As for the Laurence Juber, the "chimes" are actually the tuning pins from a junked piano that Steve Forman strung up with fishing line and shakes very subtly...I get the same sensation from that moment in the piece.

I just returned from EHX in Orlando, Florida where I was presenting my software on behalf of Intel and their new Viiv initiative. We had a modest sound system hooked up to the outputs of a Spectra computer...but we won a couple of "Best of Demo Alley" Awards including the coveted "People's Choice". There is definitely and interest among custom installation people for recordings that show off the best sonics.

I showed off a new web site that will go live in the summer called iTrax.com. THis will be the first and only high-resolution, 5.1 A/V download site. Others claim to be "High-Definition" but are really only CD quality. Obviously, this new site will have only recent recordings...but when you want to have that special feeling that great sound can bring, iTrax.com will be the place to purchase tracks at whatever resolution AND mix perspective you might want.

Back to work on the latest AIX Records CE project, Steve March Tormé - Tormé Sings Tormé, coming very soon.
 
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