HiRez Poll Beatles - LOVE [DVD-A]

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Rate the DVD-A of The Beatles - LOVE (Soundtrack)


  • Total voters
    316
Well I really did not want to give this one a 10. It would be too predicable.

I think I am the "right age", as I graduated High School in 1970, the Beatles tunes flowed out during my "growing years", and I bought every LP (in mono of course - to save the extra dollar! ), then later in stereo.

I waited patiently for every release, lived through the "break up", bought all of the solo stuff, waited for a "reunion", etc, etc. I am the target Beatles market.

That being said, I have to admit that I rarely drag out my Beatles LPs and CDs. I can hear the tunes in my head without the software, and quite frankly, almost every tune of theirs I have heard so many times, that when they come on the radio I usually change the station, especially if it's a "hit".

When the CDs of the Capitol Singles Vol 1 & Vol 2 came out, I got excited, played them once or twice, then they went back into the "collection", and haven't come back out again. I have just had TOO MUCH BEATLES in my music life. For crying out loud, it's 2006, it's been 40 years!

Then, I plopped the Love DVD-A in the car DVD-A player and drove home. Good grief! The first track, thought beautiful, was a bit disturbing, with the extra breaks and the bird sounds. OK, let's keep on going. And going it did. What a terrific release.

Although not "perfect" perfect, it's the Beatles, it's in 5.1, it's legit, and it sounds incredible, fidelity wise and surround wise. There are a few things I would have rather seen done with the surround mix (the Paul "Helter Skelter" phrases would have been more effective if they came from other than the center speaker"), but this is WAY beyond any ambient/Silverline deal. This is great.

Songs that I would never listen to in stereo (Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, Hey Jude) now shine. Listening to "A Day in the Life" almost choked me up. "Come Together", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and more are beyond description.

I hear no lack of highs at all. It sounds so good; I went to get a "back up" copy today while it was still $14.

The "Mal"-contents and purists still have their mono LPs and singles and should frankly play them and shut up, because this release does nothing to denigrate the originals and if they don't want or like it, DON'T BUY IT.

I am just thankful that while I am still around, I could go into a store and get a surround DVD-A in HiRez of Beatles tunes. Last year I would have never believed this if anyone told me.

George Martin "is" a Beatle, and his involvement makes this legit, IMHO. He and his son have done a great job.

What can I say? When you consider the material is 40 years old, and the mix is great, the sound is great, the content is........THE BEATLES....well, it's a farging TEN!

For those who are still on the fence, make no mistake about it, this disc is not "all mashed up". There are complete tunes on here, in "stunning" (for real) 5.1. The "mash ups" are mostly segues between songs. A few tunes are mixed together, but not that many.

As an aside, my Acura does pause a bit before "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on the layer change. It's a bit jarring, because there is no silence up until that point. It's brief, but noticeable.

Whew! This is a great DVD-A! (I wonder if this had come out in 2002, would SONY have muscled it over to SACD? My how times have changed.)
 
I'm not getting this issue. Maybe your centre is not matched to your front speakers? I have to stand with my ear right in front of the centre to determine that the centre only is producing the vocals. Everything meshes very well.

I, too, have to get up real close to the speaker to know 100%. However, I've gotten pretty good at picking out center-focused mixes even from my listening position. The speakers are *supposed* to be sonically matched, but they aren't identical. The mains are B&W DM303 and the center is a B&W LCR3, if I recall correctly, which uses the same tweeter but different woofers. There is no doubt in my mind that the DM303 is a better speaker than the LCR3. And the center placement isn't quite where I'd like it to be for music, but it isn't horribly off. I've balanced levels using both an SPL and also by ear and tried numerous settings. I do believe using an identical DM303 and slightly better placement for the center would help immensely. However, I'm just not sold on the idea of placing too much of the vocals into the center. At least not anymore. I absolutely loved it when I first heard James Taylor's "Hourglass" SACD. But I find sometimes a mix sounds less open, less full, and less enjoyable when too much of the vocal is in the center and when there isn't enough vocal in the main left/right. So part of this might be poor equipment and placement/settings. And part of it might just be individual preferences. Keep in mind, I still rated the Love DVD-Audio a 9; so I still liked it quite a lot.
 
But I find sometimes a mix sounds less open, less full, and less enjoyable when too much of the vocal is in the center and when there isn't enough vocal in the main left/right.

I think that having the center speaker at the same distance from the floor as the mids in the left and right speakers improves the overall fullness of the sound. This unifies the front 3 speakers into a single, continuous plane.
 
No it’s not your father’s (or mother’s) mix of Beatles tunes, it’s ours!!!!

Nor is it the same as I listened to in the early, to mid 60's.

This edition gives you the subtle things the Beats did. During the middle, beginning, end, or between tracks - there was away’s a little bonus. The clarity of the recording brings it right out in front of you.

Post scrips

The end tone of “A Day In A Life” lasted just right ..... forever.

I don’t know how ....I could have enjoyed “How My Guitar Gently Weeps” without an electric guitar in the song, but I did.
 
Mine just arrived from CD-Universe. I haven't had time to listen to it in much detail, but one thing that jumped out at me was how good George's voice sounds when he sings lead. Warm and full.
 
Intresting fact: the dvd-a has only 5.1 mix, no stereo.
Guess that will really *please* the closed-minded stereo-only hi-rez buffs.

Do the licensing requirements for use of the dvd audio logo allow only a 5.1 mix to be provided? This is the first I've known of a dvd audio disk having both no stereo mix and no downmixing option.
 
Do the licensing requirements for use of the dvd audio logo allow only a 5.1 mix to be provided? This is the first I've known of a dvd audio disk having both no stereo mix and no downmixing option.

The reason for a lack of a DVD-A stereo mix is much simpler than that: lack of disc space.

As for downmixing, just set your player's output to 2.0 stereo and the player will do it for you :)
 
The reason for a lack of a DVD-A stereo mix is much simpler than that: lack of disc space.

As for downmixing, just set your player's output to 2.0 stereo and the player will do it for you :)

Not strictly true.
The stereo mix is there on the Video_TS.
All it would have taken is a link into it.
 
Well I really did not want to give this one a 10. It would be too predicable.

I think I am the "right age", as I graduated High School in 1970, the Beatles tunes flowed out during my "growing years", and I bought every LP (in mono of course - to save the extra dollar! ), then later in stereo.

I waited patiently for every release, lived through the "break up", bought all of the solo stuff, waited for a "reunion", etc, etc. I am the target Beatles market.

That being said, I have to admit that I rarely drag out my Beatles LPs and CDs. I can hear the tunes in my head without the software, and quite frankly, almost every tune of theirs I have heard so many times, that when they come on the radio I usually change the station, especially if it's a "hit".

When the CDs of the Capitol Singles Vol 1 & Vol 2 came out, I got excited, played them once or twice, then they went back into the "collection", and haven't come back out again. I have just had TOO MUCH BEATLES in my music life. For crying out loud, it's 2006, it's been 40 years!

Then, I plopped the Love DVD-A in the car DVD-A player and drove home. Good grief! The first track, thought beautiful, was a bit disturbing, with the extra breaks and the bird sounds. OK, let's keep on going. And going it did. What a terrific release.

Although not "perfect" perfect, it's the Beatles, it's in 5.1, it's legit, and it sounds incredible, fidelity wise and surround wise. There are a few things I would have rather seen done with the surround mix (the Paul "Helter Skelter" phrases would have been more effective if they came from other than the center speaker"), but this is WAY beyond any ambient/Silverline deal. This is great.

Songs that I would never listen to in stereo (Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, Hey Jude) now shine. Listening to "A Day in the Life" almost choked me up. "Come Together", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and more are beyond description.

I hear no lack of highs at all. It sounds so good; I went to get a "back up" copy today while it was still $14.

The "Mal"-contents and purists still have their mono LPs and singles and should frankly play them and shut up, because this release does nothing to denigrate the originals and if they don't want or like it, DON'T BUY IT.

I am just thankful that while I am still around, I could go into a store and get a surround DVD-A in HiRez of Beatles tunes. Last year I would have never believed this if anyone told me.

George Martin "is" a Beatle, and his involvement makes this legit, IMHO. He and his son have done a great job.

What can I say? When you consider the material is 40 years old, and the mix is great, the sound is great, the content is........THE BEATLES....well, it's a farging TEN!

For those who are still on the fence, make no mistake about it, this disc is not "all mashed up". There are complete tunes on here, in "stunning" (for real) 5.1. The "mash ups" are mostly segues between songs. A few tunes are mixed together, but not that many.

As an aside, my Acura does pause a bit before "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on the layer change. It's a bit jarring, because there is no silence up until that point. It's brief, but noticeable.

Whew! This is a great DVD-A! (I wonder if this had come out in 2002, would SONY have muscled it over to SACD? My how times have changed.)

I don't rate many releases a 10, but this one does contain music I love and after one listen, I gave it a 10. I am a 1970 HS graduate as well and of course very familiar with the music, but haven't owned some of these songs since the 60's in any form. I also recently acquired the Capitol Vol. 1 set, which I play in the auto and have ordered Vol. 2 since I finally found it at a price I was willing to pay. This disc is terrific and the only person I have played it for so far agrees with me. The original albums are better in stereo than this is in my opinion, so the CD is not of much use to me.

Chris
 
I think that having the center speaker at the same distance from the floor as the mids in the left and right speakers improves the overall fullness of the sound. This unifies the front 3 speakers into a single, continuous plane.

Thanks for the suggestions. Although I've previously messed with the center channel level with other discs, I decided to try going much much much lower than I had typically done before and I believe that has helped a little. Don't put me amongst the 'converted' just yet, though. ;) I still would still prefer to see mixes that don't rely quite as heavily on the center channel. The way I figure it is something like this: I've got over a hundred of these discs easily and I'd consider myself a pretty big "super fan" of music in surround sound. (OK... So that last part might be a little conceited.) ;) I'm frequently posting about SACD and DVD-Audio at other forums and have tried writing numerous surround reviews (some written less poorly than some of my others, I'll admit.) :eek: I sometimes wonder if other's reactions to my posts and reviews are something along the lines of "That crazy guy is posting about multichannel audio again! Doesn't he know that those are FAILED formats and that surround sound is a big Joke??!!! Long live mono recordings on my old 78 made of shellac!) I guess I'm just thinking that if someone like me isn't able to have an ideal speaker setup to utilize a surround mix that utilizes the center channel heavily for vocals, then it's highly likely that the average Joe Six Pack doesn't have an ideal setup for this either. He might plop in the Beatles "Love" disc and end up hating it and will never discover how truly wonder multichannel is and can be. I'd truly like to hear what it would sound like with an identical speaker to the mains placed at the same height as the mains, if I could realistically manage to get the setup. It might totally blow my mind as to how wonderful it sounds! So I don't want to outright dismiss the idea that a center-focused mix might be a good idea---perhaps, even a superior idea. (Heck, the last thing we need is in-fighting amongst the surround community when we've got so many others totally against us!) That said, for more selfish reasons I do wish that all surround mixes would use more of the left/right channels for vocals just so that I can enjoy listening to music that is more optimized to my system.

Nonetheless, I do still enjoy the "Love" DVD-A quite a lot. It's the freakin' Beatles in 5.1 surround sound, afterall! I never ever really thought we'd get to see the day. Is there a chance that we'll get to see the entire Beatles catalog released in surround sound DVD-Audio, too? I sure hope so!

Now... what are everyone's favorite tracks?

Mine right now are "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and I absolutely love "Strawberry Fields Forever". Both sound great as mashups and quite wonderful in surround!
 
Upon first listening, I decided I wouldn't vote a "10." That resolve did not survive a second time through. I simply love "Love!" As has been pointed out, its the Beatles, its hi-rez, and its surround. What's not to love? Oh, other than the lousy menu forcing me to change the setup on my universal player to access the DTS 5.1 layer (as has also been pointed out).

I've listened to this five times now through the various surround options and while the hi-rez DVD-A is truly epic and the sound quality is amazing, I'd like to make a pitch for the DTS 5.1 if you want to really explore the surround content (and have a 7.1 system). I ran this last night with NEO 6 and got "Love" in 7.1. While there was the expected discernable loss in sound quality, the rear surrounds let me hear a lot more of the quick-hit dubs in the surrounds (more of Yellow Submarine in Octopus's Garden, for example) along with the more obvious surround content. If you are a real Beatles fanatic, you can sit down with notepad and try to make a list of what songs all this stuff comes from originally. Fun stuff!

Now we need the rest of the catalog in hi-rez surround! As others have noted, the sales of this DVD-A may tell that tale.
 
Now we need the rest of the catalog in hi-rez surround! As others have noted, the sales of this DVD-A may tell that tale.

As much as there are more pro-SACD fanatics than DVD-A fans, I have to admit that this release, even in the few short days it's been out, has shown to me through the posts on the many messageboards that consider this type of thing, that the CD+DVD-A is the superior package to get surround out to the masses.

It rewards those who made the HiRez investment in hardware, and it also allows those with Home Theater systems to hear and enjoy the surround sound presentation without any additional equipment.

Those with DTS and DD are getting to hear the 5.1 presentation and appreciate (or dislike) what they are hearing, and had this been released on a hybrid SACD, that would not be possible.

The best thing that could happen to surround audio right now would be for a title like Abbey Road or Sgt. Pepper to be released in a CD+DVD-A package.

Bring them on! (y)
 
Now we need the rest of the catalog in hi-rez surround! As others have noted, the sales of this DVD-A may tell that tale.

Hmmm... Would it be wrong of me to go around to all the stores and conveniently "misplace" their CD-only versions? Thus, forcing everyone to buy the deluxe 2-disc DVD-Audio version! They'd be thanking me for it later, right? :banana:
 
Hmmm... Would it be wrong of me to go around to all the stores and conveniently "misplace" their CD-only versions? Thus, forcing everyone to buy the deluxe 2-disc DVD-Audio version! They'd be thanking me for it later, right? :banana:

I was at CostCo on Tuesday and they had the CD + DVDA package for $17 - AND, they didn't have the CD only version. My order had already been shipped by Amazon (still not here though) so I passed. I did turn and remark to my wife that it was cheaper than Amazon and included the surround disc - at which point another customer who had just put it down picked it back up and left.
 
I love what i heard so far its great my only problem has been at the end of bac in the USSR i get some silence while the counter continues on its upward path. Then a freeze at what i assume to be the layer change :mad: . i then have to select the next track while my Guitar gently weeps.

It goes back this weekend, and ill wait for a new copy before giving it a score suffice to say it will be a high score certainly the best i have ever heard the beatles.
 
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