An Overview of Audio Fidelity's Multichannel SACDs

[fredblue]

WIN!!!!

The Cocker will be stereo, then?

Hey, btw, do we have a full list of the AF multichannel SACD releases available and upcoming so far? Perhaps we should open a thread for people to get a quick overview of AF's multichannel program? Jon?

George Benson - Breezin' (5.1),
Al Kooper/Mike Bloomfield - SuperSession (5.1)
Blood Sweat & Tears - Child Is Father To The Man (5.1),
Grover Washington Jr. - Winelight (5.1),
New York Voices - Let It Snow (5.1),
Blood Sweat & Tears (4.0),
Best Of Guess Who (4.0),
Best Of Bread (4.0),
America - Homecoming (5.1),
Earth, Wind & Fire - Open Our Eyes (4.0),
Labelle - Nightbirds (4.0),
Billy Joel - Streetlife Serenade (4.0),
Best Of Doors (4.0)

 

[fredblue]

That's a baker's dozen new surround releases in just over 7 months.. Great job AF! :wave :worthy

Scrap that. AMAZING job

 

[LizardKing]

George Benson - Breezin' (5.1),
Al Kooper/Mike Bloomfield - SuperSession (5.1)
Grover Washington Jr. - Winelight (5.1),
Blood Sweat & Tears - Child Is Father To The Man (5.1),
New York Voices - Let It Snow (5.1),
Blood Sweat & Tears (4.0),
Best Of Guess Who (4.0),
Best Of Bread (4.0),
America - Homecoming (5.1),
Labelle - Nightbirds (4.0),
Earth, Wind & Fire - Open Our Eyes (4.0),
Best Of Doors (4.0)

One more:
Billy Joel - Streetlife Serenade (4.0)

 

[fredblue]

One more:
Billy Joel - Streetlife Serenade (4.0)

Oops! My bad! Thank you

 

[DuncanS]

Does anbody know if the surround discs are selling better/quicker than the stereo? - It would be interesting to find out.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Does anbody know if the surround discs are selling better/quicker than the stereo? - It would be interesting to find out.

Depends where you ask...ask over at SH forums and you could guess what the answer will be:walker

 

[GOS]

I just can't believe the first half of 2015! Who would have thought all these titles would come swarming out? Gotta love it....choices man...choices.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I just can't believe the first half of 2015! Who would have thought all these titles would come swarming out? Gotta love it....choices man...choices.

I think 99% of music lovers feel that way..but the 1% who constantly complain about some aspect of the new releases really bug me..human nature I guess...but this insatiable appetite for complaining held by the 1% really bothers me..short term memory of the time when you didn't see new releases like this..

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Here is the "lineup"...with their respective release dates..

 

[bmoura]

A listing of Audio Fidelity's Multichannel SACD releases and an overview of their Multichannel SACD program.

 

[quicksrt]

Does anybody know if the surround discs are selling better/quicker than the stereo? - It would be interesting to find out.

I think the fact that these are coming out at a very consistent pace speaks positively of their sales history to date. We are waiting for the street dates to arrive on Mahavishnu and Jeff Beck, and at the same time getting to fill in on Sly & Family Stone and Loggins & Messina prep.

If they can get an additional 1,000 units sold with of the inclusion of the surround or quad tracks, and those 1,000 sales happen quickly (not later), then it's probably considered worth it. I hope it is so successful that MFSL starts thinking that they are missing out on those additional sales as well, and so considers or reconsiders their stuffy policy of no quad mixes. That is one reason why I want to see Chicago's Greatest Hits on AF SACD with the quad layer. It would be a nice splash of cold water in MFSL's face.

 

[quicksrt]

Depends where you ask...ask over at SH forums and you could guess what the answer will be:walker

What would that answer be? That surround is a gimmick that a few people might be interested in, but not considered hi-fi? It seems like it could be the format layer that saved AF during the difficult years which we are now in.

 

[fredblue]

What would that answer be? That surround is a gimmick that a few people might be interested in, but not considered hi-fi? It seems like it could be the format layer that saved AF during the difficult years which we are now in.

I imagine the tide is turning there since Mr.Hoffman started mastering AF's Surround SACDs..

 

[cupboy]

I imagine the tide is turning there since Mr.Hoffman started mastering AF's Surround SACDs..

I don't mind the tide turning but we really don't need his mastering. Have Kevin take over.

 

[quicksrt]

I don't mind the tide turning but we really don't need his mastering. Have Kevin take over.

Mr. Hoffman does not master all their releases. I think they like to spread the work around a bit. Quad tapes or surround tracks are often not SH mastered from what I've noticed.

 

[bmoura]

Let me clarify things a bit on this.

The Stereo CD and Stereo SACD tracks on the Audio Fidelity SACDs - Stereo and Multichannel - are remastered by Steve Hoffman or Kevin Gray.
It depends on their availability as to which remastering engineer is used.

The Tape to DSD transfers and remastering for the Multichannel SACD tracks are done by Gus Skinas at the Super Audio Center in Longmont, Colorado.
The one exception to this was on Best of The Doors. That Multichannel transfer was done by Steve Hoffman since The Doors tapes could not be sent out of the L.A. area at the record label and band's request.
http://www.superaudiocenter.com/