I picked up the SQ album of "Serenade" for $3.00 last weekend. And I have to ask - has anyone compared the SQ decoding to the Q8? I think something is wrong with . . . well . . . everything.
First of all, when I digitize the album to Adobe Audition, the right channel is at least 4 db louder than the left. I put on my Command test record to make sure my channels were in balance, and they are, so that's how the record is. I tried decoding the album as is, first with Oxford Dickie's script, and then with Lucanu's script. In each case, the balances seemed wrong. So I raised the level of the left channel to match the right and decoded again. And the balances were still off. Specifically, Neil's vocals are panned front right and rear left! That's right, I think we have a new album to add to the "Channel Reassignment Recommendations" thread. By swapping front left and rear left, I got a good centered vocal in front and a more ambient vocal in the rears. It's still not a particularly discrete mix, but I think this is how it's supposed to sound.
So, to summarize:
Raise left channel level to match right channel.
Swap front left and rear left.