Thanks to a kind fellow member who received their set before I did, I just had the opportunity to do a quick comparison between this new version and the 2009 DVD-A. Keep in mind that I don't have intimate familiarity with the album (the first time I heard it was on the DVD-A) and I really liked the old 5.1, which seems to have gotten mixed reviews.
Let's take a look at my favorite track on the album, "I Talk To The Wind":
2009 DVD-A:
View attachment 43878
2019 Blu-Ray:
View attachment 43877
As you can see, they're clearly different - but the basic locations of the instruments are more-or-less the same: The flutes are hard panned into the left and right fronts, the clarinet and backing vocals are in the rears, and the lead vocal is in the center channel.
There are some interesting differences though:
- The bass flourish that follows the chorus is in the rears on both mixes, but on the 2019 mix it decays from one rear channel to the other, and which of the rear channels it starts in alternates on each chorus (1st chorus it goes RL -> RR, then 2nd chorus RR -> RL, and finally 3rd chorus RL -> RR). Nice playful touch by Steven!
- The bass solo at around 3:15 is hard-panned into the front right channel on the 2019 mix, while the 2009 mix had it isolated in the center channel
- The LFE channel is much louder on the 2019 mix
- The flute solo at around 4:15 jumps back and forth between the rears on the 2019 mix, while the 2009 mix had it isolated in the center channel
- The backing vocals in the rears ("said the straight man...") seem slightly louder on the 2019 mix
Finally - though I'm sure some will disagree - I can't say I really noticed any difference and/or improvement in sound quality.
I need to dive deeper into the other tracks, but so far the biggest change I've noticed between the two mixes is that SW has really backed off his use of the center channel, instead opting to hard-pan instruments left or right. I'm pretty sure the center doesn't contain anything other than isolated vocals on this mix.
So is it worth the double-dip? Personally, I'm not entirely sold - but I'm glad they offered it in an affordable package, and I'm curious to hear what others have to say