Elliot not on Front Page of Surround Polls?

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Really. What is the AF SACD? I find it hard to believe anything can sound much better than the DVD-A version I have, although I do have some incredible sounding SACDs as well (Elton John).
 
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listening to Yoshimi right now for the millionth time and can't understand how that could not make the front page.

Probably the most surround I've ever heard. The proof is in the bar graph for each channel in Foobar. It's as surround, and more, than DSOTM, it's just the content is bit weird for most (I get it), but the fidelity is almost on par with Parson's but not as full.
 
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I know of the Mercedes disc, but what are the three Acura discs? Even more chestnuts to search out?

a series of annual compilations curated by Elliot Scheiner from Rhino/Panasonic/UMG for new Acura vehicle ELS system owners.
the only way to hear the lossless 5.1 of Fleetwood Mac's "Monday Morning" and Steve Miller's "Fly Like An Eagle"

A79928CF-9C0D-422D-808B-24BABF21B9D6.jpeg


https://www.discogs.com/Various-Acura-TL-DVD-Audio-Demonstration-Disc/release/1347524
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Acura-DVD-Audio-Demonstration-Disc/release/10823939
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Acura-TL-DVD-Audio-Demonstration-Disc/release/953693
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Acu...dio-System-Demonstration-Disc/release/4878279
 
I would agree. Seems like everything released 'today' gets a 10.

Compared to the 2-channel redbook CD versions, just about everything released in hi-res and/or multichannel is a 10. I was listening to some of The Guess Who in 2-channel hi-res on the DV SACD discs. It was like I had never heard them before...stunning.
 
I would agree. Seems like everything released 'today' gets a 10.

this is a discussion for a different thread, sorry for going off piste.

i can see that there has been a trend towards the instant 10 for sometime now.

i have been as guilty as anyone of letting my enthusiasm or negativity run away with me, voting too soon, wading in with too high or low a score, only to feel remorseful later when starting to really pick things apart.

now we can revise our scores it has arguably made it easier to initially vote on impulse and amend later when we've lived with a release for a while, something i have done a few times already. given my voting habits, i imagine that may have had an impact on the numbers of 10's cast overall, if other members vote the same way.

what i would say is that i never dished out so many 10's until Dutton Vocalion came along and started doing all the old Quads i love so much! the quantity of quality Quads they have been putting out the last few years has for me been truly amazing - and at times overwhelming!!

time and again, however, in all respects that are the criteria for me awarding a 10, the DV SACDs have ticked all the boxes and trounced all previous incarnations i owned of those albums. hand on heart, for reasons both logical and other more emotional, it has been hard not to award them the highest rating.

prior to DV's entry into the surround music market i was probably a bit stingy with my QQ Poll votes.. many times finding something to prevent a release i was voting on, new or old, from achieving that "Perfect 10" because really i found so many releases lacking in some way and my low voting on a highly rated Poll title has been called into question which seemed fair enough and i had another listen and look at the package and revised the score accordingly.

does any of that undermine/demean a 10.. i don't know but i hope not. yeay! lunchtime! 🙂
 
this is a discussion for a different thread, sorry for going off piste.

i can see that there has been a trend towards the instant 10 for sometime now.

i have been as guilty as anyone of letting my enthusiasm or negativity run away with me, voting too soon, wading in with too high or low a score, only to feel remorseful later when starting to really pick things apart.

now we can revise our scores it has arguably made it easier to initially vote on impulse and amend later when we've lived with a release for a while, something i have done a few times already. given my voting habits, i imagine that may have had an impact on the numbers of 10's cast overall, if other members vote the same way.

what i would say is that i never dished out so many 10's until Dutton Vocalion came along and started doing all the old Quads i love so much! the quantity of quality Quads they have been putting out the last few years has for me been truly amazing - and at times overwhelming!!

time and again, however, in all respects that are the criteria for me awarding a 10, the DV SACDs have ticked all the boxes and trounced all previous incarnations i owned of those albums. hand on heart, for reasons both logical and other more emotional, it has been hard not to award them the highest rating.

prior to DV's entry into the surround music market i was probably a bit stingy with my QQ Poll votes.. many times finding something to prevent a release i was voting on, new or old, from achieving that "Perfect 10" because really i found so many releases lacking in some way and my low voting on a highly rated Poll title has been called into question which seemed fair enough and i had another listen and look at the package and revised the score accordingly.

does any of that undermine/demean a 10.. i don't know but i hope not. yeay! lunchtime! 🙂

I simply reserve a 10 for those handful of albums that are the cream of the crop, rise to the top, terminator. When everything from BW Stevenson to Abbey Road are given a 10, then there is no distinction and yes, I believe that dilutes the value of a 10.
 
I simply reserve a 10 for those handful of albums that are the cream of the crop, rise to the top, terminator. When everything from BW Stevenson to Abbey Road are given a 10, then there is no distinction and yes, I believe that dilutes the value of a 10.

Excellent point, WET, and I suppose in ALL the excitement of being treated to so many great [and NOT so great] D~V QUAD tites in such a short time at such ridiculously low prices some of us did get caught up in the TEN 'frenzy!' Most especially when you factor in ALL the criteria which should make a ten a true TEN.

And how many disappointments have we endured when a TEN album actually gets a 'modern' surround remix and hardly lives up to OUR criteria as to what a creative, surround remix SHOULD SOUND LIKE [Let me count the ways].

In time, and hopefully when the dust settles, we can revisit those polls and JUDICIOUSLY vote more authoritatively lowering those 9's and 10's to a more 'deserving' level which is why that option to 'change vote' becomes more of a valuable asset.

A TEN should be reserved for PERFECTION and in all my years of listening to all genres of music ........ only a few in hindsight do quality for that exalted status!


See the source image

MY, how times have CHANGED!
 
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I simply reserve a 10 for those handful of albums that are the cream of the crop, rise to the top, terminator. When everything from BW Stevenson to Abbey Road are given a 10, then there is no distinction and yes, I believe that dilutes the value of a 10.

interesting take on it.

tbh i'm still unclear about the function of the Polls.

are they meant to be something where only a select handful of surround releases can be 10s, sit atop a leaderboard and everything else is then judged by those perfect 10s?

or are they a great big chart, where people judge each title on its own merit and so in that way many 10s are possible and valid in a list with numerous 9 and below votes to compare them to?

it has been suggested that adding comments can help clarify a Poll vote. i've noticed too few people vote and comment so if using the Polls to help determine what goes on the shopping list i have to look at each Poll thread and weigh up how many 10 votes there are relative to the number of comments made that reflect those 10 votes.

just plucking those two titles out of the Polls at random, even BW Stevenson and Abbey Road are curious examples of how when i reckon up all the things i look for in a great surround music release (even though they are very different types of release) can both still to me be a 10.

they're different in terms of format, different presentation, one's a £12 quid Quad 2-fer, the other's a £100 big set with Atmos, 5.1 and other stuff.

in such a case, is value relative and can or should perceived extra value for money come to influence a final Poll vote rating by tipping a 9 into being a 10?

B W Stevenson is two surround albums at nearly a tenth of the price of the big set with just one album - but My Maria is not Abbey Road.

when i look at each release on its merits; on the basis of the music, the surround mixes, the sound quality and the overall package, to me B W Stevenson and Abbey Road are both 10s, everything in between's not a 10 but there are many other 10s.
 
DV have definitely been the whirlwind wizards that turned my Poll voting upside down.

in the last few years they have released scores of my favourite Quads.

one release after another, other than the handful of Scheiner masterpieces and the Elton 5.1's that made it out, DV's releases of my most cherished Quads represent the greatest joy in this hobby for me.

time and again, from Cantamos & Seven to Eargasm and Rated Extraordinaire, Pure Music to Breakaway, All American Boy to #10, Tale Spinnin' to Musicmagic, Ain't Nothin' Stoppin' Us Now to Rockin' Soul, Behind Closed Doors & Everytime You Touch Me I Get High, 360 Degrees Of Billy Paul & War Of The Gods, Survival & Family Reunion, Philadelphia Freedom, Symphonic Soul, Rocket Man, Spirit, That's The Way Of The World, Mirror Image, Black & Blue, Wake Up Everybody... they have breathed new life into all the old Quad LPs i nearly wore the grooves out on i played them so much!

that's approaching thirty (yes, 30!) of my favourite albums of surround music and that's only the half of what they've released in surround since they started doing the old Quads!

longtime members here know i have been clamouring for surround reissues of many of these albums for years and DV have done them justice;
sounding better than ever, nice no nonsense packages, often with eminently readable liner notes, to me they represent great value for money yet bring me so much pleasure its hard to put a price on them, to me each one is a twelve pound treasure that i love more than just about any of the out of print things that go for silly money now.

if many of those DV releases of my all-time favourite Quads were not 10's or well on their way to being 10's, i don't know what would be 🙂
 
Hmmm, interesting discussion... In my book the best, according to my taste, of the Dutton Vocalion releases can never be 10's, simply because the music in itself is not in the same league as my favorite music. Let me give you a good example - I really like the Garfunkels with fantastic sound quality and 4.0-mixes, but he is so much lower in my own musical food chain than, say, Paul Simon so I can never vote any higher than 8, independant how freaking good they sound...

One idea is to base the voting purely on just sound and mix quality. To include the musical/artistic quality and the price/availibility doesn't really add anything, does it? Just my 0.02$.
 
One idea is to base the voting purely on just sound and mix quality. To include the musical/artistic quality and the price/availibility doesn't really add anything, does it? Just my 0.02$.

I agree. I always thought basing a vote on "content" was too subjective. Fidelity and discreteness of surround is so much more empirical.

It seems the Brits always "like" different music than us Yanks (and this is proven by British top 10 vs US top ten) why that was ever inputted as a factor in the polls is beyond me.

MOST of the music I really "Like" isn't even in surround. Why would what I "like" in surround even matter?
 
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Breakaway is a good example of the evolution of my own personal listening journey, an exploration that has led me to awarding 10's to so many of these albums DV have done on SACD, the kind of records that twenty years ago i'd have chuckled at the notion i'd give almost any of them the highest possible rating in an online Poll.

the 1 or 2 tracks i'd heard on the radio aside, Breakaway was an album that didn't register a blip on my radar 15 years ago, the excerpts i'd heard didn't strike that chord with me.. 10 years or so i discovered a Q8 DTS rip online and it got me interested, admittedly almost just by virtue of being something "new" to listen to in surround.. but there was some allure in that Q8 rip because every now and again i'd come back to it, enjoying it more and more but longing for a sound quality upgrade.. 5 years ago i picked up the SQ LP and was totally hooked, the sound and texture of everything snapped into focus (even if the 4-channel imagery/definition didn't but that's SQ for you).. time passed and i got a Q8 of my own to play and started to pick the discrete mix apart, seeing what was going on in each track mixwise and how it affected my interaction with that song, its no "set and forget" mix.. its interpretive of the mood, tempo and lyric of each track and i think that helps keep things fresh.

fast forward to 'now' with the SACD and all the barriers to my total enjoyment of the Quad have been stripped away.

track after track of impeccable performances, beautiful arrangements, sound quality on the SACD that is a whole other level from the Q8 and SQ LP, couched in a fabulous surround mix has me mesmerised and by the end of the disc i'm a quivering mass of emotions.

when a disc stirs your soul in a way it didn't a decade ago and in ways many other discs don't for me, it could never be anything but a 10.
 
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