First 2 Audio Fidelity Multichannel SACDs Announced - Supersession and Breezin'

[neil wilkes]

on a related tangent.. what are the chances there's much musical information above 23k on the Super Session master tape? Just curious as to yours and everybody's best guesses

last time I ran test tones (earlier in the year) it seemed to show I can hear upto 16k at healthy listening levels (though I realise doing DIY hearing tests may not prove conclusive!) I was pleasantly surprised.. not bad for a life of smashing concrete, rock concerts and crappy karaoke!

Bobby (my Jack Russell) often looks over at the speakers with a "what the 'eck!?" face.. though that's probably more cos he's hacked off having to sit through more Elton bloody John for the unpteenth time!

It's got very little to do with ultrasonic content - what really gets up my nose with SACD is the bloody noise.
It is audible - albeit in a subliminal way - on a lot of these titles because of the stupid DSD system which was never meant as a playable format, and to make it such has to have heroic levels of noise shaping on it.
This, on some discs, sounds like a mosquito in the room - it is on the edge of hearing, but very unsettling & disconcerting. Even my cats will not stay in the room when anything DSD is being played.
That said, it is the whole marketing of this garbage as "audiophile" that really annoys me when it is nothing of the sort, and a well-done CD actually sounds just as good - if not better - and the dynamic range of DSD is no higher than 60dB, 70 at the very most. because of the noise. The claims of "PCM equivalents in the gigahertz range" is pure BS, and the cost for these is astronomically high for what is supplied! $30? DGM/Panegyric do CD/BDA for less than that.

Not to mention an SACD is utterly dependant on specialist hardware, whereas DVD-A/V will work on over 500,000,000 devices. I also suspect there are more Blu-Ray capable devices out there than there are SACD players.
Stupidity, and I for one will pass on this as it would take too long to re-record the thing in & strip out all the crap.

 

[IMachine]

It's got very little to do with ultrasonic content - what really gets up my nose with SACD is the bloody noise.
It is audible - albeit in a subliminal way - on a lot of these titles because of the stupid DSD system which was never meant as a playable format, and to make it such has to have heroic levels of noise shaping on it.
This, on some discs, sounds like a mosquito in the room - it is on the edge of hearing, but very unsettling & disconcerting. Even my cats will not stay in the room when anything DSD is being played.
That said, it is the whole marketing of this garbage as "audiophile" that really annoys me when it is nothing of the sort, and a well-done CD actually sounds just as good - if not better - and the dynamic range of DSD is no higher than 60dB, 70 at the very most. because of the noise. The claims of "PCM equivalents in the gigahertz range" is pure BS, and the cost for these is astronomically high for what is supplied! $30? DGM/Panegyric do CD/BDA for less than that.

Not to mention an SACD is utterly dependant on specialist hardware, whereas DVD-A/V will work on over 500,000,000 devices. I also suspect there are more Blu-Ray capable devices out there than there are SACD players.
Stupidity, and I for one will pass on this as it would take too long to re-record the thing in & strip out all the crap.

It depends on forthcoming releases.
If they would offer Fleetwood Mac's Tusk I will order.
I would even order it if it would be only bloody Dolby Digital .

But I'm also not very keen on the two first titles.

Mr. Hoffman please do us big surprises in the future .

 

[quadsearcher]

It's got very little to do with ultrasonic content - what really gets up my nose with SACD is the bloody noise.
It is audible - albeit in a subliminal way - on a lot of these titles because of the stupid DSD system which was never meant as a playable format, and to make it such has to have heroic levels of noise shaping on it.
This, on some discs, sounds like a mosquito in the room - it is on the edge of hearing, but very unsettling & disconcerting. Even my cats will not stay in the room when anything DSD is being played.
That said, it is the whole marketing of this garbage as "audiophile" that really annoys me when it is nothing of the sort, and a well-done CD actually sounds just as good - if not better - and the dynamic range of DSD is no higher than 60dB, 70 at the very most. because of the noise. The claims of "PCM equivalents in the gigahertz range" is pure BS, and the cost for these is astronomically high for what is supplied! $30? DGM/Panegyric do CD/BDA for less than that.

Not to mention an SACD is utterly dependant on specialist hardware, whereas DVD-A/V will work on over 500,000,000 devices. I also suspect there are more Blu-Ray capable devices out there than there are SACD players.
Stupidity, and I for one will pass on this as it would take too long to re-record the thing in & strip out all the crap.

Oh wow. I'm always glad when someone else points this out. My first impressions of the half dozen or so SACDs I listened to the first day I had a player were mostly disappointment. I thought something was wrong with the player. At first it seemed great on some discs, but listening fatigue set in quickly, then my wife asked why it was so buzzy. Some discs are listenable, although even if I don't hear noise it feels like the high end is cranked up until it's like a drill into my ear. I've heard plenty of independent artist master tapes, and why do people insist SACD is truest to analog, tape doesn't sound like that!!!!
I'll maybe pick up the Supersession because parts of it are really good music, but contingent on reviews of the sound quality.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Oh wow. I'm always glad when someone else points this out. My first impressions of the half dozen or so SACDs I listened to the first day I had a player were mostly disappointment. I thought something was wrong with the player. At first it seemed great on some discs, but listening fatigue set in quickly, then my wife asked why it was so buzzy. Some discs are listenable, although even if I don't hear noise it feels like the high end is cranked up until it's like a drill into my ear. I've heard plenty of independent artist master tapes, and why do people insist SACD is truest to analog, tape doesn't sound like that!!!!
I'll maybe pick up the Supersession because parts of it are really good music, but contingent on reviews of the sound quality.

Everybody has a different experience and opinion. Mine was the exact opposite when I heard my first SACD. I have purchased thousands of CD's over the years and very few would come close to most of my SACD's. Of course SACD's are just like any other format; some are better than others. I don't need to know the dynamic range or how many dB's are involved because I have the best evaluation process for making these determinations; I merely listen to them.

There are purists who have strong opinions about the methodology involved with different formats and that's fine. At the end of the day the only important thing to me is what it sounds like and I'm pleased with SACD.

 

[bmoura]

Everybody has a different experience and opinion. Mine was the exact opposite when I heard my first SACD. I have purchased thousands of CD's over the years and very few would come close to most of my SACD's. Of course SACD's are just like any other format; some are better than others. I don't need to know the dynamic range or how many dB's are involved because I have the best evaluation process for making these determinations; I merely listen to them.

There are purists who have strong opinions about the methodology involved with different formats and that's fine. At the end of the day the only important thing to me is what it sounds like and I'm pleased with SACD.

Well said. That has been my experience as well. Some SACDs are close to CDs and other titles are much better on my audio systems here. Same is the story with DSD Downloads vs. FLAC and PCM Downloads on my audio systems.
Some excellent titles and audio moments with the DSD Downloads.

As Marshall Blonstein at Audio Fidelity noted, if you are interested in the AF 5.1 Multichannel SACDs, consider buying them. If you're not interested, there's no obligation to pick them up.
Sales will determine the future of the 5.1 Multichannel SACD releases - as they do with all music releases and formats.

 

[skindzier]

I rip all of my stuff to a PC. When I was first trying to figure this all out, I ripped the Hotel California SACD to 176.4/24 flac WITHOUT the filter applied. Luckily I managed not to damage my speakers, but trying to figure out what the heck the God-Awful hiss was drove me nuts. The real interesting thing was the hiss level changed a lot from 176.4 to 88.2 when I re-ripped. So I certainly agree that it is really stupid to have an audiophile format where you have to apply a filter to make it sound good. That said, with the filter properly in place I think my ripped SACDs sound pretty darn good. Now I either rip to dsf or simply use the SACD iso in JRiver.

 

[wavelength]

As Marshall Blonstein at Audio Fidelity noted, if you are interested in the AF 5.1 Multichannel SACDs, consider buying them. If you're not interested, there's no obligation to pick them up.
Sales will determine the future of the 5.1 Multichannel SACD releases - as they do with all music releases and formats.

That's a very mixed message. And it speaks directly to the comments often found on this forum: "I'm going to buy it to support surround." It's great that Marshall doesn't believe in laying a guilt trip on potential customers, but in the cold light of day we may lose a source for surround titles if we don't support the source. The problem is that unlike CD and MP3s where there is virtually unlimited choice, we 5.1 junkies have to truly worry about supporting new players in the surround market regardless of whether we like the music or not.

 

[DuncanS]

Super Sessions is a CD I stumbled across a few years ago, saw Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, & Stephen Stills names on the cover, and thought that looks interesting and bought it. I love it, a great album, good in the car too. So although DSD/SACD isn't my ideal choice I'll buy it to listen to the 5.1 mix by Al Kooper. I've the George Benson on DVD-A so I might just buy the SACD to support future surround releases.

 

[kap'n krunch]

I'm nowhere near as technically savvy as Neil or some of the other guys here. Besides that, how high a reel can reproduce will be predicated by lots of factors: tape generation (1st or 2nd, etc.?), machine(s) it was recorded/played back on, speed, mixing board limitations, microphone(s)' frequency response, amp frequency response (ex: if guitar NOT plugged into console,), even things like limitations of Dolby A, dbx, or any other processors used, and lots more factors I haven't outlined.

Any recording, transfer to other media, remixing or final reproduction on an a/v system can go no higher in frequency than the WORST piece of equipment in the chain. It's true from microphone to your speakers.

OK, to finally answer your question, IMHO over 20k is very likely on a reel, albeit there is rolloff SOMEWHERE above that.

For not being savvy (to quote Cpt. Jack Sparrow) , you are absolutely right....not a lot over 20K!

 

[Old Quad Guy]

These look good to me. And by the sound of it, seems this is the start of many more MC titles to come. Looking forward to it!

 

[OppoFood]

That's a very mixed message. And it speaks directly to the comments often found on this forum: "I'm going to buy it to support surround." It's great that Marshall doesn't believe in laying a guilt trip on potential customers, but in the cold light of day we may lose a source for surround titles if we don't support the source. The problem is that unlike CD and MP3s where there is virtually unlimited choice, we 5.1 junkies have to truly worry about supporting new players in the surround market regardless of whether we like the music or not.

Oh come on, the message is simple "if you don't like it then don't buy it" simple.

To honestly think that any of us can influence a marketing decision such as has been taken by buying stuff we dont like is deluded.

What would influence decision such as this is if we ask for certain titles or genre and THEN don't buy them.

For example if I we all bought Jazz in the hope that the next release was rock and it wasn't, but in fact turned out to be Jazz we would only have ourselves to blame.

Now as I have started down this road I might as well continue.

Quite Frankley I am bored of reading posts from members who are going to buy a disk they don't like to "support the format" I'd rather read a review from someone who has bought a disk and has something constructive to say.

Personally I also would rather pay over the top for an OOP title or new box set I like than get four disks I will never play for the same money.

Ok rant over

 

[proufo]

Oh come on, the message is simple "if you don't like it then don't buy it" simple.

What a concept!!

 

[bmoura]

FYI, Amazon.co.jp (Amazon in Japan) is reporting that the two 5.1 Multichannel SACDs from Audio Fidelity (Super Session and Breezin') are due in on August 5, 2014.
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-l...ng/378-9910464-7389820?ie=UTF8&language=en_JP

 

[Cheezmo]

It is a little disappointing to me that after being familiar with, interested in, and purchasing almost every AF SACD release over the last couple of years, when told "we will judge the success of multichannel on how they sell", I am faced with two titles that I'm not familiar with, not interested in, and probably won't purchase. I'll check out the content and consider them, but they just aren't instant buys like most of their recent releases have been.

 

[cupboy]

It is a little disappointing to me that after being familiar with, interested in, and purchasing almost every AF SACD release over the last couple of years, when told "we will judge the success of multichannel on how they sell", I am faced with two titles that I'm not familiar with, not interested in, and probably won't purchase. I'll check out the content and consider them, but they just aren't instant buys like most of their recent releases have been.

And who know why they put out a jazz title. They would have to know that's not really their market. I wonder what the next two titles may be.

 

[bmoura]

And who know why they put out a jazz title. They would have to know that's not really their market. I wonder what the next two titles may be.

We will see how it does. As AF points out, Breezin' is the best selling Jazz album of all time. So if you were going to put out a Multichannel Jazz SACD, that would be the one to release.
Not to mention the music fans who missed it as a DVD-A release and are looking at prices of $40 to $150 for the Multichannel DVD-A on eBay! The new Multichannel SACD is looking mighty good in comparison.

 

[EMB]

While I'm not personally interested in BREEZIN'--it's the kind of Jazz Lite that never interested me--SUPER SESSION is actually a good album, with jams that don't go on too long and are fun to hear in stereo (and quad), so a Kooper 5.1 remix, if issued, should be a gas!

After these, well...let's wait and see what Marshall comes up with. Anything, after all, is better than nothing, and it's to his credit he's giving this a go.

ED

 

[bmoura]

While I'm not personally interested in BREEZIN'--it's the kind of Jazz Lite that never interested me--SUPER SESSION is actually a good album, with jams that don't go on too long and are fun to hear in stereo (and quad), so a Kooper 5.1 remix, if issued, should be a gas!

After these, well...let's wait and see what Marshall comes up with. Anything, after all, is better than nothing, and it's to his credit he's giving this a go.

ED

The Monster Music guys put out some Multichannel albums by George Benson and Al Jarreau. If the Breezin' Multichannel SACD is a success, we may see more SACDs along those lines.

 

[stormchaser]

Ordered both. I have never heard either of these, but I'm happy to see where this AF effort goes.

 

[Which_One_Is_Pink]

Just put in my pre-orders on amazon.com on both, Supersession is a favorite of mine and should be great in 5.1 and love Breezin' so ditto.