New York Voices - Let It Snow - 5.1 Multichannel SACD (June 2015)

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For Immediate Release

Audiophile Record Label Audio Fidelity To Produce a Series of Multichannel Releases with ETrain Records!

Camarillo, CA - Marshall Blonstein's Audio Fidelity, the audiophile record label known worldwide for their exceptional sound quality, has taken another step forward in that endeavor. Marshall Blonstein, the president of the company and his business partner and chairman, John Paul DeJoria, have reached an agreement to produce a series of multichannel releases with ETrain Records helmed by multi-Grammy winner Elliot Scheiner.

Scheiner is considered to be among the most accomplished sound engineers and producers in his field having worked with a long list of superstar artists including the Eagles, Sting, Steely Dan, R.E.M., Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne and many more. The first release, just in time for the holiday season, will be New York Voices' Let It Snow, a brilliant collection of beloved Christmas classics. This debut release will be available on Hybrid 5.1 Discreet Surround and High Def Stereo Multichannel SACD as will all of the product developed under this new association along with many classic titles that will be released on Quad and 5.1.

Audio Fidelity and ETrain Records will explore the multichannel arena through traditional channels as well as opportunities for multichannel in the auto industry.

Blonstein stated, “We were looking for a strategic partner to move back to the future for multichannel audio and Elliot is by far the perfect match for this challenge.” In the past Elliot paved the way for multichannel sound in cars when he developed the highly acclaimed ELS Sound System for Acura, the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Honda Motor Company.

The three principals released a joint statement announcing “how excited they are about this new relationship and the first release. And, to audiophiles, collectors and music lovers alike, you've never heard your favorite music sound this good!” Blonstein added, “Our multichannel SACDs will be Limited Numbered Editions packaged in a deluxe variation of our patented see-through slip cases.”

In addition to his Grammy Awards, Scheiner has received two Emmy Awards for his work with the Eagles on the Eagles Farewell 1 Tour – Live From Melbourne show and the documentary film History of the Eagles. He is also a proud member of the TEC Hall of Fame with three TEC Awards to his name. Scheiner is also a recipient of the very first Surround Pioneer Award. Elliot holds an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Berklee College of Music and is one of the only Americans to be awarded the Master of Sound honor from the Japan Audio Society.

As a businessman, environmentalist and philanthropist, John Paul has donated his time, money and expertise to help others. Among John Paul's many accomplishments he is the co-founder of John Paul Mitchell line of hair care products as well as being the co-founder of Patron Tequila, the #1 Premium Tequila in the world. He was also an early investor in the House Of Blues. He has interest in Solar Utility, Sun King Solar, Touchstone Natural Gas and John Paul Pet Co. John Paul was also honored with the Sustainability Award for his dedication to environmental preservation and was inducted as a lifetime member into the Horacio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.

Before forming Audio Fidelity, Marshall Blonstein was the President and founder of DCC Compact Classics, the pioneering audiophile label that introduced such artists as the Eagles, The Doors, Metallica, Van Halen, Paul McCartney, etc. to the audiophile world. Prior to that he was co-founder and general manager of Ode Records. While at Ode he was involved with music film and stage production through his work with Carole King, Cheech & Chong, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Cheech & Chong film “Up In Smoke” as well as The Rocky Horror Picture Show play and movie. Blonstein was also the president of Island Records during the years of Bob Marley, Robert Palmer and Stevie Winwood.

For more information: www.audiofidelity.net
 
Jesus! Weren't we just talking about how cool it would be if Elliot Scheiner teamed up with Audio Fidelity?? Did April Fools come early?
 
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My bad. I knew about the New York voices release, I didn't know it had Elliot Scheiner tied to it. I somehow must've skipped over that part or it slipped my mind.
Still, it seems like we may have a new powerhouse behind some surround releases - and that's a good thing.
 
SACD though Meehh

I agree. I only own one player that will do SACD, and that's the Sony MEX/2000 in my Tiburon. Sad thing is, that deck and it's brother the 2200 are long out of production and discontinued. As far as I know, those were the last two aftermarket decks to play SACD. The JVC I have in my Daytona (aside from being heinously underpowered compared to the Sony) at least does DVD-A, but will not play SACD.

If I were to buy a home player, it would need to do DVD-V (of course), and would like it to do both SACD and DVD-A as I simply do not have the want nor the room for multiple players.

However, I'm also of the camp where at least we're getting SOMETHING!
 
I agree. I only own one player that will do SACD, and that's the Sony MEX/2000 in my Tiburon. Sad thing is, that deck and it's brother the 2200 are long out of production and discontinued. As far as I know, those were the last two aftermarket decks to play SACD. The JVC I have in my Daytona (aside from being heinously underpowered compared to the Sony) at least does DVD-A, but will not play SACD.

If I were to buy a home player, it would need to do DVD-V (of course), and would like it to do both SACD and DVD-A as I simply do not have the want nor the room for multiple players.

However, I'm also of the camp where at least we're getting SOMETHING!

Ah, the format wars live on.... :)

The good news - for home theater and home audio - is that if you have an Oppo disc player, it handles all of the formats - DVD Video, Blu-Ray, SACD and DVD-A, etc.
No need to fight about formats then. You can play them all in Stereo and Multichannel. I love my Oppo player. Very handy indeed.
 
I'm with rusinurbe. This goes beyond mere format wars. The whole thing smells bad. First of all, anyone who sells a stream of bits and talks of "limited editions" is just being silly. If you create artificial scarcity of a digital product, you're just encouraging piracy. Second, there is no good technical argument for releasing LPCM-sourced material in DSD. This is not a "format war" / truthiness issue; it's a fact. DSD can't be losslessy converted back to its LPCM source. There may be valid business reasons for selling LPCM-sourced material in a DSD format, but not technical reasons. In fact, I wonder about the business case too: so many people have Blu-ray players compared to the number of people with SACD players. Also, Blu-rays are more attractive to those of us who like to play our music off our computers.
 
afaik labels like AF can be subject to limited quantity and limited time deals as part of their licensing agreements of these titles from the major labels so maybe that's what's at play here.
 
afaik labels like AF can be subject to limited quantity and limited time deals as part of their licensing agreements of these titles from the major labels so maybe that's what's at play here.

When it comes to selling the AF SACDs for high prices on eBay and Amazon, I don't remember seeing limited number editions as being part of the pitch by the sellers.
On the other hand, the limited edition numbering of the first 5,000 copies of each SACD release may be part of the mystique. In any case, it works for AF so why not?! :)
 
When it comes to selling the AF SACDs for high prices on eBay and Amazon, I don't remember seeing limited number editions as being part of the pitch by the sellers.
On the other hand, the limited edition numbering of the first 5,000 copies of each SACD release may be part of the mystique. In any case, it works for AF so why not?! :)

Because the profits accrue to the sellers on eBay, and to eBay itself. The artists (including the producers of the surround mixes) don't see a penny of these high-value eBay transactions. And, as I said, I suspect that it encourages piracy. If a product is unavailable through legal channels, people are more likely to get it however they can. I have no statistical proof of this assertion, but it does stand to reason.
 
Because the profits accrue to the sellers on eBay, and to eBay itself. The artists (including the producers of the surround mixes) don't see a penny of these high-value eBay transactions. And, as I said, I suspect that it encourages piracy. If a product is unavailable through legal channels, people are more likely to get it however they can. I have no statistical proof of this assertion, but it does stand to reason.
Are you saying that the ebay market encourages piracy?
 
Are you saying that the ebay market encourages piracy?

No! Sorry that I didn't make myself clear. I meant that artificially limiting the supply of a digital product (like Disney does with its "limited time only" releases) encourages piracy. I suspect that there are many people who would cheerfully buy a product on Amazon (or wherever), but when they can't they, they download it illegally. Of course I could be wrong, but it does seem reasonable.
 
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I think fredblue is on track here. These titles are 'limited editions' not because they want them to be collectable. They are being released by a label that has to license the title from the host label (even though these days they are dwindling down to just a few mega corporations), and these licenses are purchased for a set time period. We all know about all of the MFSL discs and LPs that were buried in the ground because the license period ran out on them being able to sell them.

To blame these boutique labels for releasing gold, audiophile, SACD, DVD-A, etc, discs with limited licenses as being devious or underhanded is pretty lame. The music is always out there, one way or another, and many different labels. Nothing prohibits the owning label from releasing these prior titles on their own after the license period runs out. If there's money in it, they can do it.

Look at the Quadio's. That was done my the parent label, who put out a product that was not originally intended to be 'limited', but when the program got pulled out from under the Rhino division, the product instantly became eBay items, selling for 3, 4 sometimes 5 times the original cost. In this case, WEA or whoever they are today could easily "make more" and sell them online or in stores, but they choose not to.

It all comes down to the restrictions put upon the distributor of the product. Be it a custom label like Audio Fidelity or MFSL, or even a huge conglomerate that has one division doing one thing and another doing the opposite.
 
my LaserDisc importer buddy Phil told me some 20-odd years ago that he had it on good authority Disney's then 7-year limited release window/timeframe for home video releases was a self-imposed thing and no more than a marketing strategy (gimmick?) and a clever one at that killing several birds with one stone, ensuring rapid immediate sales (so distributors etc didn't have to stock lots of unsold inventory and no need for SOR situation that would mean they wouldn't be lumbered with a load of unsold stock) especially with Disney devotees a bit of a dead cert buying anything with the Disney logo on it the minute it comes out.. and removed overhead need for repressing potentially surplus discs at the factory. The knock on effect obviously lead to unscrupulous scalping etc once the limited time @RRP elapsed but I don't think AF's in the same boat, they are restricted to timescale as part of the licensing agreement of these titles and take a commercial decision to press the quantity they feel will turnover in that period.
 
I think fredblue is on track here. These titles are 'limited editions' not because they want them to be collectable. They are being released by a label that has to license the title from the host label (even though these days they are dwindling down to just a few mega corporations), and these licenses are purchased for a set time period. We all know about all of the MFSL discs and LPs that were buried in the ground because the license period ran out on them being able to sell them.

To blame these boutique labels for releasing gold, audiophile, SACD, DVD-A, etc, discs with limited licenses as being devious or underhanded is pretty lame. The music is always out there, one way or another, and many different labels. Nothing prohibits the owning label from releasing these prior titles on their own after the license period runs out. If there's money in it, they can do it.

Look at the Quadio's. That was done my the parent label, who put out a product that was not originally intended to be 'limited', but when the program got pulled out from under the Rhino division, the product instantly became eBay items, selling for 3, 4 sometimes 5 times the original cost. In this case, WEA or whoever they are today could easily "make more" and sell them online or in stores, but they choose not to.

It all comes down to the restrictions put upon the distributor of the product. Be it a custom label like Audio Fidelity or MFSL, or even a huge conglomerate that has one division doing one thing and another doing the opposite.

Well said!
 
my LaserDisc importer buddy Phil told me some 20-odd years ago that he had it on good authority Disney's then 7-year limited release window/timeframe for home video releases was a self-imposed thing and no more than a marketing strategy (gimmick?) and a clever one at that killing several birds with one stone, ensuring rapid immediate sales (so distributors etc didn't have to stock lots of unsold inventory and no need for SOR situation that would mean they wouldn't be lumbered with a load of unsold stock) especially with Disney devotees a bit of a dead cert buying anything with the Disney logo on it the minute it comes out.. and removed overhead need for repressing potentially surplus discs at the factory. The knock on effect obviously lead to unscrupulous scalping etc once the limited time @RRP elapsed but I don't think AF's in the same boat, they are restricted to timescale as part of the licensing agreement of these titles and take a commercial decision to press the quantity they feel will turnover in that period.

Disney also said that the 7 Year Window allowed them to keep control of their catalog and release their top titles periodically this way. An interesting approach and theory.
 
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