I had a chance to listen to Mobile Fidelity's first surround-sound SACD last night. The title is Ravel's Bolero, mastered from the original Vox quadraphonic master tape from 1975.
I was more than a bit disappointed to notice a very tiny manufacturing defect in the data area near the spindle hole of the disc. It’s hard to describe, but it’s one of those things that may or may not affect play, and is hardly visible. For the amount of money that MoFi is charging for these things, I would expect nothing short of perfection, and am dismayed to find anything resembling a defect on the disc, even if it is only cosmetic.
In any event, I figured if play was not affected, I would go ahead and keep the disc. I hate hassling with returns.
Upon firing up the disc, the first thing I noticed was a not insubstantial amount of hum, as in the 60 Hz electrical variety. I know it's not my system, and I don't believe that a pressing defect could cause such distortion, but who knows. I am very curious to learn from anyone else who buys this disc as to whether or not you notice the hum at the beginning of the first track.
The next thing I noticed was a substantial amount of tape hiss. On the one hand, I'm happy to hear the hiss, since that means that (in all likelihood) no noise-reduction was used. On the other hand, I was disappointed that the master tapes were not offering better performance.
These distractions were easily noticeable since the beginning strains of Bolero are quite delicate and subdued. As the song progressed, the hum went (mostly) away and the tape hiss became easily ignored, then the sheer brilliance of the music shone through. The liner notes mention that the original recording was rolled-off at the top and bottom in order to prevent "bloom" inherent in recording the ambience of the hall. Despite this fact, the recording has plenty of dynamics and is downright breathtaking in its power and presence.
Speaking of the liner notes, they do mention the quadraphonic heritage of this recording. They make one big mistake in mentioning that the recording was original released using the Sansui SQ system. The liner notes go on to incorrectly reference the SQ system (when it should be QS) multiple times. What makes this all the more amusing is the original LP cover art is used for this title and it clearly states QS quadraphonic!
Be that as it may, the recording is what really matters, and despite its shortcomings this recording captures the wonderful ambience of the recording venue and the performances are top notch. This is a great example of a "you are there" recording, and the fidelity offered by the SACD is truly remarkable.
As mentioned elsewhere on this board, a few of the Vox classical surround titles have been released by Classic Records as 24/96 DADs (Digital Audio Disc - precursor to DVD-A) and they retain the QS quadraphonic encoding. As spectacular as those sound when played through a Sansui QSD-1 decoder, they come nowhere near this SACD mastered from the discrete, multi-track master tapes.
The majority of the disc retains the original 4.0 quadraphonic format, but among the various bonus tracks is a five-minute snippet employing a 5.0 remix. I found this track quit intriguing and feel that MoFi did a fantastic job in creating a 5.0 mix from four tracks. The center channel is moderately aggressive and I feel that it provides a perfect balance in anchoring the center image without drawing undue attention to the center channel.
The rear channels are more fully realized in the 5.0 mix, and overall, I feel the 5.0 mix offers a more engaging surround-sound experience, despite the fact that it is a somewhat artificial creation that detracts from the original spirit and intention of the recording. It certainly offers an illuminating contrast for the rest of the material. Without a doubt, I love hearing the original recording as it was intended, but damn it if I didn’t find myself wishing the entire disc were remixed for 5.0! They really did a fine job here.
I'm excited to learn that Mobile Fidelity will be releasing more surround titles from the Vox catalog. Nearly 30 years after the fact, technology finally allows us to hear these wonderful surround recordings the way they were meant to be heard!
I was more than a bit disappointed to notice a very tiny manufacturing defect in the data area near the spindle hole of the disc. It’s hard to describe, but it’s one of those things that may or may not affect play, and is hardly visible. For the amount of money that MoFi is charging for these things, I would expect nothing short of perfection, and am dismayed to find anything resembling a defect on the disc, even if it is only cosmetic.
In any event, I figured if play was not affected, I would go ahead and keep the disc. I hate hassling with returns.
Upon firing up the disc, the first thing I noticed was a not insubstantial amount of hum, as in the 60 Hz electrical variety. I know it's not my system, and I don't believe that a pressing defect could cause such distortion, but who knows. I am very curious to learn from anyone else who buys this disc as to whether or not you notice the hum at the beginning of the first track.
The next thing I noticed was a substantial amount of tape hiss. On the one hand, I'm happy to hear the hiss, since that means that (in all likelihood) no noise-reduction was used. On the other hand, I was disappointed that the master tapes were not offering better performance.
These distractions were easily noticeable since the beginning strains of Bolero are quite delicate and subdued. As the song progressed, the hum went (mostly) away and the tape hiss became easily ignored, then the sheer brilliance of the music shone through. The liner notes mention that the original recording was rolled-off at the top and bottom in order to prevent "bloom" inherent in recording the ambience of the hall. Despite this fact, the recording has plenty of dynamics and is downright breathtaking in its power and presence.
Speaking of the liner notes, they do mention the quadraphonic heritage of this recording. They make one big mistake in mentioning that the recording was original released using the Sansui SQ system. The liner notes go on to incorrectly reference the SQ system (when it should be QS) multiple times. What makes this all the more amusing is the original LP cover art is used for this title and it clearly states QS quadraphonic!
Be that as it may, the recording is what really matters, and despite its shortcomings this recording captures the wonderful ambience of the recording venue and the performances are top notch. This is a great example of a "you are there" recording, and the fidelity offered by the SACD is truly remarkable.
As mentioned elsewhere on this board, a few of the Vox classical surround titles have been released by Classic Records as 24/96 DADs (Digital Audio Disc - precursor to DVD-A) and they retain the QS quadraphonic encoding. As spectacular as those sound when played through a Sansui QSD-1 decoder, they come nowhere near this SACD mastered from the discrete, multi-track master tapes.
The majority of the disc retains the original 4.0 quadraphonic format, but among the various bonus tracks is a five-minute snippet employing a 5.0 remix. I found this track quit intriguing and feel that MoFi did a fantastic job in creating a 5.0 mix from four tracks. The center channel is moderately aggressive and I feel that it provides a perfect balance in anchoring the center image without drawing undue attention to the center channel.
The rear channels are more fully realized in the 5.0 mix, and overall, I feel the 5.0 mix offers a more engaging surround-sound experience, despite the fact that it is a somewhat artificial creation that detracts from the original spirit and intention of the recording. It certainly offers an illuminating contrast for the rest of the material. Without a doubt, I love hearing the original recording as it was intended, but damn it if I didn’t find myself wishing the entire disc were remixed for 5.0! They really did a fine job here.
I'm excited to learn that Mobile Fidelity will be releasing more surround titles from the Vox catalog. Nearly 30 years after the fact, technology finally allows us to hear these wonderful surround recordings the way they were meant to be heard!
