I receive my copy (dvd-a) the other day and have been playing it all weekend and have to say: WOW! It took about 10 seconds into the first listen for me to realize that this was the best I've ever heard this album sound. I've had this album in one form or another since the day it was released and have loved the music ever since, but always thought the sound quality was lacking at best. It never seemed like a recording of the separate instruments but just a mass of sound where everything was piled in the same space. I also thought there was a shrillness to it that kept it from sounding as good as it should. All that's gone and each instrument has room to itself and the clarity is so much improved.
The sound quality alone would make this a winner for me, but I love the surround mix and think Steven Wilson nailed it. I have no problem with lead keyboards in the rear and remember that when Yes did the DTS tour, they did that a lot with the live sound mix. The beginning of To Be Over is perfect with Steve's guitar just filling the room. Chris' bass comes through in a way that just never happened with the old stereo mix. The middle section of Gates was always so cluttered with sound that it was sort of chaos, but with this mix it works wonderfully. I think the missing sound effects aren't missed at all. I mean I realize there's some things not there that I've heard before, but I don't think they added to the enjoyment of the music. Most of it is all still there, but I feel like there's just some random crashing sounds that aren't there any more and it allows the actual musical instruments to come through so much better. I do think the sound leans to a dryer feel and I like it. No more is everything piled into the same space and one dimensional but a very 3d sound, filling the room with some of the best playing I think has ever been recorded. I do realize that this is an album that isn't for everyone and I won't play it for many friends as I don't think a lot of people could appreciate it. But for me it doesn't get any better than this one.
Anyway, as a huge fan of the album and of surround in general, I love it! Don't think it could have been done any better and I doubt I'll ever listen to a stereo version of this again unless maybe on a road trip in the car. I remember when this came out it was in the middle of my quad days and I was always hoping they would release it in quad (I had CTTE on constant order with the record store as it was always listed as available in quad-but, of course, never was). Better late than never. And in truth, it would have never sounded this good back in the day had it come out on Q8.
These are great days to be a surround fan! We get a new (sort of) Pink Floyd in surround this week!
K