Must Have DVD-A's/SACD's

[Ovation]

Wow. Nearly eight years since anyone added to this thread. I don't have time at the moment, but I'll be back with a (partial) list (I have 300+ SACDs/DVD-As and still buy SACDs, though not as frequently as I used to). Blu-ray Audio discs are also part of the high-resolution mix (though, even going back to when this thread started, I mostly buy any of these formats for the MCH mixes).

[Chris D]

Thanks, B. I just added the Ultimate Mancini SACD to my Amazon list based on your recommendation.

[Kal Rubinson]

I have always prized Rostropovich's earlier recording of this piece with the National Symphony, although the sound quality suffers from early digititis. I did not find the LSO performance all that exciting, and I thought that the sound quality was dry and lacked depth--reflecting the sound quality of the hall, from what I've heard.

Now, the best-sounding Shostakovich SACD I've run across (and an excellent performance, too), is #13 with Wigglesworth on BIS. This is an outstanding demonstration of multichannel SACD. The surround channels add to a sense of involvement in the music without losing precision of imaging (as in the Tilson Thomas Mahler 1, where at times instruments come from the side, at other times not).

I like to pick-and-choose by symphony but, for a set, I would go for the Kitaenko on Capriccio. A bit slow but weighty and powerful. Big, crunchy sound, too.

[Brandon B]

Some recent (last year or so) additions for me:

King Crimson on DVD-A: Red, Lizard, The Court of the Crimson King (Islands is coming soon)

Beach Boys: Pet Sounds

Zappa: QuAUDIOPHILIAc

SACD: Bought about 14 of the RCA living Stereo classics on SACD. All are quite nice. Favorite is probably the Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue.

Also: Ultimate Mancini. May be my favorite SACD for listening to in surround.

[2gumby2]

The DVD-A Bluegrass Sessions by Bela Fleck is great.

[Brandon B]

One of the guys at PS3SACD posted a link to this interesting thread on the trials of SACD:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=199295

An inside look at what happened.

[JonMarsh]

Jon,

All I can say is Wow! After viewing the You Tube link, I too am willing to give her a shot. I really haven't/don't listen to fusion jazz but, the energy as well as skill displayed on what I just watched, has made me reconsider.

I do not own a hi-res player, but I'm going to pick up Hiromi and give her a test run at home. Besides, you mentioned that these are hybrid so, I may just get a player down the road as well. :T

Thanks for the heads up.

You're very welcome, John- it's not easy to find cool new stuff, not the way music is promoted by the majors these days.

Here's another suggestion, not in high res format, but if you like Michael Hedges, try Kaki King, "Everybody Loves You" (std CD is inexpensive on Amazon). I'm considering picking up the Japanese import just to be annoying to people. I haven't heard any of her other disks, but I'm going to try some based on this one.

~Jon

[John Holmes]

Jon,

All I can say is Wow! After viewing the You Tube link, I too am willing to give her a shot. I really haven't/don't listen to fusion jazz but, the energy as well as skill displayed on what I just watched, has made me reconsider.

I do not own a hi-res player, but I'm going to pick up Hiromi and give her a test run at home. Besides, you mentioned that these are hybrid so, I may just get a player down the road as well. :T

Thanks for the heads up.

[JonMarsh]

Hiromi- Young Japanese (woman) jazz pianist (Corea-like)

Just got these two SACD's in- not a lot of time to listen to them, BUT I think they have legs... particularly for an old 70's jazz fusion guy like me.




Time Control





Sprial


Hybrid SACD's, muli-channel, play on SACD and CD players.

Very Recommended.

This is the YouTube link ThomasW sent me which convinced me to order these sight unheard.

Hiromi on YouTube

~Jon

[riceaterslc]

cduniverse.com stocks a lot, has competitive prices and frequent sales, and good customer service. For classical SACD's, arkivmusic.com is excellent, too.

thanks~!

[pbarach]

where is the best place to buy SACD/DVD-A's? amazon seems to have a ton, but are their prices competitive with other places? thanks!

cduniverse.com stocks a lot, has competitive prices and frequent sales, and good customer service. For classical SACD's, arkivmusic.com is excellent, too.

[riceaterslc]

where is the best place to buy SACD/DVD-A's? amazon seems to have a ton, but are their prices competitive with other places? thanks!

[pbarach]

Mstislav Rostropovich is doing a complete cycle of Shostakovich symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra. Proving that SACD is not completely dead, the "LSO Live" label is releasing each disc in both a CD and a Hybrid SACD edition. So far, I've had the pleasure of listening to the 8th, the 11th and the 5th. Shostakovich's 5th is probabaly his most widely heard work, and the LSO and Rostropovich give it an electrifying performance -- if you've heard it before, it will almost be like listening to new music; if this is your first exposure, it is a great place to start!

I have always prized Rostropovich's earlier recording of this piece with the National Symphony, although the sound quality suffers from early digititis. I did not find the LSO performance all that exciting, and I thought that the sound quality was dry and lacked depth--reflecting the sound quality of the hall, from what I've heard.

Now, the best-sounding Shostakovich SACD I've run across (and an excellent performance, too), is #13 with Wigglesworth on BIS. This is an outstanding demonstration of multichannel SACD. The surround channels add to a sense of involvement in the music without losing precision of imaging (as in the Tilson Thomas Mahler 1, where at times instruments come from the side, at other times not).

[John Holmes]

Well, I am joining the party late (as usual). Player is on order (Denon 2910), and the titles are on their way, too -
Dire Straits Brothers in Arms DVD-A,
Elton John Madman Across the Water SACD,
Dvorak Symphony No. 6 SACD (Sir Colin Davis),
Diana Krall The Girl in the Other Room DualDisc (but supposedly DVD-A)

This thread has been dormant for a while, and I hope it is because everyone is busy listening.

Don't feel bad, I still do not own any. Just three DTS cd's. Oneday I'll get with the times.

[eddiespaghetti]

Well, I am joining the party late (as usual). Player is on order (Denon 2910), and the titles are on their way, too -
Dire Straits Brothers in Arms DVD-A,
Elton John Madman Across the Water SACD,
Dvorak Symphony No. 6 SACD (Sir Colin Davis),
Diana Krall The Girl in the Other Room DualDisc (but supposedly DVD-A)

This thread has been dormant for a while, and I hope it is because everyone is busy listening.

[Burke Strickland]

Thanks for the heads up on the Bach Oboe Works SACD. I apprecizte the detail, as well. Makes it a lot easier to find classical releases when you have the data beyond just the title.

Two more pop oriented DVD-Audio discs I've been enjoying recently are Jackson Browne "Running on Empty" and Flaming Lips "Yoshima Battles the Pink Robots". Even if you have both of those on CD, you owe it to yourself to listen to the DVD-A versions. The additional resolution adds clarity and depth. WHile the Jackson Browne album basically keeps the performers up front (with a few exceptions here and there, using the surrounds for ambiance, audience noises and to place spoken voices, the Flaming Lips album was basically re-designed to take advantage of surround, with a lot of interesting effects. If the swirling surround performance is too unsettling, they do have a more "traditional" (if anything by Flaming Lips can be described with that word) :>) two channel hi-res mix on the disk as well.

[dvda-sacd]

Caro Mitis SACDs

If you like Bach, you will love this SACD:


J.S. Bach: Oboenwerke, Volume 1 - Alexei Utkin / Hermitage Chamber Orchestra

• Concerto for Oboe d'amore, Strings and Basso Continuo in A major (BWV 1055)
• Concerto for Violin, Oboe, Strings and Basso Continuo in D minor (BWV 1060)
• Concerto for Oboe, Strings and Basso Continuo in F major (BWV 1053)
• Concerto for Oboe, Flute and Violin in D major (trans. BWV 1064)

Recording Details

• Microphones: Neumann km130, DPA (B&K) 4006, DPA (B&K) 4011, SCHOEPS mk2S, SCHOEPS mk41
• All the microphone buffer amplifiers and pre-amplifiers are Polyhymnia International B.V. custom built.
• DSD analogue to digital converter: Meitner design by EMM Labs.
• Recording, editing and mixing on Pyramix system by Merging Technologies.

• Recording Producer: Michael Serebryanyi
• Balance Engineer: Erdo Groot
• Recording Engineer: Roger de Schot
• Editor: Carl Schuurbiers

• Recorded: 5th Studio of The Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, Moscow - July 3-9, 2003

[Burke Strickland]

Not only a virtuoso recording, but a virtuoso performance as well



Yo-Yo Ma's "Solo" album is jaw dropping [Sony Classical SS 64114]

Thanks for that recommendation. When I first read it, I assumed you were talking about the recording quality on this disc, and, now that I've had a chance to hear it for myself, I can confirm that it is as good as you describe.

However, it was a long journey getting to that point (of actually listening for myself). Although I recognize that Yo Yo Ma is a very talented performer, I have felt that his name on the cover has almost become more of a "brand" to sell CDs (and SACDs) than a reliable indicator of enjoyability. Some of his work is frankly off-putting for me. And elsewehere, I had read some less-than-complimentary reviews of the selections included on this disc.

So given the price of discs thse days, I wasn't willing to buy another "showstopper" disc for demo only. I wanted to be sure I'd really enjoy the performances before plunking down my cash. Last week at our local HT group meet, the host played part of the Kodaly sonata on this disc during the SACD portion of our demos. At that point my jaw literally did drop, and I thought "I must buy this". So now, having found a copy on sale locally, it is part of my collection to listen to, not just for demos. but for pleasure. The Kodaly sonata is worth the price of the disc -- and I'm glad they included the other selections as well.

Burke

[Alaric]

I may have mentioned this one...

Elton John's Madman Across the Water in SACD and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in DVD-A. Tiny Dancer was kind of disappointing , but the depth of the bass in the MATW title track is outstanding. Both releases contain a lot of the raw talent that made EJ a star. My DVD-A is unfortunately played on a crappy HTIB and still sounds very good. My SACD is all two channel. It may be (!) the difference in equipment quality , but the noise floor for some SACDs (Dark Side Of The Moon & the above title) is subterranean.

[Burke Strickland]

Mstislav Rostropovich is doing a complete cycle of Shostakovich symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra. Proving that SACD is not completely dead, the "LSO Live" label is releasing each disc in both a CD and a Hybrid SACD edition. So far, I've had the pleasure of listening to the 8th, the 11th and the 5th. Shostakovich's 5th is probabaly his most widely heard work, and the LSO and Rostropovich give it an electrifying performance -- if you've heard it before, it will almost be like listening to new music; if this is your first exposure, it is a great place to start!

Another worthtwhile recording of note on SACD of Shostakovich's 5th is the Maazel/Cleveland performance on Telarc. You are much more likely to find this one than the LSO at Best Buy or Fry's, given the distribution patterns of classical music labels.

Don't count on it though. The last time I was in my nearest Best Buy, they had cut the classical section to two bins, and it was filled mostly with theme anthology crap such as "Make your baby smart with classical music" or "Make your grownup baby horny with racy photos while listening to classical music" or whatever. But I digress.

Relative availability does not diminish its value. While the CD is astonishingly good for Redbook, the SACD is probably as close to "being there" as you are going to get without actually being there. :>) I listened to both this weekend, and can heartily recommend the SACD as being "worth it".

Linn Records has produced some outstanding SACDs as well. The latest I've been listening to is "Francesco Geminiani: Sonatas for Violincello & Basso Continuo, Op. 5" CKD 251. If you like the baroque music of, say, Telemann, Corelli, Scarlatti or Vivaldi, you will probably like this one, even if you have never heard of the composer before. Even if you've never heard of any of these composers before, it is still worth a listen -- very well produced and played.

[rotel&energy]

bigburner,

I thought he was in his 60s....shows how much I know! By the way, I didn't intend to offend w/ the "old" comment. I just wanted to get the point across that he sounds great, while some voices deteriorate w/ age. I bought my brother and my Dad the SACD and gave it to them for Christmas. My Dad playedit immediately and it was the talk of the night. He kept asking me, "When is he going to play Running Scared?!!" It's coming pops! Cool your jets!!!! Of course, everyone shut-up and just listened in awe when it finally did come on.

[bigburner]

Hi Christopher,

After reading your post yesterday I was inspired to watch A Black & White Night from end to end. Excellent stuff. The concert was recorded in 1987 when Roy was 51. I'm 51 now. Roy died of a heart attack the following year.

[bigburner]

Yep, Black and White Night sounds great. Roy was fairly old when it was recorded, but his voice is still outstanding. A great compilation of his best stuff.

I agree. It's a very good DVD and The Big O still has a wonderful voice.

[rotel&energy]

Yep, Black and White Night sounds great. Roy was fairly old when it was recorded, but his voice is still outstanding. A great compilation of his best stuff.

[Kingdaddy]

Our local tv station had Roy Orbison "A Black and White Night" on last night and were raising money by selling the SACD version of the show. Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, most of Elvis' original backing band, KD Lang, Bonnie Rait, Jackson Browne, and several others were all playing along w/ Roy. I ordered the SACD version of the concert on Acoustic Sounds. Does anyone else have this disc or any other Roy Orbison stuff? I'm surprised he isn't mentioned more on here w/ that voice of his.

I'll be interested to see how the SACD version comes out, b/c it sounded like some of the guitars were mixed low on TV. The camera would focus on Bruce rocking out, but you would barely hear his guitar over Roy's. It was kind of humorous actually b/c Bruce would make these weird faces like he's really sawing away on his axe, but I'm looking at my wife saying, "Do you hear his guitar at all?"

I bought the DVD set that included the SACD free. The mix is among the best I have, every instrument is well miked and the vocals are astounding, to me the DVD DTS 5.1 track is as good or better then the SACD. Notice the audience, many are recognizable stars.

[rotel&energy]

Roy Orbison on SACD

Our local tv station had Roy Orbison "A Black and White Night" on last night and were raising money by selling the SACD version of the show. Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, most of Elvis' original backing band, KD Lang, Bonnie Rait, Jackson Browne, and several others were all playing along w/ Roy. I ordered the SACD version of the concert on Acoustic Sounds. Does anyone else have this disc or any other Roy Orbison stuff? I'm surprised he isn't mentioned more on here w/ that voice of his.

I'll be interested to see how the SACD version comes out, b/c it sounded like some of the guitars were mixed low on TV. The camera would focus on Bruce rocking out, but you would barely hear his guitar over Roy's. It was kind of humorous actually b/c Bruce would make these weird faces like he's really sawing away on his axe, but I'm looking at my wife saying, "Do you hear his guitar at all?"

[mitch57]

It took over 6 weeks within the US on my 1 and only order directly from Chesky. I love their SACDs, but I'll never place another order directly with them. They shipped directly from the Sony plant in Terre Haute. I place most of my orders with Elusive Disc, Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds.

I hope it is as good in DVD-A as it is on SACD.

Yeah! Chesky is absolutely terrible when it comes to orders. I ordered 5 disks that should have been here in a week from the date of order. I called them and they kept telling me it should come in the next couple of days. They kept telling me this for two more weeks.

They finally sent me a new order which still took two weeks to get here. A week later I finally received the original order. Lousy packaging, I might add, as well. Another week later I received a 3rd order but with an extra sampler disk included.

The only good thing in the whole affair is they only charged me for one order.

Anyone want to buy my extra copies? They are all shrink wrapped in their original packaging and have never been opened. I have them listed in the "Pawn Shop thread here:

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?p=200689#post200689

[mtodde]

FINALLY got my Swing Live DVD-A!!!!!! :banana:

I ordered it on August 2 though and it just came today :rant: :evil: Two months to get here :roll: If you're in Canada and want to order Chesky discs, get them from their Canadian Distributour. It's worth the extra few dollars IMO!

Hopefully I'll get time to listen to it this week and I'll let y'all know how it sounds :T (If it lives up to the hype!? )

It took over 6 weeks within the US on my 1 and only order directly from Chesky. I love their SACDs, but I'll never place another order directly with them. They shipped directly from the Sony plant in Terre Haute. I place most of my orders with Elusive Disc, Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds.

I hope it is as good in DVD-A as it is on SACD.

[aud19]

FINALLY got my Swing Live DVD-A!!!!!! :banana:

I ordered it on August 2 though and it just came today :rant: :evil: Two months to get here :roll: If you're in Canada and want to order Chesky discs, get them from their Canadian Distributour. It's worth the extra few dollars IMO!

Hopefully I'll get time to listen to it this week and I'll let y'all know how it sounds :T (If it lives up to the hype!? )

[aud19]

Burke, I'd love to hear any further thoughts on that Swing Live Still waiting for mine...

As for Pet Sounds, the MC mix is not a "standard" mix but while it lacks in conformity, the mix seems to make up well to the almost etherial material. Plus it's almost like it's done from the perspective of being in Brian Wilson's head which is arguably the closest you're going to hear to what the musical craetor intended. For those lacking sufficient imagination and playfulness the more traditional high-res stereo track is excellent as well : But I highly urge you to "let go" and give the MC mix a try. It's one of the first "non-standard" MC mixes that I've actually enjoyed :lol: Some of the "bonus" a capella stuff at the end of the disc is really nice as well :T

Vivaldi, what can I say, Great sound quality and a straightforward MC mix of a playful and energetic rendition 4 Seasons. Haven't listened to the 2-ch mix yet but I don't really see the point, the MC mix was THAT straightforward. A stark contrast to Pet Sounds :lol:

[aud19]

Well still waiting for Swing Live :evil: Nice find Burke :T But picked up Vivaldi Four Season's (Anne-Sophie Mutter) on clearance from A&B Sound... yet to listen to it yet though....

[Burke Strickland]

Just found "Swing Live" at a most unexpected place: Best Buy. Chesky Records must be mainstream now!

I was passing by the SACD/DVD-A section after picking up "Midsummer Night's Dream" (marked down to $5.99 in the DVD section), and noted what a pathetic selection they have these days with shelves almost bare in the hi-rez music area. But amazingly enough, out of those slim pickings, I scored five albums I had been looking for.

In addition to the aforementioned "Swing Live", they still had one copy each of Eagles: "Hotel California", Eric Clapton and BB King "Riding With The King", and Daniel Chorzempa playing Handel's Organ Concertos (vols 1 & 2).

Note the past tense "they still had" -- I've got 'em now after a seemingly interminable wait for their computers to come back up to approve my credit card. But the good news about the wait is that the cashier was so busy trying to get the computer to work, she forgot to offer the "free" magazines. :>)

I'm sure I'll have more to say about the sound quality and performances on these albums later, (OK, there’s not much more to be said about the performance on "Hotel California" -- you either like it already or you've been living on Jupiter the past 25 years), :>) but from my quick sampling so far, they all sound like the winners others report them to be,

Burke

[aud19]

Ordered Beach Boys Pet Sounds :T Still waiting for Swing Live.... :evil: :roll:

[jimmyp58]

If you are into piano, then add:

Ellis Marsalis: Ruminations in New York DVD-A

to the list....

[jimmyp58]

A couple other DVD-A's:

Donald Fagen: Kamakiriad
BB King/Eric Clapton: Riding With The King

I use both as demo discs.

[aud19]

Ok, an updated. Sheryl Crow: Globe Sessions, great music, great mix :T The DVD-A is crystal clear and the surround mix is VERY well done, near textbook!

Sinatra at the Sands, ditto :T Admittedly not as pristine as some of the newer stuff I've heard in high-res but it's the best I've heard Frank sound and again, another good surround mix :T

Eagles: Hotel California. Another good one, just shy of the pollish of the Hell freezes over but with less of gimickiness in the mix that annoyed so many people.

Still waiting on my Swing live disc..... :roll:

[martino]

Purchases Doors L.A. Woman. What a disappointment! Have to turn bass way up, the mix is horrible. Lots of back channel bouncing around. What do they think the only people listening to this are LSD poppers or what? Don't waste your money.
As far as recourses go: Iv'e bought through buydvdnow.com and have been put on their waiting list for Eagles and Elvis for over three weeks now. Just discovered a large sellection at buy.com. but they seen to lack search capability for just DVDA. If anyone has a better source with a decent search engine (by artist), please let me know. Thanks

I totally agree...it sucks!

Martin

[Foxman]

The two hottest Multichannel releases so far in 05 (IMO) are by far:

Brothers in Arms SACD by Dire Straits. I just got this and my other suggestion and this is a fantastic mix as well as overall fantastic content.

The other recomendation is

Porcupine Tree's DVD-A, Deadwing. I havent heard the multichannel mix if I am being honest but the disk sounds great and the content is typical quality PT. I have read the mix is excellent as well.

No surprises, I just wanted to update the new sticky! :T

[Shane Martin]

Having just recently picked up an SACD player I'm focused on this thread more.

The 2 discs I started with are:

Pink Floyd DSOTM: Amazing multi channel. I had to fiddle with my multi channel settings on my dvd player to make it sound the way I think it should and I'm blown away.

Next, The Police: Every Breath you take: Not so keen on the Multichannel but it's ok. The 2 channel is outstanding.

[John Holmes]

Your welcome :T

[aud19]

Thanks John :T

[John Holmes]

Just wanted to let you guys know that, I made this a sticky thread. Great info!

[alupats]

DVD-A source

BUY.COM has a search engine for DVD-A. Go to "music" then on . . .
I followed your instructions but when I search, the results are mixed. Try searching on "Morrison" (for Van Morrison) you get tons of hits but in CD format. I want to search for just DVD-A titles. Please have patience and reply again if you can figure it out. Thanks!

Thanks for towerrecords.com link. They have advanced search where you can specify DVD-A format.

[mitch57]

Check out www.towerrecords.com.

[jimmyp58]

BUY.COM has a search engine for DVD-A. Go to "music" then on the left side of your screen a bunch of stuff pops up, DVD-Audio being one of them.

I'd deginitely agree on the L.A. Woman disc. I never listen to it and my wife is a huge Doors fan ... she won't listen to it either.