Audio Fidelity 5.1 SACD (part2)

Amazon is showing a September 2nd release date on Breezin as of their email to me on my preorder.

 

Don't hold your breath!!!

 

I've gotten no invoice or shipping notice yet from Audio Fidelity. I'd be surprised if these releases ship from retailers before the end of the month.

 

Just received my invoice from AF so maybe a month end ship by retailers is possible...by I would guess more like early Sept.

 

Just received my invoice. The discs should be here by the end of the week.

 

Hopefully for me, but I doubt it. I'm on the east coast...

 

I'm in Korea, and I have never seen retailers getting copies before I received my subscription copies.

 

At last .......... Soon we will be able to give shipping information to everybody following this thread.

 

It has to ship before we can get reviews. That's how it works.

 

Not true Keith.

There are several here in this thread that already know it will be bad or good, depending on their personal viewpoint, not there ears.

 

Also review and advance copies have gone out. At least two members of QuadraphonicQuad have AF's SuperSession SACD already.

http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/for...ke-Bloomfield-Steven-Stills-SUPERSESSION-SACD

 

QQ Member bmoura:

"Some initial comments based on an advance copy of the 5.1 SACD from Audio Fidelity.

The Super Session 5.1 SACD features excellent Stereo SACD tracks of the album created from the stereo master tapes by remastering engineer Steve Hoffman.

The album also features brand new liner notes written by Al Kooper that tell the story of the idea behind and the recording of Super Session. Along with the story of how Stephen Stills came to be on the second side of the album. Very interesting.

The 5.1 mix by Al Kooper is well done. He uses the full Surround Sound field to bring you inside this historic late 1960's blues/rock jam session. It's like being at the Fillmore, back in the day. You'll even hear some panned instruments on a few of the tracks. Kooper wanted to use 5.1 to highlight all of the instruments and performances on the disc. He succeeded.

Overall, a must-own for fans of the Super Session album. Blues and rock fans will enjoy it as well.

Recommended."

 

I want to join the rest of the folks on this board that are saying that these discs sound very nice. I was a little apprehensive that Steve did not master the surround sound portion of these discs but I must say that I am very happy with them. I am spinning George Benson a second time right now in surround sound, I have not heard the stereo layer of these discs. What a bonus, a surround sound disc with a stereo layer mastered by Steve Hoffman.

 

Hear, hear.....

 

But I still think we need more comprehensive shipping information. To early for reviews......

 

I must say that there is a tad bit too much bass for my taste on the surround sound portion of Super Sessions, but it does sound very nice. With the bass in a full surround sound system like mine, it is very rich and tangible, but not necessarily overwhelming.

 

OK you guys, I really think that the surround sound portion of Super Sessions has WAY too much bass for my tastes. I have had my system set up for several years, and I don't mess around with the level controls at all, they seem to be "just right" for all my surround sound discs, music and movies. But the Super Sessions disc is just way over the top. I have had to turn this disc way down from where I normally listen to music, right now it is jamming at about 72 db SPL and there is still way too much bass. For this title I might just stick to the stereo layer.

 

I had to shut Super Sessions off. It hurt my ears it was so loud. When I listen to music on my system I usually have the volume control set to about -14, what ever that means. This usually translates into an actual volume of about 85 db SPL or so, a very comfortable level to do some serious jamming. By the time that I shut off Super Sessions I had the volume control set to -32 and the actual sound was in the mid 60 db SPL range, and it still hurt my ears. This disc is one of the loudest in my collection. It is a shame that this was issued by Audio Fidelity, but I am still looking forward to the stereo layer, (which must wait until later because I am on my way to a barbecue).

 

I listened to part of the stereo layer of the SACD before I had to leave, my wife is getting impatient. The stereo layer sounds nice, you can crank it up and really jam.

 

Why can't you just adjust the bass level if it is overbearing?

 

Rocky,

Are you saying the overall volume is too loud or just the bass (from the subs)?

Bill

 

I've run into this problem with some multichannel SACDs, DVD-As and Blu-ray Audio discs on my system. Not sure what the cause is. Are there multiple standards for LFE signal levels or something? On the Low-frequency effects Wikipedia page they mention the following regarding the old Dolby Stereo analog LFE used by film:

The LFE channel is conventionally played back 10 dB louder than the main channels, giving significantly more recording headroom. Also, the separate recording allowed a straightforward installation of extra dedicated subwoofers, and removed the need to upgrade the main speakers.

Did something similar persist into the digital realm?

 

Yes, see this: http://www.sona.co.jp/pdf/M2TB_r352E.pdf

Compare LFE level in Dolby Digital/DTS/DVD-V versus SACD/DVD-A.

 

Interesting. So it sounds like for multichannel audio on video DVDs you're supposed to low-pass filter the signal and boost it by 10dB, but for DVD-A and SACD no low pass filters are required (though they're recommended) and the signal for the LFE channel should be recorded at the same level as the other channels are recorded.