It is a double SACD of pure Miles Davis bliss. I bought mine from Music Direct, because I could not wait, also I wanted a low number edition. It is a fantastic buy. Now I am eagerly waiting for APO's Steamin' with Miles Davis SACD this month, the other two releases of Miles Davis mono albums SACD on APO are amazing.
According to an email today from SoundStageDirect.com, Nefertiti is "shipping soon." As is Bob Dylan's first album, and the Grateful Dead's American Beauty and Workingman's Dead, from MFSL. Note the above info applies to vinyl releases, not SACDs.
As far as SACD, I was told in an e-mail last month that "Jack Johnson" would be up next after "Bitches Brew". But who knows when that will be?
About this time last year, I wrote Music Direct asking about the Kind of Blue SACD. They said they were taking extra time to make sure that they got it just right and that they expected it to be out before the end of last year. Right.
Thank you. After "Bitches Brew", and god knows I love this album, it'd be nice to have a less fusion and more post-bop oriented album such as "Sorcerer" or "Nefertiti". Or even better, "Kind of Blue"... just kidding.
Sorry -- Bitches Brew. I pre-ordered it for $34. Apparrently Amazon has it listed as a single SACD, which would be inline with their price. But it's a double SACD, I assume. So it should be around 45. I would think anyway.
I just received the Bitches Brew SACD and I am currently A/B-ing it with the HDtracks 24/96 download (both have the original mix). On the first track (Pharoah's Dance), the SACD seems to have a bit more clarity. What made me write this post is that after 19 minutes of the track, there is audible distortion in the right channel, which is not present on the HDtracks download. It's not terrible, but a bit of a letdown given MFSL's standards.
That's not good news. If the MFSL SACD is brighter than the HD Tracks download, I will probably just stick with that.
Where did Claude mention that the MFSL SACD is brighter than the HD Tracks download. He used the word "clarity", which can mean a myriad of things, but not necessarily brightness.
I did the comparison with headphones, which is not so ideal for evaluating frequency response or dynamics, but is very revealing concerning defects. Anyway, my post wasn't meant as an opinion on which release sounds best, but to point out the distortion on the MFSL SACD. I'm wondering if the two are from the same source.
Thanks for the comparison, Claude. Sounds like the SACD and HDtracks aren't very far apart sonically. As appealing as the SACD is, I think I'll save some $$$ and shelf space this time around with a download.
Sorry if I misinterpreted Claude's comments. Usually more clarity = treble boost but not always. I personally found that most Shawn Britton's masterings usually have a slight treble and bass boost compared to other masterings. I don't like it, but others might prefer it.
Not enough treble/top end on Shawn's mastering of Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!! IMO, but that's for another thread. Question: did Shawn do the mastering on Bitches Brew?
My perception is that Shawn Britton doesn't roll off the high end like many other engineers do. That may not appeal to some, but it sounds truer to the source.
Really? I just put the disc on again, just to make sure there was nothing wrong with my hardware yesterday. It's a crackling in the right channel that starts at 19:09 into the first track. It's very obvious. On the SACD and the CD layer. It's completely absent on the HDtracks download.
