Zeppelin DVD-A Review

Okay, it looks like the reviewers at high fidelity review are at it again. Here is the review of HTWWW DVD-A due out tomorrow in the US.

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/reviews/review.asp?reviewnumber=14072126

Here is my favorite part, “Nagging faults, if that’s the right word, come to light, such as the production, predominantly Page’s domain (forward and overloud, often discordant, guitars for example)”

What, Jimmy Page is high in the mix on a Zeppelin album? Oh my God! Call the mix police! He makes discordant sounds, why I never knew. Please….

The review continues on bitching about the packaging. Argg…

I’ll be interested in picking this up tomorrow and seeing myself. If the mix is as good as the 5.1 mix on the DVD, which was great BTW, then I’ll be a happy man.

The reviewer never mentioned that the release is supposedly only 48/24 which has been my main bitch since this title was announced.

Well, I’ll get off my soapbox. I’d be interested in hearing other reviews.

 

I really think this is a pretty pointless release. The DVD-V is out....with more songs and the video to go with a great 5.1 mix.....why would you want this? It'll be the cd with ambience. Get the back catalog out!

 

I agree. Waste of man-hours. We have the Led Zeppelin DVD with decent surround mixes, this set being specifically different but why listen to this sonically so-so material on DVD-A? Two discs even!

Sounds OK on CD. That's enough for me. How about Led Zeppelin II on SACD or DVD-A? Otherwise don't bother.

 

Pointless?

1. It's a totally different set of material from the DVD-V
2. It's supposedly high-res

As far as getting the back catalogue out I agree 100%.

 

3. Some of the cuts are longer/extended than what is presented on the CD.

 

And some of us may not own the DVD-V either...like me. If the DVD-A offers a little more material than the standard CD release, I'm all for it.

 

Ok, sorry....strong word, pointless. I guess I am not a fan of hi rez live material from ions ago. Don't see how much of an improvement you can get........but hey, to each his own.

 

Heard any of the live material on the Sony Louis Armstrong SACDs? They may change your mind.

Regards,
Geoff

 

What I feel is that they should have released the DVD-A and CD at the same time (Like in the old days - LP, Cassette, & the wonderful 8-Track!).

For the people who bought it back in May who have DVD-A playback, it's a ripoff to make them buy it again.

Unless you guys here say it's a must have, I won't pick up the DVD-A.

Sorry </rant off>

Joe

 

Yeah, stupid me says that and is now staring at his Sinatra at The Sands DVD-A!!!!

OK........look.....sorry.......kill me now! Guess since I have the DVD-V, I think this one is not worth getting......but I hope I'm wrong!

 

You're a good man David.

It's totally different material than the DVD-V though.

 

All I can say is yeech! Worst surround mix that I've ever heard. The rear channels have this heavy bass sound, that just turns the sound into a sonic mess. I've played the Stereo version so no comment there. Skip this one.

 

I am really not surprised.....what was expected?

 

I listened to one track in surround, "Dazed and Confused", and I didn't think it was that bad, but it wasn't that great either. There was discreet panning in the rear speakers during Pages guitar solo (similar to what was done with the Zep DVD-video). I will try to listen to the entire surround mix tonight.

I also listened to the entire first disc in stereo, and it sounded good to me. I compared about the first 15 minutes of the DVD-A to the CD, and at times I could hear more detail and better defined highs on the DVD-A (even at 48/24) vs. the redbook CD, and at other times I couldn't discern any difference at all. I did this comparison by having the DVD-A in my Denon 3800, and the CD in my XA777ES.

I guess, as a friend of mine said, it may just be worth it to have the DVD-A if you plan on listening on your home system since it is on 2 discs as opposed to 3. Less number of times to get up and change discs for the lazy.

 

Uh, a good 5.1 mix, maybe? Possibly like on the DVD-V.

 

Well, I heard from various people that the cd sounded worse than the DVD-V....so basically it's crap in, crap out.....a 5.1 mix won't help.

 

and I've hated the friggin title ever since it came out......sound like a bad country album title!

 

No offense intended, but it sounds like you have never listened to the cd so I find it a little strange you are bashing it. It does not give you much creditability frankly. I have listened to the cd, and the DVD-V and the boots of the Cal. shows, et. al. and the cd sounds great. Your comments in general come across like you decided without ever listening to any of this material that you don’t like it and have an agenda to bash it. Did Jimmy Page snare your bird?

I’m always happy to hear other peoples' opinions whether or not they agree with mine but when someone states they have not actually listened to something and then proceeds to bash it I have to totally discount their comments.

 

EASY BEAV!!!!! I didn't mean to get you upset! I have the DVD and love every minute of it...I am just going by what I heard. Nothing personal was meant!!!! Especially nothing that would have you turn on me like this!!!!!
I happen to like Zep enough to get a Swan Song tattoo on my friggin arm!

fine, I'll shut up!

 

Just to chime in, I have the CD, DVD and DVD-A. IMO the DVD (video) is excellent in the 5.1 mix. It give the sound the "air" it needs and put the audience with you. The CD is great sounding, actually one of the best sounding live albums. It has nice width and depth to it. If they would have just kept the audience in the rears on the DVD-A it would have been fine. I have no problem on surround mixes where you are in the middle of the band with instuments all around you but even this is not the case with this DVD-A. It is just mud in the rears.

As far as Daved64 goes, all your comments are negative why? Yes I did expect it to be better than it is, why not? They did do a good job on the DVD and CD so why should I expect less on the DVD-A. Buy the CD and judge for yourself. If you like Zep enough to get "a Swan Song tattoo on my friggin arm!", I would think that you would want as much Zeppelin material as possible. Did you even know that the CD set is completely different from the DVD set? These were some of the most sought after and bootleged shows in their history. The CD set represents almost a complete 72 Zeppelin concert.

 

I did know.....and if I didn't have a mortgage...I'd buy everything and anything!

guys!!!! I feel like John at the "bigger than Jesus' press conference!!!!
I APOLOGIZE!!!!!!!

 

Tommy, I'm trying to decide between purchasing the CDs or the DVD-A, and it seems that you're recommending the CDs. Can I ask you to put a finer point on it?

I think the DTS-5.1 mix on the DVD-V is acceptable, though I find the LPCM track preferable in many ways. It seems, however, that there is no DTS 5.1 mix on the DVD-A, and HFR suggests that the LFE channel is screwed up on the DD-5.1 mix:

Could this be the reason why you find the surround mix on the DVD-V to be acceptable (perhaps especially if you listen to the DTS track), while the DVD-A surround mix is not? Or is the MLP track also inferior to the DTS or DD5.1 tracks on the DVD-V?

Both HFR reviewers preferred the CD for the two-channel. Do you?

And sorry for asking so much of you... I'm just trying to decide where to spend my limited music budget. Thanks!

 

As I've said previously I have not played the 2 channel DVD-A mix. I listened to it on a DVD-A player so I did not play the DD mix. The multi-channel DVD-A mix is bad IMO because the rears make it muddy sounding. They apparently mix a lot of the bass frequencies to all the speakers.

The packaging boasts the it features a 6 channel DSS mix, I'm not sure what they mean by this but I suspect that they don't use the LFC just for the sub (I don't use a Sub in my system). IMO they tried to give you the bass impact from all around.

I expect that the 2 channel mix would not suffer this problem and that it would use the same mix as the CD but be at a higher resolution.

All that being said, I must say, IN MY SYSTEM I have yet to find a DVD-A (played on a Technics A10) which performs better in the 2 Channel mode than a CD through my CD rig(SCD-777ES driving a MSB Platinum Plus which up-samples to 176). I know that really doesn't answer your question. However if I was you I would get the DVD-A just for the simple reason of 2 disks and for the 48/24 Stereo track.

 

TommyTunes said:

So do you use an Outlaw Audio ICBM for bass management to redirect the LFE channel's bass to your mains?

[T]

 

Sorry, it's been one of those days.