HiRez Poll Queensryche - EMPIRE [DVD-A]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this EMI released DVD-A.

I got this one back out today and gave it a spin. I have mixed feelings on trying to rate it. The mix is somewhat disappointing but not bad. On one hand, it is sort of double stereo, or ambience done well. I hadn't really noticed that before. However on a few songs I noticed it is mixed or balanced heavily toward the rear, so from the sweet spot you hear things from the rears more prominently than from the front. If you stand to the side, you can hear most everything in the front and rear. There are a couple exceptions where sounds derive just from the back, but very rarely! The center is used primarily for vocals. After all that, I think this is a very good disc for content. It is one of those titles that needs to be turned up a bit, so the bass hits you in the chest! This one has plenty of bass! You are definitely immersed in sound. IMO "Empire" was one of the few bright spots in rock music of that time, after all the big eighties crap and before grunge took off. Listening to it again, it does sound a little dated, but still quite enjoyable. "Silent Lucidity" is one of my favorites. Extensive menu options, 96/24 Hi-rez MC or Stereo, DD 5.1 or DTS 5.1, synchronized lyrics or photos, two videos, and numerous other features. One screen lists other DVD-A titles available and ironically upcoming titles including Heart - "Dreamboat Annie" (I wonder what happened to that one?) I'm gonna give it a 6 for the mix and an 8 for content. So it averages out at a 7. Still worthwhile!

Dennis

PS; BTW no compatibility problems on the Pioneer Elite DV47-A

i have owned this one for quite some time . without letting my feelings on Queensryche interfere , I have to say that the mix is a bit weak . But given the date of this album (pooor excuse i know) its a pretty fair deal to give this a 7/10

The DTS track is very good , even though it is not mentioned on the cover

DennisMabry said:

One screen lists other DVD-A titles available and ironically upcoming titles including Heart - "Dreamboat Annie" (I wonder what happened to that one?) I'm gonna give it a 6 for the mix and an 8 for content. So it averages out at a 7. Still worthwhile!

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Dennis let me borrow this last Sunday. I checked it out yesterday and noticed the same thing - where's "Dreamboat Annie"!?!? THAT'S something I'd like to hear in surround. Oh boy, oh boy, would that be good.

Anyway, let me say that I had NO compatibility problems on the Pioneer 578A.

I'm not going to rate this, because I only listened to the three hit singles (lucidity, jet city and rainy night). There's just something about this band that makes me cringe a little, but that's just me. I hope I don't offend any Queensryche fans.

Paul

CeLT_Q said:

The DTS track is very good , even though it is not mentioned on the cover

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Finally I got back to this one and found out that the dts track is actually there (thanks, CeLT!) - but I had to switch to DVD-V mode first; the DVD-A menu leads to no or partial (sic!) signal or analogue Dolby Digital track.

This used to be one of my favorite albums back in the beginning of 90's. Gee, I've even thought that Geoff Tate was one of the best singers around! The test of time is rather questionable here but my main problem seemed to be the hi-res mix sounding too unstable, chemical and just generally unconvincing. As with the majority of hard rock DVD-As, the best sounding tracks were the two ballads (Silent Lucidity and Anybody Listening?) - no surprise there. The dts option is really a contribution, although it sounds somewhat treble sensitive to my ears. Still, definitely an improvement over the DD track, which I used to prefer to the PPCM track!

If treated right, I still think this album could deserve an 8 today. I gave it a 7 eventually due to the dts track elevating it a point higher.

haikubass said:

Finally I got back to this one and found out that the dts track is actually there (thanks, CeLT!) - but I had to switch to DVD-V mode first; the DVD-A menu leads to no or partial (sic!) signal or analogue Dolby Digital track.

This used to be one of my favorite albums back in the beginning of 90's. Gee, I've even thought that Geoff Tate was one of the best singers around! The test of time is rather questionable here but my main problem seemed to be the hi-res mix sounding too unstable, chemical and just generally unconvincing. As with the majority of hard rock DVD-As, the best sounding tracks were the two ballads (Silent Lucidity and Anybody Listening?) - no surprise there. The dts option is really a contribution, although it sounds somewhat treble sensitive to my ears. Still, definitely an improvement over the DD track, which I used to prefer to the PPCM track!

If treated right, I still think this album could deserve an 8 today. I gave it a 7 eventually due to the dts track elevating it a point higher.

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I think Geoff Tate is a great rock singer. I never listened to this album before owning it on DVD-A and it was the third Geoff Tate/Queensryche DVD-A I purchased. I like it but don't think it is deserving of its reputation as their best or one of their best.

Chris

My vote on this one required the consideration of many factors. Some of which were:

1). It's a hard rock/metal mix, and those are dicey to begin with.
2). The original CD release of Empire was extremely weak, sonically.
3). This is not Operation: Mindcrime, much to my dismay

I always liked this album, though, just not as much as the O:M. That said, this DVD-A does justice to the material - especially with that DTS track, which is miles better than the DD track. So I'm only talking about the DTS. Ultimately, the mix can get a bit muddy in certain spots. But it really shines in the quieter spots and on Tate's vocals in songs like Della Brown or Jet City Woman. I was actually a bit disappointed in Silent Lucidity's mix; I thought it was going to better than it is. But other tracks really stood out, like Another Rainy Night, which is actually one of my favorites from this album.

All in all, this is well worth your time/money if you are a fan of the band. My vote started at 8, dropped to 7 momentarily due to the unstable mix, came back up to 8 when I heard Della Brown, Jet City Woman, and Another Rainy Night. Then it jumped to 9 when I remembered that my old stereo CD release of this sounds terrible (I actually remastered the CD release myself for my home digital collection because it was too much of a difference in dynamics when one of these songs would come up on random in Winamp...and that drives me nuts).

I bought this a few months ago and loved it. I remember this from when it got lots of radio play. The DVD-A sounded even better than what I remembered. My vote is infuenced by having anything from this time frame that I liked being available in surround of any format, much less hi rez. I also liked the more mellow songs here, but couldn't get Jet City Woman to play right in the standard DVD-A playing, that I have to switch to DTS to hear it all the way through. The difficulty I had getting this at a good price led me to live with this, but I still don't like it. I give this a 7.5, which rounds to an 8. Keep in mind my bias, so maybe not so high for someone without nostalgia involved.

Man is Geoff one corny mofo! The lyrics and the style of vocals are cringe worthy. Cheesy, do not flow well, poorly written. Decent music. Mixes OK, nor particularly immersive. The problem with this DVD A is the horrible, headache inducing EQ. Bright!

I'm voting on the DTS mix (on the DVD-A):

I've had this for a while and I just recently upgraded my system with a Martin Logan Motion 20 center channel and after all the tweaks on my system I can say this is a VERY GOOD representation of what QR intended to sound like.

It's a bit of a crazy (schizo) mix (a little treble high, a bit fatiguing) but after being QR fan since 1988 I can say that this captures what QR is really about.

It will take you by surprise at first but after all the QR listening I have done in the last 26 years I think this mix does try to capture the "essence" of QR.

a very under-rated mix IMO

just hooked up a new Kef sub

I've always like this album and QR but Damn they use the sub (LFE) more than most any other band, and I like it

Holy Moses

salsdali said:

just hooked up a new Kef sub

I've always like this album and QR but Damn they use the sub (LFE) more than most any other band, and I like it

Holy Moses

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And....how is the KEF sub?

KEF psw 2150 10" 250 Watt

Hits like a Freight Train

My neighbors hate me

Queensryche loves me

I've had this one for years, but I could never get it to play properly i.e. the DVD-Audio on any of my old Pioneer or Denon Universals, and two of them wouldn't play it full stop as it was Region encoded for the USA, the others would only let me play the 5.1DD! So I thought I'd try it on the Oppo 203 today, and it found the 5.1 DVD-Audio layer and played it . It may not be the most discrete of mixes but its not as bad as an awful lot of discs, so I'm going to give it a 7. Sound quality is good so an 8, and I do like the album so a 9 for the music. So an 8 overall.

I then decided to try and extract the audio, makeMKV couldn't find the DVD-Audio section, only DD, yet I could see there was a DVD-A TS folder. So I tried DVD-Audio Extractor and it got it, so I now have it as 2.0/5.1 24bit/96kHz FLACs as well. It seems that they made a very complicated disc structure when they authored this one.

DuncanS said:

I've had this one for years, but I could never get it to play properly i.e. the DVD-Audio on any of my old Pioneer or Denon Universals, and two of them wouldn't play it full stop as it was Region encoded for the USA, the others would only let me play the 5.1DD! So I thought I'd try it on the Oppo 203 today, and it found the 5.1 DVD-Audio layer and played it . It may not be the most discrete of mixes but its not as bad as an awful lot of discs, so I'm going to give it a 7. Sound quality is good so an 8, and I do like the album so a 9 for the music. So an 8 overall.

I then decided to try and extract the audio, makeMKV couldn't find the DVD-Audio section, only DD, yet I could see there was a DVD-A TS folder. So I tried DVD-Audio Extractor and it got it, so I now have it as 2.0/5.1 24bit/96kHz FLACs as well. It seems that they made a very complicated disc structure when they authored this one.

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A lot of the Capitol/EMI DVD~A discs were problematic in the authoring department. Most of the DVD~As I have from other Majors automatically play the DVD~A 5.1 audio portion in my Meridian 800 Reference player but for some inexplicable reason, those Capitol/EMI DVD~As require use of a menu to choose between stereo/surround ....especially the EMI classical DVD~A discs.

DuncanS said:

I've had this one for years, but I could never get it to play properly i.e. the DVD-Audio on any of my old Pioneer or Denon Universals, and two of them wouldn't play it full stop as it was Region encoded for the USA, the others would only let me play the 5.1DD! So I thought I'd try it on the Oppo 203 today, and it found the 5.1 DVD-Audio layer and played it . It may not be the most discrete of mixes but its not as bad as an awful lot of discs, so I'm going to give it a 7. Sound quality is good so an 8, and I do like the album so a 9 for the music. So an 8 overall.

I then decided to try and extract the audio, makeMKV couldn't find the DVD-Audio section, only DD, yet I could see there was a DVD-A TS folder. So I tried DVD-Audio Extractor and it got it, so I now have it as 2.0/5.1 24bit/96kHz FLACs as well. It seems that they made a very complicated disc structure when they authored this one.

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Hello;

I just picked up DVD-Audio Extractor today and have begun ripping my DVD-Audio discs. When I got to Empire it showed 2 versions of the album as I expected to see however both were 5.1. How did you get DVDAE to located the stereo tracks? In the event one of the 5.1 versions was simply a container and only 2 channels were used I ripped both but unfortuntely they are indeed both true 5.1 versions as I was able to monitor the output via my SSP's VU meters and all channels are alive and active.

I also ripped the Tribe album and that only seemed to have one option, 5.1.

Thanks

I voted 8, love the disc, but surround is weak, still better than stereo, turning up loud of course makes it better.

marpow said:

I voted 8, love the disc, but surround is weak, still better than stereo, turning up loud of course makes it better.

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Turning it up loud always makes it sound better ...... especially if you have a naggin' significant other! "TURN THAT **** DOWN!"




BTW, I voted a 9. Sounds fantastic on my system.

I gave it a 9. I like it when the surround mixes don't call attention to particular back speakers as that's gimicky but rather they are used to help fill the room with sound acting more as a compliment to the front 3.

BrystonUser said:

Hello;

I just picked up DVD-Audio Extractor today and have begun ripping my DVD-Audio discs. When I got to Empire it showed 2 versions of the album as I expected to see however both were 5.1. How did you get DVDAE to located the stereo tracks? In the event one of the 5.1 versions was simply a container and only 2 channels were used I ripped both but unfortuntely they are indeed both true 5.1 versions as I was able to monitor the output via my SSP's VU meters and all channels are alive and active.

I also ripped the Tribe album and that only seemed to have one option, 5.1.

Thanks

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I'm away from home at the moment, I'll have a look when I get back in a few days. I think I produced an MKV then used Garry's (HomerJAU) Music Media Helper code to extract.

www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/index.php?threads/music-helper-useful-tools-for-music-videos-mch-audio.22693/page-5#post-375912