HiRez Poll BetterThanEzra - HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? [DVD-A]

[JonUrban]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this 2013 5.1 DVD-AUDIO title, released by MUSIC VALET.

Pre-release discussion can be found in this thread:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?17584

Please keep future comments in this poll thread for archive purposes. THANKS

 

[fredblue]

interesting to see its manufactured by Warner/Rhino... so at least they still know how to make a DVD-A, even if they don't/won't make one for themselves!

 

[JonUrban]

interesting to see its manufactured by Warner/Rhino... so at least they still know how to make a DVD-A, even if they don't/won't make one for themselves!

I saw that, and thought the same thing. Elektra and Rhino involved in a DVD-Audio again. Very nice. Very very nice.

 

[fredblue]

I saw that, and thought the same thing. Elektra and Rhino involved in a DVD-Audio again. Very nice. Very very nice.

it's about frickin' time!

a CD + DVD-Audio package is still my favourite format.

it covers all bases, gives the greatest flexibility and ticks all the boxes:

1.) a CD you can play on any CD player,
2.) a CD you can rip to your computer,
3.) a DVD-A with Hi-Rez and Dolby/DTS lossy you can play on all DVD players...

you can play it in your home theatre, in the car, in your office, on your computer, on your iPod, in Hi-Rez, in lossy, in stereo, or in surround sound, whatever you want, wherever you want, you call the shots.

a properly authored DVD-A (one you can play without the need for a TV/monitor to navigate the audio., etc) together with a CD of the same material in one package has it all goin' on and works for everybody.

 

[Bob Romano]

Got mine yesterday! Awesome service first of all.

I like the mix very much and it really opens the stereo up nicely. My two favorite tracks are "Beautiful Mistake" and "Waxing Or Waning". The mixes on those two tracks especially gave me goosebumps and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. My true test of how much something effects me. Really well done IMO.

I really can't wait for future titles if they are all this good. I forgot how much I liked BTE as well so thanks for that too!!!

 

[byrdman7]

Got mine yesterday! Awesome service first of all.

I like the mix very much and it really opens the stereo up nicely. My two favorite tracks are "Beautiful Mistake" and "Waxing Or Waning". The mixes on those two tracks especially gave me goosebumps and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. My true test of how much something effects me. Really well done IMO.

I really can't wait for future titles if they are all this good. I forgot how much I liked BTE as well so thanks for that too!!!

Ditto, Bob covers all the bases. Excellent and welcomed release. I am looking forward to the next project, bring them on.

 

[GOS]

Probably I'll be in the minority here. I personally thought the vocals were a bit too much "up front". A bit harsh honestly. Not sure what I was expecting, but this mix does not match my expectations relative to other discs I have.

 

[fredblue]

Probably I'll be in the minority here. I personally thought the vocals were a bit too much "up front". A bit harsh honestly. Not sure what I was expecting, but this mix does not match my expectations relative to other discs I have.

is the lead vocal mixed hard into the centre channel or spread across the front three? any backing vocals in the rears?

I could have to wait upto 3 weeks for mine to arrive according to the bands' own webshop.. eeeh I cannee wait..!!!

 

[GOS]

is the lead vocal mixed hard into the centre channel or spread across the front three? any backing vocals in the rears?

I could have to wait upto 3 weeks for mine to arrive according to the bands' own webshop.. eeeh I cannee wait..!!!

Let me listen to it again. Let me clarify that I'm a surround junkie. If there aren't big separation between speakers, I'm typically not happy. I love King Crimson mix, that's what I hope for.

 

[fredblue]

Let me listen to it again. Let me clarify that I'm a surround junkie. If there aren't big separation between speakers, I'm typically not happy. I love King Crimson mix, that's what I hope for.

Thank you I'm certainly not going to cancel my order (I doubt I could anyway!) as I hope by supporting this first surround music release from Music Valet it will lead to more surround from them.. but it would be nice to know exactly what I'm in for seeing as I'm going to have to wait a bit longer than U.S based surround-heads and patience is not my strong point..!!

 

[dr8track]

Got my disc on Saturday and just had a chance to give it the first listen today. First of all, it is a very immersive surround mix. At no point do you ever question whether or not you are listening to a surround mix. Very discrete use of all four channels and at least one "swirling around the room" effect (which I always enjoy) that I heard at the end of Je ne m'en Souviens pas.
I've heard of Better Than Ezra, but had never listened to much of their music. In fact, I interviewed them back sometime in the 90's for a television magazine show for teenagers that I was producing at the time. I'm fairly certain that was before this album was released. I like the music and certain songs are standing out for me early on as favorites. I don't what, if any songs, were hits off this album, but the two I could certainly have imagined as hits are Under You and Beautiful Mistake. Overall, the songs I like best are; At The Stars ( a nice pop melody), Under You (a nice slow tune that is probably my favorite so far), Live Again (another slower tune that I really enjoyed), Particle (some of the orchestration almost reminds me of Zeppelin's Kashmir at times), Beautiful Mistake (I'm liking the slower tunes with the orchestration (which I assume is synthesizers vs real orchestra?). This one has a real haunting melody. Really enjoy it. Liking this one more and more as I listen multiple times.)

Technical Notes: Not sure if anyone else noticed this, and it does not impact playback, but several of the songs don't change tracks at the right place. For example, the instrumentation at the end of Beautiful Mistake is fading and it changes to track 12 and finishes fading. There is a clean break in audio at the end of Beautiful Mistake, so I don't think this was intentional. It happens on at least 2 or 3 other songs. I didn't take notes on which the others were. I think it happens at the tail end of Under You also. The only time it would be noticed is if you are forwarded through the tracks. If you do that some tracks start out with just the tail end of the previous song finishing.
Menu: Unless I'm doing something wrong, there is no top menu. Just pop it in and it plays. The only screen is the track listing. As I said, assuming I'm not doing something wrong and just haven't figured out how to access it, I like this simple menu. You don't need to turn on your TV to play the disc and I don't reallly miss things like lyrics and photo extras that are usually found on the home menu.
I give this one a very solid 9.

 

[Dixie4]

is the lead vocal mixed hard into the centre channel or spread across the front three? any backing vocals in the rears?

I could have to wait upto 3 weeks for mine to arrive according to the bands' own webshop.. eeeh I cannee wait..!!!

My own personal preference is to have the lead vocal in the centre, but when a mix is done well, I don't really mind if it's across the 3 channels.

 

[fredblue]

Got my disc on Saturday and just had a chance to give it the first listen today. First of all, it is a very immersive surround mix. At no point do you ever question whether or not you are listening to a surround mix. Very discrete use of all four channels and at least one "swirling around the room" effect (which I always enjoy) that I heard at the end of Je ne m'en Souviens pas.
I've heard of Better Than Ezra, but had never listened to much of their music. In fact, I interviewed them back sometime in the 90's for a television magazine show for teenagers that I was producing at the time. I'm fairly certain that was before this album was released. I like the music and certain songs are standing out for me early on as favorites. I don't what, if any songs, were hits off this album, but the two I could certainly have imagined as hits are Under You and Beautiful Mistake. Overall, the songs I like best are; At The Stars ( a nice pop melody), Under You (a nice slow tune that is probably my favorite so far), Live Again (another slower tune that I really enjoyed), Particle (some of the orchestration almost reminds me of Zeppelin's Kashmir at times), Beautiful Mistake (I'm liking the slower tunes with the orchestration (which I assume is synthesizers vs real orchestra?). This one has a real haunting melody. Really enjoy it. Liking this one more and more as I listen multiple times.)

Technical Notes: Not sure if anyone else noticed this, and it does not impact playback, but several of the songs don't change tracks at the right place. For example, the instrumentation at the end of Beautiful Mistake is fading and it changes to track 12 and finishes fading. There is a clean break in audio at the end of Beautiful Mistake, so I don't think this was intentional. It happens on at least 2 or 3 other songs. I didn't take notes on which the others were. I think it happens at the tail end of Under You also. The only time it would be noticed is if you are forwarded through the tracks. If you do that some tracks start out with just the tail end of the previous song finishing.
Menu: Unless I'm doing something wrong, there is no top menu. Just pop it in and it plays. The only screen is the track listing. As I said, assuming I'm not doing something wrong and just haven't figured out how to access it, I like this simple menu. You don't need to turn on your TV to play the disc and I don't reallly miss things like lyrics and photo extras that are usually found on the home menu.
I give this one a very solid 9.

thank you for a great review and feedback! it sounds like a great mix and all the hard work the Music Valet team put into it paid off!

also delighted to hear it auto-plays and there's no need for the TV (if you don't want to!) I feel the pedigree of the disc with the producers' intent of it being ideal for the car is part of why it's so simple to navigate/use.

all good so far!! keep it up!

 

[fredblue]

My own personal preference is to have the lead vocal in the centre, but when a mix is done well, I don't really mind if it's across the 3 channels.

I'm inclined to agree.. plus I love playing the isolating game once in a while and only playing back the centre channel on SACDs/DVD-As where lead vocals of musical heroes of mine (like Elton, Freddie, Eric, Marvin, etc) are isolated in the centre!

on a (related) tangent, there's quad mixes with such amazing stereo imaging created by the front pair that you'd swear there was a centre channel - when there's not..! :yikes

 

[dr8track]

is the lead vocal mixed hard into the centre channel or spread across the front three? any backing vocals in the rears?

The lead vocal is strongly center channel, but can be faintly heard in the background in the front L & R channels. I have not noticed any rear channel backing vocals, but then, I wasn't listening specifically for that, so can't say for certain. I will emphasize once again, this is a VERY discrete surround mix. Nothing subtle about it like with many surround mixes that you have to strain to determine if you are hearing anything isolated to the rear channels. There is very specific sound coming from all channels and some occasional fun movement of specific sounds to different channels.

 

[Dixie4]

I'm inclined to agree.. plus I love playing the isolating game once in a while and only playing back the centre channel on SACDs/DVD-As where lead vocals of musical heroes of mine (like Elton, Freddie, Eric, Marvin, etc) are isolated in the centre!

on a (related) tangent, there's quad mixes with such amazing stereo imaging created by the front pair that you'd swear there was a centre channel - when there's not..! :yikes

When the lead vocal's in the centre, you know it's there....when it's across the channels, I find myself going to check the centre, e.t.c. which is a bit annoying ! I don't know if it's my imagination, but I think a centre vocal can have more clarity, depth & warmth ?

 

[GOS]

Wow - glad you like it. Great review - I could not call it immersive on my setup. Anyway - I'm sure many will be pleased.

Got my disc on Saturday and just had a chance to give it the first listen today. First of all, it is a very immersive surround mix. At no point do you ever question whether or not you are listening to a surround mix. Very discrete use of all four channels and at least one "swirling around the room" effect (which I always enjoy) that I heard at the end of Je ne m'en Souviens pas.
I've heard of Better Than Ezra, but had never listened to much of their music. In fact, I interviewed them back sometime in the 90's for a television magazine show for teenagers that I was producing at the time. I'm fairly certain that was before this album was released. I like the music and certain songs are standing out for me early on as favorites. I don't what, if any songs, were hits off this album, but the two I could certainly have imagined as hits are Under You and Beautiful Mistake. Overall, the songs I like best are; At The Stars ( a nice pop melody), Under You (a nice slow tune that is probably my favorite so far), Live Again (another slower tune that I really enjoyed), Particle (some of the orchestration almost reminds me of Zeppelin's Kashmir at times), Beautiful Mistake (I'm liking the slower tunes with the orchestration (which I assume is synthesizers vs real orchestra?). This one has a real haunting melody. Really enjoy it. Liking this one more and more as I listen multiple times.)

Technical Notes: Not sure if anyone else noticed this, and it does not impact playback, but several of the songs don't change tracks at the right place. For example, the instrumentation at the end of Beautiful Mistake is fading and it changes to track 12 and finishes fading. There is a clean break in audio at the end of Beautiful Mistake, so I don't think this was intentional. It happens on at least 2 or 3 other songs. I didn't take notes on which the others were. I think it happens at the tail end of Under You also. The only time it would be noticed is if you are forwarded through the tracks. If you do that some tracks start out with just the tail end of the previous song finishing.
Menu: Unless I'm doing something wrong, there is no top menu. Just pop it in and it plays. The only screen is the track listing. As I said, assuming I'm not doing something wrong and just haven't figured out how to access it, I like this simple menu. You don't need to turn on your TV to play the disc and I don't reallly miss things like lyrics and photo extras that are usually found on the home menu.
I give this one a very solid 9.

 

[Dixie4]

The lead vocal is strongly center channel, but can be faintly heard in the background in the front L & R channels. I have not noticed any rear channel backing vocals, but then, I wasn't listening specifically for that, so can't say for certain. I will emphasize once again, this is a VERY discrete surround mix. Nothing subtle about it like with many surround mixes that you have to strain to determine if you are hearing anything isolated to the rear channels. There is very specific sound coming from all channels and some occasional fun movement of specific sounds to different channels.

I'm looking forward more and more, to receiving this disc !

 

[fredblue]

The lead vocal is strongly center channel, but can be faintly heard in the background in the front L & R channels. I have not noticed any rear channel backing vocals, but then, I wasn't listening specifically for that, so can't say for certain. I will emphasize once again, this is a VERY discrete surround mix. Nothing subtle about it like with many surround mixes that you have to strain to determine if you are hearing anything isolated to the rear channels. There is very specific sound coming from all channels and some occasional fun movement of specific sounds to different channels.

sounds absolutely wonderful!! thank you so much for the detailed information!! Super excited now!!!

it's :banana: time!

 

[fredblue]

I'm looking forward more and more, to receiving this disc !

moi aussi..!! ha!!