HiRez Poll Doobie Brothers, The - QUADIO [Blu-ray Audio]

[rusinurbe]

So happy this came out an exemplar of can done with the will. Thanks to Steve for making it happen, and Rhino for making this a High quality reasonably priced product.

 

[Sixtyten]

I know nothing about The Doobie Brothers, but took a punt on this., getting it for a birthday present. It arrived yesterday, I'm now half-way through my second play of Toulouse Street. F***ing hell that's a mix and a half.

 

[texquad]

I've had Tab's excellent conversions from the quad reels for years which sound great but these are exceptional and totally exceed the existing DVD-A. My quad albums are in storage so do the they state who did the mixes and is there another WB band or artist that should be the next Quadio release.

 

[christcomesalive]

I now understand why everyone was flipping out about I Cheat The Hangman in quad. Absolutely memorizing.

 

[christcomesalive]

Daughters of the Sea..... Wow.

 

[par4ken]

I've never considered myself to be a Doobie's fan however I already owned the Q4 of "Toulouse Street" and the CD-4 of "Vices". I received the set yesterday and started off in order (I think) with Toulouse Street. That mix is a bit more bassy than the others but sounds fantastic with that silky smooth sound of the BDP-103 on Blu-ray audio. Much better sounding than the quad reel. The Captain and me was the album I liked the most. I had always stayed clear of it as, "China Grove" had been vastly overplayed on the radio, but the sound mix and content all proved to be fantastic. "Long Train Runnin'" brought back memories and would rate as my favourite track. "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" trounces the CD-4 version. Then on to "Stampede", all in the same sitting, again fantastic sound.
For the price, sound, and especially the mix, these deserve a ten rating for each!

 

[sbrom]

Simply a 10.

Fully enveloped by some of my favorite music, I’ve waited a long time for this.

 

[Bill Houston]

It's a minor miracle that logical common-sense decision making prevailed in the doom-ridden world of surround where the kicks to the psychological nuts just keep coming and coming. How refreshing to see the Doobie Bros. Quadio box on a relevant format (BR) and excellent codec (DTS-MA). This release should be held as a model for all the airplane glue-sniffing execs. who take mixes by Steve Wilson and relegate them to lossy codecs or launch Atmos mixes on steaming services (Amazon) they cannot be reproduced upon. How are these execs. not catapulted into the sun? Even the most casual QQ poster would not make these goofs.

Also, Rhino should be applauded for the value of this box set. 4 BR albums for $60; that's excellent value. I think these economic box sets where they transfer old quad mixes to digital without remixing them is an excellent way to clear out the vaults. I also like the liner notes detailing the technical aspects of quad. Makes the release seem special.

Anyway, I listened to these albums one after another while drinking my way through a six-pack. Man, does Toulouse Street (8.5 out of 10) have a lot of hits on it. I had no idea how familiar I was with this album from hearing classic rock radio, wandering malls in my youth, and frequenting strip clubs in college. It reminds me of a poppier, hippy-style, psychedelic Eagles. I thought this was their best album. Toulouse Street even manages a good Christian rock song ("Jesus is Just Alright"). Talk about a miracle!

Sadly, The Doobie Bros. spend the rest of this boxset retreating from this fascinating pop sound for a grittier (and boring) blues-rock. I wonder if this was due to criticism from "serious" rock rags like Rolling Stone. Time has played its hand and the Doobs were right. Should have stuck to their poppy-psych guns. That's not to say the rest of the albums are bad-far from it. In fact, it's interesting to note how much more complex and layered the songwriting gets as the albums march on. Unfortunately, the complexity fails to match the creative burst of Toulouse Street. The drums needed to be better recorded for Toulouse Street, and it can get a bit trebl-y, but otherwise, this is an excellent album and mix.

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but who mixed these albums? There are Exec. Producer and mastering credits but no mixing. These quad mixes are superb! Lots of fun, but not distracting from the song. This mixer needs to be recognized and given more work if they're still alive.

Other notes:
1. Love the phantom center channel. I may prefer quad to 5.1.
2. Love the creeping muscular bass on some of the tracks.
3. Love the bass in the rears which envelops the head and sometimes seems to come from behind. Mixers take note!
4. Excellent separation of instruments
5. These mixes have the most important quality I desire in surround which is a sense of 3D space.
6. All 4 speakers are liberally utilized. Wow!


Grade on a Curve: 9
Albums: 7
Mix: 9.5
Sonics : 9
Value: 10

 

[Juggsnelson]

I voted a 10. I cannot imagine this release being done any better. You can quibble hear and there about choices in the mixing but that was out of Rhino's hands obviously. These albums sound beautiful. The band and Ted Templeman should be proud. They were exceptionally well recorded and you can appreciate that here like never before. Its hard to put this one back on the shelf lol!!

 

[tarkusnj]

I purchased this Quadio and sold it. Not sure what everyone else hears but I realize on this group to criticize something that the majority praise is not accepted.
The sound is terrible .. period.

 

[Marplot]

I have not seen any issues with being critical. The grief comes into play when someone shits on a poll with a low number and no posting as to why.

 

[mrcond]

All opinions are valid and welcome! I think most here know whose opinions they trust and set their own filters accordingly.

 

[tarkusnj]

The poll is for us, as listeners, to express their opinion to the sonic quality I think and NOT the content. I just don't think it is worthy of a high rating in the sonic regard. Maybe it's my equipment or my ears but that is my rating/opinion and I stand by it. I realize on here if you have nothing good to say about a release, you should not say anything. I am sure there are others that feel the same way and they sit on their hands.
I am not the biggest Doobie Brothers fan but I saw them the first time at a free concert in May of 1973 along with many other groups...Jimmy Buffet was another.

 

[JonUrban]

I purchased this Quadio and sold it. Not sure what everyone else hears but I realize on this group to criticize something that the majority praise is not accepted.
The sound is terrible .. period.

It should absolutely NOT be that way. I would hope that everyone should feel free to express their opinions here without getting jumped. If you ever feel that you're being unfairly treated here, please report that post. The mods will deal with the issue, you should not have to.

The poll is for us, as listeners, to express their opinion to the sonic quality I think and NOT the content. I just don't think it is worthy of a high rating in the sonic regard. Maybe it's my equipment or my ears but that is my rating/opinion and I stand by it. I realize on here if you have nothing good to say about a release, you should not say anything. I am sure there are others that feel the same way and they sit on their hands.
I am not the biggest Doobie Brothers fan but I saw them the first time at a free concert in May of 1973 along with many other groups...Jimmy Buffet was another.

You are a long time member with serious cred, at least with me. Your opinion, good or bad, I would value very highly as opposed to someone who flies in here, tanks a vote, then disappears.

 

[timbre4]

I need to listen some more before I vote; not getting much listening time lately. I hurriedly listened to a few tracks when it first arrived on the quad system with full range Advent Legacy speakers and it was clearly sounding great. A week later, I managed to listen to Toulouse Street + Captain & Me on the 5.1 system - various Cambridge Soundworks speakers (LFE+Mains setting). But even with this haphazard listening pattern, the fidelity was always great. Having owned some of these on Q8 tape, DTS CDs, DVD-A QR conversions over time, I already feel the Quadio box is superior IMHO to any previous format. I promise I will finish listening soon and vote accordingly.

Having said that I’m also looking forward to some actual details of how this release could be so lacking to someone else.

 

[uffeolby]

I've lived with this box set for a week now. I am very happy with it and consider it to be more consistantly good than the Chicago box which is very uneven in sound quality and mix between the different discs. This one gets a 9 from me.

Someone did mention it but I am surprised that it has not been discussed more - I think we have three really good sounding records here but we also have one dud.

Tolouse Street - Really opens up in 4.0 and some of the songs are very sublime in a good way. Only downside is that two of the latter calm/acoustic songs on the record has raised volume for some strange reason

The Captain and Me - this is the dud in my book. I am so glad that we have the Elliot Scheiner 5.1 mix available for this one, it is like night and day in comparison. Part of this mix is really strange but particurly the sound quality is not even close to the other records in the box, from muffled to harsch with a few good passages in between. Me not like

Vices - Never heard this one before but it is classic Doobie with very good sound quality and mix

Stampade - Never heard this one either but it is also classic Doobie with the best sound quality and mix of all four discs

 

[atomicdog]

I purchased this Quadio and sold it. Not sure what everyone else hears but I realize on this group to criticize something that the majority praise is not accepted.
The sound is terrible .. period.

I found the levels to be uneven across the quad mixes--some of the guitar intros were almost inaudible. Never spent so much time fiddling with the settings in an attempt to get it right. I had to play reference recordings just to convince myself I hadn't gone crazy. When the mix was even the tracks could sound quite amazing.

 

[timothyemerson]

Mine arrived down the bottom of the planet. I've listened to them all and find them superb in all respects:

1. I'm only a casual Doobies fan, knowing only the "hits" but have really enjoyed getting into the albums.
2. Surround mix is tip top. Tons of constant discrete content, dueling drumkits (whoa!), floating vocals right behind my head, wow.
3. Fidelity is excellent.
4. Great value.
5. Amazing how they nailed surround mixing ~50 years ago and these days, weak surround mixes are being released, eh? I'm sure the problem is mainly with someone with authority in the band who won't allow anything that remotely monkeys with their stereo vision but as long as the stereo version is still available, it would be good if they stepped aside and let the engineers at it.

This is a great set and I'm glad I bought it. I voted a 10.

 

[skherbeck]

I found the levels to be uneven across the quad mixes--some of the guitar intros were almost inaudible. Never spent so much time fiddling with the settings in an attempt to get it right. I had to play reference recordings just to convince myself I hadn't gone crazy. When the mix was even the tracks could sound quite amazing.

I have to agree... I made adjustments to multiple song levels as well as certain parts within songs; that being said, once I got the levels adjusted to my liking, this is a fantastic sounding set! (Although Scheiner’s mix is still my preferred version of “Captain”)

 

[LuvMyQuad]

I have to agree... I made adjustments to multiple song levels as well as certain parts within songs; that being said, once I got the levels adjusted to my liking, this is a fantastic sounding set! (Although Scheiner’s mix is still my preferred version of “Captain”)

So you are saying individual tracks are cut at different levels within the same album, correct?

How did you accomplish changing levels of parts within songs? Just an adjustment to the surrounds, CC, etc? Or something more complex.

I have to admit, the 1st time I played the ripped tracks (not the actual disk), something was amiss, and I still don't know what it was. Levels were off and channels seemed mixed up. I checked other sources and eventually re-booted the system. And then all was right again. I was wondering if could have had something to do with the 192kHz sample rate and my prepro not adjusting for it correctly. Haven't had the problem again though.