HiRez Poll Doors - THE BEST OF THE DOORS [SACD/BDA]

[fizzywiggs41]

Well it's all been pretty much said already, that is as far as positive reviews goes.This is a sure TEN !!

Why some people still harp negative on perception, well apart from no 5.1 on disc one, I can not fathom.The dvda extras in 5.1would fill up at least 3 additional discs!

This sacd sounds nice and clean clocks in at 44mins.Sure it would be nice to have more and other tunes (the end), but cd-4 limited playing times in 73.

Nice to hear the 3 songs from the first album in quad.And I like the first tune from Absolutely Live, plus them fact Bruce is considering mixing this album in surround (as per his interview with Mettler)!!!


Riders On The Storm, with whisper sure takes me back.Highly recommend this Quad disc.A must on.





The twins, with the original.Pic.

 

[GOS]

I bet all you folks who grew up listening to the Quad LP are just loving this...and for those of us "younger" folks (OK, I'm 52) who missed the boat on Quad LP's are also loving it! Just wonderful!!!

 

[fizzywiggs41]

It's never too late to enjoy a good quad disc, regardless of age.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I bet all you folks who grew up listening to the Quad LP are just loving this...and for those of us "younger" folks (OK, I'm 52) who missed the boat on Quad LP's are also loving it! Just wonderful!!!

There is a certain "tickle" or elation I feel GOS, especially when a reissue of a great quad disc appears that I (61) experience. Quite likely this is true for other collectors from the early 70's quad release era.It was short lived, too short, with the promise of many upcoming titles that never materialized. Anyway, this is a must own, must have quad jewel.

 

[Jim the Oldbie]

Yikes!

I ordered an SACD player the other day (Sony BDP-S6500). I've been meaning for some time to start building my collection, but it was really this disc (plus all your positive reviews here) that made me stop procrastinating and order the player (plus, I found one open-box for under 100 bucks - what can I say, I'm a cheap old b@stard).

But now I see this title is already out of stock at Audio Fidelity! Amazon still has it, but I was going to wait to see how the player works out before ordering any more titles (I own one multichannel SACD to test it with when it arrives).

Anyway, this brings up a noob question: Do you folks think this title might already be close to selling out? I know this is a niche market, but does that happen this quickly with SACD releases these days? Just curious...

-- Jim

 

[dr8track]

Yikes!

I ordered an SACD player the other day (Sony BDP-S6500). I've been meaning for some time to start building my collection, but it was really this disc (plus all your positive reviews here) that made me stop procrastinating and order the player (plus, I found one open-box for under 100 bucks - what can I say, I'm a cheap old b@stard).

But now I see this title is already out of stock at Audio Fidelity! Amazon still has it, but I was going to wait to see how the player works out before ordering any more titles (I own one multichannel SACD to test it with when it arrives).

Anyway, this brings up a noob question: Do you folks think this title might already be close to selling out? I know this is a niche market, but does that happen this quickly with SACD releases? Just curious...

-- Jim

Well, you never know what is and what isn't going to sell out, but I would say this is a disc you should get while the gettin's good. If it does sell out, who knows if AF would release another run?

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Well I've waited to see how my peers would vote...I'm a little disappointed at some of the results...not just the numbers...but the reasons behind the numbers...after months of anticipation leading up to this high profile release I thought there would be a tidal wave of responses...only 23 votes on the poll and not much discussion about the disc on the various threads on here...and what I've seen outside this forum...well without beating a dead horse...it's not what I had hoped for...for hi rez advocates(us) that crave surround music and then gets a high profile ROCK band title (which doesn't happen very often)the silence is deafening...

I guess the one thing that bothers me the most are the complaints about the content on this disc..just because the title says "The Best Of" people are complaining because it isn't their "Best Of"...so this title is being penalized for the name of the disc...that makes zero sense to me...the content is amazing on this disc...at least 7 of the best songs this band every released(8 if you count Moonlight Drive which I love) and some of the greatest rock tunes of any band...so if the title were The Doors Go Surfing would people still be complaining?...I don't know...but name me 1 title with AT LEAST 7 great songs out of 11 total...

When it comes to the subject of giving a 10 on a title on a poll thread..does it have to be perfect to be a 10...I say NO it doesn't...here are some of the discs I rated 10 on the polls and the number behind the title will be how many 10 votes the title received....Nightfly(64)...American Beauty(44)..Aqualung(50)..Avalon(64)...Legend(31)...and let me tell you that NONE of these are perfect...in fact I can honestly say that I've never heard a PERFECT surround disc in my life...there are always some little flaws..it's just human nature...

Of course I gave this a 10 and I hope to revisit this thread in the future when this disc is selling for well over $100 and will be scarce and I can look back at my rating and smile..

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Yikes!

I ordered an SACD player the other day (Sony BDP-S6500). I've been meaning for some time to start building my collection, but it was really this disc (plus all your positive reviews here) that made me stop procrastinating and order the player (plus, I found one open-box for under 100 bucks - what can I say, I'm a cheap old b@stard).

But now I see this title is already out of stock at Audio Fidelity! Amazon still has it, but I was going to wait to see how the player works out before ordering any more titles (I own one multichannel SACD to test it with when it arrives).

Anyway, this brings up a noob question: Do you folks think this title might already be close to selling out? I know this is a niche market, but does that happen this quickly with SACD releases these days? Just curious...

-- Jim

No brainer...buy it now..at the very LEAST you could turn around and sell it later on and get your money back if you decide not to proceed with hi rez...

 

[timbre4]

You should also factor in the number of people (and I was surprised to find myself included after I contacted importcds.com) who never received a copy of this. It seems the backorder cancels @ 21 days, the website isn't really hooked up to the ordering system, we're really sorry. With the price moved to $29.95 and $30+ on eBay, I'd have to think there is too much demand for this title not to press more. I am going to sit this out until it normalizes.

I've known this title most of my adult life and in my heart it is a 10; always will be.

As for Absolutely Live in surround? Completely on board wit that. It was mentioned in the liner notes for Live At The Aquarius that a 5.1 mix was completed. Bring it!

 

[JanBakker]

Still waiting for my copy :howl

 

[Jim the Oldbie]

No brainer...buy it now..at the very LEAST you could turn around and sell it later on and get your money back if you decide not to proceed with hi rez...

When you're right, you're right. Went ahead and snagged one on Amazon, also pre-ordered The Jeff Beck Group (man! talk about Memory Lane, whew!).

Thanks for your replies, everyone. Hope the player doesn't turn out to be total crap...

-- Jim

 

[GOS]

When you're right, you're right. Went ahead and snagged one on Amazon, also pre-ordered The Jeff Beck Group (man! talk about Memory Lane, whew!).

Thanks for your replies, everyone. Hope the player doesn't turn out to be total crap...

-- Jim

I don't think it will.....

 

[Perp]

FYI
The dynamic range of the quad mix is very good: DR12 (equal to that of a QR to DVDA conversion floating around).

I suppose we can say that it's the Quad master tape that has the lack of bass that the Quad Reel features. I also found the bass somewhat lacking on this disc as well as the volume levels being a bit on the low side. Lack of compression maybe? Not necessarily a bad thing, but worth mentioning.

Bingo!!!

I was afraid to mention any further thoughts on the SACD when I played my copy because I did not want to be further ridiculed by a certain QQ member. Since, I'm seeing some similar comments to what I'm hearing with this SACD version, I decided to be brave and Post a couple of comments.

When I first played the SACD, I was very disappointed in the sound. I even went as far as comparing the tracks to the Perception box set. What I heard with the 5.1 mixes that most of the tracks on the SACD were lacking was bass, bass, bass and the immediacy the Perception mixes have. It's like Jim Morrison is standing in my living room singing. Yes, some of the mixes on the SACD are better than, or different, than the 5.1 mixes but overall, I'd prefer to listen to the 5.1 mixes. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what was wrong with the SACD version. I mean, I don't remember the Q4 version that I've played many times sounding this.....off. So, today, I decided to break out and play the Q4 version. What do you know?! It sounds like "The Best Of The Doors" that I've been listening to!!! The bass returned along with the immediacy and, once again, like it's 5.1 counterpart, sounds like Jim Morrison is singing in my living room.

Needless to say, I'll probably be returning my SACD copy.

 

[Jim the Oldbie]

Gos! Your avatar just caused a hazy memory to bob to the surface, if you'll forgive a momentary digression:

One of my first exposures to truly insane home audio was a service call customer I had back in the 70s. Dude was a factory worker with plenty of disposable income, and a really nice guy. A popular stereo speaker at the time was the Bose 901. For the more affluent, there was also something known as the "Super Bose" setup, with 2 901s in each front corner. Well this guy had a double Super Bose rig - 2 901s in all 4 corners of the basement man-cave, driven by a pair of Bose 1800 power amps. So that's 1600 watts, pushing seventy-two little 4" or whatever drivers (EQ'd to "flat" response), in about a 12 x 14 ft. space.

He had the top-of-the-line Dual 1229 turntable, but explained to me that he couldn't just play records on it because it got so loud in that little room, the stylus would either feed back or jump right out the damn groove! His solution was to record all his LPs on a gorgeous Revox A77 reel-to-reel. "Wanna hear it?" he asked. Does the pope poop in the woods?! Hell yes, I wanna hear this!

Anyway - as soon as he hit PLAY, I could feel the turntable rumble in the room, coming off the tape. Before I could think, holy crap this is gonna be loud, my head exploded with the opening chords of Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold." Meanwhile, dude reclined in his big ol' Lazy Boy right smack in the middle of the room, closed his eyes, and proceeded to just bliss out. I'm pretty sure he forgot I was even there for a coupla minutes.

I know I will never experience anything quite like that again. It was freaking awesome. Wish you coulda heard it, man.

We now return to our regularly scheduled etc. Sorry again for the thread creep.

-- Jim

 

[GOS]

Gos! Your avatar just caused a hazy memory to bob to the surface, if you'll forgive a momentary digression:

One of my first exposures to truly insane home audio was a service call customer I had back in the 70s. Dude was a factory worker with plenty of disposable income, and a really nice guy. A popular stereo speaker at the time was the Bose 901. For the more affluent, there was also something known as the "Super Bose" setup, with 2 901s in each front corner. Well this guy had a double Super Bose rig - 2 901s in all 4 corners of the basement man-cave, driven by a pair of Bose 1800 power amps. So that's 1600 watts, pushing seventy-two little 4" or whatever drivers (EQ'd to flat response), in about a 12 x 14 ft. space.

He had the top-of-the-line Dual 1229 turntable, but explained to me that he couldn't just play records on it because it got so loud in that little room, the stylus would either feed back or jump right out the damn groove! His solution was to record all his LPs on a gorgeous Revox A77 reel-to-reel. "Wanna hear it?" he asked. Does the pope poop in the woods?! Hell yes, I wanna hear this!

Anyway - as soon as he hit PLAY, I could feel the turntable rumble in the room, coming off the tape. Before I could think, holy crap this is gonna be loud, my head exploded with the opening chords of Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold." Meanwhile, dude reclined in his big ol' Lazy Boy right smack in the middle of the room, closed his eyes, and proceeded to just bliss out. I'm pretty sure he forgot I was even there for a coupla minutes.

I know I will never experience anything quite like that again. It was freaking awesome. Wish you coulda heard it, man.

We now return to our regularly scheduled etc. Sorry again for the thread creep.

-- Jim

Yeah, back in the day...if you had 2 or 4 of those 901's....you had it going. I know a hippie dude that still has 4 of those 901's and I gotta say, the setup sounds really impressive. I mean, it sounds sort of like a life performance.....never had that sensation on other speakers.

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

Didn't the original CD-4 LP have added reverb on the rear channels? I'll have to dig my copy out, but I seem to remember the quad LP having annoying, obviously 'spring' reverb added that distracted from the sound. For example, it made the thunder in "Riders" sound fake. No one here mentions that, so apparently that is not on the SACD. I don't know if the original R2R used the same master. If the reverb was only on the CD-4, that master is best left to gather dust.

 

[cupboy]

I didn't know there was more than one version of the quad mix. Interesting.

 

[Simon A]

I didn't know there was more than one version of the quad mix. Interesting.

Maybe the reverb was only added whilst the disc was being cut. Just a thought.

 

[cupboy]

Maybe the reverb was only added whilst the disc was being cut. Just a thought.

Maybe they cut the disk inside an echo chamber of some kind.

 

[ar surround]

Didn't the original CD-4 LP have added reverb on the rear channels? I'll have to dig my copy out, but I seem to remember the quad LP having annoying, obviously 'spring' reverb added that distracted from the sound. For example, it made the thunder in "Riders" sound fake. No one here mentions that, so apparently that is not on the SACD. I don't know if the original R2R used the same master. If the reverb was only on the CD-4, that master is best left to gather dust.

You know, I had the CD-4 back in the day and I recall being unimpressed with it because of heavy echo, not to mention the other shortcomings of the CD-4 medium. I was surprised when the previews stated that this was an excellent SACD, which it truly is. So perhaps there was some manipulation either with the CD-4 or the quad tapes used for the SACD.