HiRez Poll Eagles - HOTEL CALIFORNIA [DVD-A/SACD-JAPAN/BDA]

[delarog]

After seeing them live during their History of the Eagles tour a few months ago, I finally got round to buying this sacd. The music is classic, of course. The surround is good, but a bit on the conservative side. I'm sure someone like Steven Wilson could have done a better job with these recordings (of course you can say that about a lot of albums). Still, very nice soundscape, especially during the quieter songs. I give it an 8.

 

[richy2times]

10. I like that Bill Szymczyk was involved in the process with Elliot Scheiner. Who else would know these tapes better. The approach to the surround mix, for me, was what I thought was lacking in many of the classic rock releases available when this came out. One of my favorite albums and now one of my favorite surround mixes.

I own the DVD-A.

 

[Philip Spinner]

Bill Szymczyk would of course give it that Szybig sound.
Phil

 

[GOS]

Bought this one back in the day. Still, easily one of my favorite 5.1's. I have the DVD-Audio and it just rocks. Outstanding mix

 

[blue.monk]

I hadn’t listened to this DVD-A in ages. But after Frey’s passing and watching History of the Eagles on Netflix this week (terrific, BTW) I was eager to revisit it. I find the mix excellent, much better than I had remembered. It brings new life to these songs, many of which are regrettably scarred from Stairway-to-Heaven levels of overplay. There are some nice touches throughout, such as placing Henley’s harmony vocal prominently in the center channel last half of “Pretty Maids”. The fidelity is very good given the 24-track source. I enjoy all the material even though the Eagles would be nowhere near the top of my favorite 70’s acts. And as for the mega-hits, I still have a soft spot for “New Kid”. I’ve always loved the two modulations that come after the bridge. The first shifting to a higher key, the second returning to the original key. Both are clever and give the tune a couple of nicely-timed emotional lifts IMO. A 9 for me.

 

[key_wiz]

Just bought the Japanese SACD. Sorry to say I'm a bit disappointed. Muddy sounding mix at times. Lead vocals buried a bit on some tracks. First 3 songs sound the worst to me. Maybe that's because I've heard those three SO many times? Anyway, that's part of the good news as I don't really want to hear those tracks anymore anyway. "Pretty Maids All In A Row" and "Try and Love Again" sound the best. The "Wasted Time (reprise)" is nice.

Giving this one a "6" overall.

 

[Scott65]

the 5.1 mix really opens up the music!

 

[Ephi82]

I have the dvd-a, not sure if the sacd is the same mix? In any case, IMO all Eagles records should have been put out in 5.1 because of the perfection of the original performances and recordings. (Not to mention how great most of the songs were)

I love how the bass is a bit more up front. Really enjoyed Meisners playing all tyrough his career. He used that Ric bass with great tone and sublty

 

[Spock]

One of my most treasured surround discs, great fidelty and a very tasteful surround mix. And of course I love the songs! A 10!

It sure is

A Classic Disc - A must have!

 

[rtbluray]

Please note that as of today, this poll thread has been updated to reflect the recent reissue of this 5.1 surround mix on Blu-Ray audio as part of the new 40th anniversary box set.

 

[edisonbaggins]

A 10 from Baggy. Reference disc used for calibration. I have the Japanese SACD. Beautiful sound and quite good mix.

 

[marpow]

I did an A/B critical listen comparison with pen and paper for the DVD-A and the new BD. The purpose of my comparison was for myself to find out did I waste money by purchasing the new 2017 Blu Ray box set ?
I only compared Track 1 Hotel California, both listens where the 5.1 at 60db.

DVD-A: PCM 96Khz. Easy menu choices, one stereo choice, one surround choice, Advanced Resolution. Lyrics and credits for every song.
The beginning has the swirling wind sound nice in all speakers. Two stick drum starts off nice. Vocals slightly right, not dead center. Dueling guitars are R/L rears. First guitar solo front right, second guitar solo front left. Nice fade at end of track to 2. Fidelity was a full mid range with nice treble and bass. Clear sonics. The DVD-A is a good choice for purchase.

BD: DTS-HD Master 96Khz. Disappointing menu, no lyrics, pictures, etc. Two choices stereo or 5.1. Very easy to read menu with good cursor.
The sonic fidelity is slightly better, same as above but with a hair more clean punch. Vocals are still a tad right, but you can also hear them stretched out in the overall surround very slightly.
First guitar solo is front right, same as DVD-A but second guitar solo is rear left. Makes for a nice surround effect. Fade at end is better to 0.

For the purpose of this poll after a comparison as I am more educated now I would give them both a 9. I voted 10 for DVD-A previously. As a consumer of music I look at the overall as the poll suggests "Great Surround, Great Fidelity, Great Content". The very good surround sound and excellent menu choices of the DVD-A bring it equal to the BD. The better sonics of the surround but the lack of menu items with the BD drops it to a 9.
The BD box set of course has two other CD's, they are both good, one studio and one live. The small booklet of the DVD-A along with track credits on the disc menu basically gives me everything that the big box has.
The large box, as with all these new boxes just end up in a closet. I rip the CD's and put the BD 5.1 in a Japanese protective slip cover on my mantel for easy listening.

An iconic album for some, not for others, I feel that I wasted money with the new box. Remember, before the new 2017 release I voted 10, right or wrong doesn't matter, what matters is that I was perfectly happy with the DVD-A.

I know there is also the SACD MCH, which I don't have. I don't believe it was Wasted Time, with the purchase because if you are going to go down the audiophile road we all get dissapointed now and then, mostly for the money we could have saved.
Thanks for reading.

 

[sjcorne]

.
First guitar solo is front right, same as DVD-A but second guitar solo is rear left. Makes for a nice surround effect. Fade at end is better to 0.
Thanks for reading.

Did they seriously change the mix? It takes a lot of tinkering to move entire instruments around. I was under the impression that it was identical to the DVD-A/SACD, besides the change in codec. A waveform comparison would be interesting if anyone else who has the new version is willing to post.

 

[Jeddia]

I started off with an .iso image of the DVD-A that I poached from a friend, and late last year I found a decently priced copy of the Elektra SACD. There really are no complaints to be made, Scheiner rarely fails to deliver stunning mixes. His work on Hell Freezes Over is really outstanding (especially that delicious bonus 5.1 track of Seven Bridges Road!)

I found the SACD to have significantly more brightness than the DVD-A, but both sound fantastic. I have several items mixed by Scheiner and his grasp on the fundamentals of the material vs. the mix is remarkable. He knows how to make a great, new surround mix - but keep the material from being presented differently than you recall/love.

 

[sjcorne]

So I just linked the Wikipedia page for the "Warner Premium Sound Series" (those Japan Warner SACD reissues from 2011) to another thread, and it mentions an unreleased quad mix of Hotel California! Obviously Wikipedia isn't the most reliable source and it's likely a mistake, but who knows? The time to dig that up if it does indeed exist would've been the mega box set that came out last year.

Some of these new releases were released as 4-channel quadraphonic LP records in the 1970s, although such plans for albums as Hotel California by The Eagles, which had been mixed for a quadraphonic release, were dropped following the demise of that format.

 

[fredblue]

I did an A/B critical listen comparison with pen and paper for the DVD-A and the new BD. The purpose of my comparison was for myself to find out did I waste money by purchasing the new 2017 Blu Ray box set ?
I only compared Track 1 Hotel California, both listens where the 5.1 at 60db.

DVD-A: PCM 96Khz. Easy menu choices, one stereo choice, one surround choice, Advanced Resolution. Lyrics and credits for every song.
The beginning has the swirling wind sound nice in all speakers. Two stick drum starts off nice. Vocals slightly right, not dead center. Dueling guitars are R/L rears. First guitar solo front right, second guitar solo front left. Nice fade at end of track to 2. Fidelity was a full mid range with nice treble and bass. Clear sonics. The DVD-A is a good choice for purchase.

BD: DTS-HD Master 96Khz. Disappointing menu, no lyrics, pictures, etc. Two choices stereo or 5.1. Very easy to read menu with good cursor.
The sonic fidelity is slightly better, same as above but with a hair more clean punch. Vocals are still a tad right, but you can also hear them stretched out in the overall surround very slightly.
First guitar solo is front right, same as DVD-A but second guitar solo is rear left. Makes for a nice surround effect. Fade at end is better to 0.

For the purpose of this poll after a comparison as I am more educated now I would give them both a 9. I voted 10 for DVD-A previously. As a consumer of music I look at the overall as the poll suggests "Great Surround, Great Fidelity, Great Content". The very good surround sound and excellent menu choices of the DVD-A bring it equal to the BD. The better sonics of the surround but the lack of menu items with the BD drops it to a 9.
The BD box set of course has two other CD's, they are both good, one studio and one live. The small booklet of the DVD-A along with track credits on the disc menu basically gives me everything that the big box has.
The large box, as with all these new boxes just end up in a closet. I rip the CD's and put the BD 5.1 in a Japanese protective slip cover on my mantel for easy listening.

An iconic album for some, not for others, I feel that I wasted money with the new box. Remember, before the new 2017 release I voted 10, right or wrong doesn't matter, what matters is that I was perfectly happy with the DVD-A.

I know there is also the SACD MCH, which I don't have. I don't believe it was Wasted Time, with the purchase because if you are going to go down the audiophile road we all get dissapointed now and then, mostly for the money we could have saved.
Thanks for reading.

just seen this! wow.. its not the same as the DVD-A..!? time to open up that Blu-ray!!

 

[fredblue]

Did they seriously change the mix??? It takes a lot of tinkering to move entire instruments around. I was under the impression that it was identical to the DVD-A/SACD besides the codec change. A waveform comparison would be interesting if anyone else who has the new version is willing to post.

It would've been too cool if they dug up a quad mix for this new set (assuming it was actually done...I'm just speculating of course) Hearing this album mixed in the same uber-aggresive style as the two released Eagles quads would've been mind-blowing IMO.

The DVD-A is one of my all time faves.

Looking forward to more Eagles reissues with surround...

i'll check out the BD this weekend!

 

[knifeman]

I just got the box-set and couldn't find any credit for the 5.1 mix. I just listened to the Blu-ray for the first time, having never heard this in surround. A bit conservative, I thought. Did ES really have a hand in this? It's not bad, but doesn't stand out like some of his other stuff does.

 

[windhoek]

I've been experimenting with downmixing of late and the track Hotel California is one of the songs that has great potential as a downmixed-stereo track as the dynamic range is so much better than that on the stereo version already on the SACD. I haven't cracked downmixing completely but the Remain in Light downmix lets me know the possibilities are exceptionally good if you get right, as you can hear for yourself.

 

[sjcorne]

I just got the box-set and couldn't find any credit for the 5.1 mix. I just listened to the Blu-ray for the first time, having never heard this in surround. A bit conservative, I thought. Did ES really have a hand in this? It's not bad, but doesn't stand out like some of his other stuff does.

Yep, ES did the 5.1 mix, but I believe he was assisted by Bill Szymczyk to some degree.

I've always thought the first three cuts are the best mixes, particularly the title track, which I still use as a demo for the surround uninitiated. Drums, vocals, and lead guitar flourishes up front, acoustic guitar hard in the center channel (unusual for ES to isolate anything in the center), rhythm guitars and backing vocals in the rears, and finally the famous ending solos trading off between FL and FR. Don't think they would've done it too differently back in the quad days.

After that it does get quite a bit less surround-y. I've always though that my favorite track on the album, "Victim Of Love", could've been a more aggressive mix. But then you have "Try And Love Again", which is a surprise surround highlight with the harmonizing guitars split front/rear.

So certainly a mixed bag surround-wise. Especially for the folks who are burned out on the first three tracks, it probably doesn't have much replay value these days.

As for why it doesn't quite measure up to ES' other works, I've read that his first surround project with The Eagles (Hell Freezes Over) gathered a mixed reception from the band- particularly his decision to isolate lead vocals in the center, the only time he's ever done it 50+ surround mixes later. So it's possible the band may have had him tone it down a bit.