Elton John Diamonds (SDE Blu-Ray #31) Dec. 27th, 2024

[fredblue]

I'd ask. On this Diamonds release, are the songs based on the number of album sales? On some of these later songs I'm very unfamiliar with some of those tracks.
I would have loved if some of his earlier songs were included here.
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Madman Across the Water
Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleading
Tower of Babel
.... many others

the later tracks comprise the 3rd disc of the original Deluxe CD set, with notable tracks, singles, duets etc from throughout his career, i don't know for sure but i don't think sales were a determining factor in their inclusion.

fans were clamouring for a hits compilation that included tracks beyond the established "Jukebox" of Hits (as Elton himself calls the 70's & 80's Standards) so when Diamonds first came out certain tracks were very welcome additions including "Island Girl", "Song For Guy", "The One", The Lion King, etc.

 

[inspclouseau]

! Heavenly! Penny's mixing for Elton is sublime on the 5.1s, and I expect no less here in Atmos.

I am a bit disappointed though that Mr. Penny did not do his 5.1 versions on this Diamonds set. We own all of the Greg Penny sacd's. Any of the atmos supposed 'fold-downs' to 5.1 just sound off on our non atmos system. I almost did not pre-order for this reason, but am really hoping that Penny did keep his past fantastic 5.1 style in mind as well when mixing this. Our receiver will see the atmos as dolby true 7.1/ but play through our 5.3 speaker setup. Kathy and I are looking forward to this one~
It'll get here in time for a short break from moving snow... And to SDE~ Just want to send a THANK YOU as well. Any music we order from there arrives in perfect condition all the way here to our doorstep in Montana. Love these people
Image from front deck~

 

[dr. simple]

I am a bit disappointed though that Mr. Penny did not do his 5.1 versions on this Diamonds set. We own all of the Greg Penny sacd's. Any of the atmos supposed 'fold-downs' to 5.1 just sound off on our non atmos system. I almost did not pre-order for this reason, but am really hoping that Penny did keep his past fantastic 5.1 style in mind as well when mixing this. Our receiver will see the atmos as dolby true 7.1/ but play through our 5.3 speaker setup. Kathy and I are looking forward to this one~
It'll get here in time for a short break from moving snow... And to SDE~ Just want to send a THANK YOU as well. Any music we order from there arrives in perfect condition all the way here to our doorstep in Montana. Love these people
Image from front deck~

I have to echo this sentiment. Penny's 5.1 mixes are sublime. I hope his Atmos mixes are as good.

 

[himey]

I have to echo this sentiment. Penny's 5.1 mixes are sublime. I hope his Atmos mixes are as good.

They are better.

 

[inspclouseau]

They are better.

wont know until after it arrives.

 

[jaybird100]

I'd ask. On this Diamonds release, are the songs based on the number of album sales? On some of these later songs I'm very unfamiliar with some of those tracks.
I would have loved if some of his earlier songs were included here.
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Madman Across the Water
Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleading
Tower of Babel
.... many others

Many of those other tracks have been included on the SACD's that were released previously.

 

[jaybird100]

They are better.

I hope they fold down to 5.1, or 4.0, reasonably well.

 

[JulesRules]

wont know until after it arrives.

Aren't they on streaming?

 

[inspclouseau]

Many of those other tracks have been included on the SACD's that were released previously.

yup. purchasing for those that were not~

 

[inspclouseau]

Aren't they on streaming?

we do not 'stream' here. Never will.

 

[inspclouseau]

I hope they fold down to 5.1, or 4.0, reasonably well.

Yeah.. we do not have a 'fold down' of atmos that sounds worth a damn...but still hoping.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Yeah.. we do not have a 'fold down' of atmos that sounds worth a damn...but still hoping.

I wonder why? Before I installed atmos capability I played many an Atmos album on 5.1 with very good results.

You are only folding down 7.1 to 5.1. What are you using to do that? Are your rear speakers to the side or behind?

 

[inspclouseau]

I wonder why? Before I installed atmos capability I played many an Atmos album on 5.1 with very good results.

You are only folding down 7.1 to 5.1. What are you using to do that? Are your rear speakers to the side or behind?

strange isn't it. AtmosT sux. There ya go

 

[inspclouseau]

strange isn't it. AtmosT sux. There ya go

Flush and 'fold'. Still sounds like shit to us. Folded DOWN to 7.1...and then 5.1. Wonderful! Half ass is great? Again.. We do NOT have an atmosT amp or receiver. Atmost is NOT designed to work properly without it and the minimal recommended speaker set up.. And it sure doesn't

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Flush and 'fold'. Still sounds like shit too us. Folded DOWN to 7.1...and then 5.1. Wonderful! Half ass is great? Again.. We do NOT have an atmosT amp or receiver. Atmost is NOT designed to work properly without it and the minimal recommended speaker set up.. And it sure doesn't

First off, there is no fold down from Atmos to 7.1. Atmos arrives as 7.1 with Metadata. Playback as 7.1 just ignores the Metadata.

The whole system is designed to be backwards compatible, be it 7.1, 5.1 or even to quad. That's why I asked how you were accomplishing the 7.1 to 5.1 fold down. I have run into a few others who feel about it the way you do. What they tend to have in common is doing the fold down with a disc player instead of an AVR and/or having the surround channels located behind them, like a 4 corner quad setup.

 

[gvl_guy]

Yeah.. we do not have a 'fold down' of atmos that sounds worth a damn...but still hoping.

I partially agree with you. I've bought some Atmos only surround mix discs. They sound better than plain old stereo for sure, but when they have a 5.1 version on them, it usually blows away the "food down" Atmos on my 5.1. sometimes, the stereo through my Surround Master or Sansui synthesizer actually sounds better. So, for example, this Elton disc is not high on my list. I have the SACDs with most of the tunes. Plus, SDE shipping is quite expensive for the US. And with no 5.1 version, it's a pass. (Although I may regret it at some point.)

 

[madscot]

I partially agree with you. I've bought some Atmos only surround mix discs. They sound better than plain old stereo for sure, but when they have a 5.1 version on them, it usually blows away the "food down" Atmos on my 5.1. sometimes, the stereo through my Surround Master or Sansui synthesizer actually sounds better. So, for example, this Elton disc is not high on my list. I have the SACDs with most of the tunes. Plus, SDE shipping is quite expensive for the US. And with no 5.1 version, it's a pass. (Although I may regret it at some point.)

I count 11 songs that are on the 5.1 sacd’s which means there’s 37 not already in surround, although a lot of them are very average it’s worth having. I agree about the p&p between the uk and the us, it sure puts me off buying from the us unless it’s free which only ever happens on ebay

 

[inspclouseau]

First off, there is no fold down from Atmos to 7.1. Atmos arrives as 7.1 with Metadata. Playback as 7.1 just ignores the Metadata.

The whole system is designed to be backwards compatible, be it 7.1, 5.1 or even to quad. That's why I asked how you were accomplishing the 7.1 to 5.1 fold down. I have run into a few others who feel about it the way you do. What they tend to have in common is doing the fold down with a disc player instead of an AVR and/or having the surround channels located behind them, like a 4 corner quad setup.

Our system is exactly like 5.1 was designed. Atmos on a 5.1 ( 5.3 here) non atmos system truly sounds like shit. I am not going to dress this up any other way.
BOTH of us obviously hear differently...most do, but we still hear the difference, and it's more than obvious to us.

 

[inspclouseau]

First off, there is no fold down from Atmos to 7.1. Atmos arrives as 7.1 with Metadata. Playback as 7.1 just ignores the Metadata.

The whole system is designed to be backwards compatible, be it 7.1, 5.1 or even to quad. That's why I asked how you were accomplishing the 7.1 to 5.1 fold down. I have run into a few others who feel about it the way you do. What they tend to have in common is doing the fold down with a disc player instead of an AVR and/or having the surround channels located behind them, like a 4 corner quad setup.

designed by who exactly? Dolby? $$ Funny. A smooth move against DTS. Nothing else but. And a way to get streaming shoved down folks throats. Watching physical media dwindle gets em' giddy. Music rentals. Fed up with the obvious BS. Who exactly is doing all of these wonderful atmos mixes via streaming.. cracks me up.
Maybe Steven Wilson types need to get busier ... (we love that dude)
I will not ignore that it sound like shit on NON atmos equip and speaker 'recommended requirements'. Folks do have ears ..right?

 

[srbjab]

I believe the situation is a bit more nuanced. Most Atmos mixes contain sounds in a 7.1 bed plus sounds that are in objects described in metadata. When you playback an Atmos track on a non-atmos capable receiver or processor (which does not process the metadata), the bed based sounds are accurately placed in their expected 7.1/5.1 locations, but the object based sounds are less precisely "folded down" to an approximate 7.1/5.1 position. The fact is, this fold down positioning of object based sounds is inherently less accurate on non-atmos capable systems than metadata processing would be and it may not yield the same result as a dedicated 5.1/7.1 mix would. Since this fold down process is automatic and probably not part of an atmos mixing engineers normal workflow, it probably is a bit hit or miss in terms of resulting accuracy. An Atmos mix that primarily used bed based sounds with little to no panning or 3-d movement and few, if any, object based sounds, should sound pretty good on a non-Atmos system.

However, if you play an Atmos mix on an Atmos capable receiver/processor that is only equipped with a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup, the situation is vastly different. In that case, the metadata is fully processed for object sounds which allows the Atmos renderer to place the sounds as accurately as possible within the available speaker setup.