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

[barfle]

Im not sure of your equipment, but in my experience most AVRs will not perform room correction or bass management from MCH analog inputs. They default to a pure direct mode. If your mains are not full range, some bass would be lost. Could this be what was happening?

I believe you’re right about the analog inputs. Not much happens except volume control. Signal path is Oppo 105D analog out to Marantz 7706 pre-pro to Outlaw sub, which has a light indicating whether it’s active or in standby.

That doesn’t say I think I was missing any bass. My fronts are Emotiva Stealth 8s, which go pretty low on their own. probably in the range of 30Hz useful.

 

[ddahl44]

Hmmm. ATMOS not folding down to 5.1. Any ideas?

 

[LuvMyQuad]

So why is Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters in Atmos available on the Tidal app but not on the Diamonds Blu-ray disc?

I Thought the whole Honkey Chateau album was on Apple in Atmos.

As its been explained multiple times already, Diamonds was initially released as a CD compilation several years ago. This is an Atmos mix of that compilation. Mona Lisas wasnt on the CD compilation, so its not on the Atmos version of the compilation either.

 

[DuncanS]

Hmmm. ATMOS not folding down to 5.1. Any ideas?

Folding down is a misnomer really, there is an underlying 'surround core' (height info etc. is then extracted from this by the Atmos decoder), the core you should be able to play, from MakeMKV below, what player/AVR do you have?

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Folding down is a misnomer really, there is an underlying 'surround core' (height info etc. is then extracted from this by the Atmos decoder), the core you should be able to play, from MakeMKV below, what player/AVR do you have?

Well it can do an actual fold down, 7.1 to 5.1 assuming the AVR can decode TrueHD. If it cant, then it defaults to that DD substream.

 

[ddahl44]

I had to change audio settings on player from DTS to bit stream. Sounds great.

 

[SomethingAnything]

I Thought the whole Honkey Chateau album was on Apple in Atmos.

As its been explained multiple times already, Diamonds was initially released as a CD compilation several years ago. This is an Atmos mix of that compilation. Mona Lisas wasnt on the CD compilation, so its not on the Atmos version of the compilation either.

But it is still interesting to note that the Tidal version includes it.

 

[uffeolby]

But it is still interesting to note that the Tidal version includes it.

It actually does not. It is song by song identical to the Diamonds bluray, at least in Europe.

 

[andyp]

I had to change audio settings on player from DTS to bit stream. Sounds great.

Changing the audio out on my Oppo to bitstream is the ONLY way my avr sends the the Atmos channels to the correct speakers. Thanks to the DSOTM Blu-Ray atmos test I figured that out.

 

[SomethingAnything]

It actually does not. It is song by song identical to the Diamonds bluray, at least in Europe.

Ah, there you go. I was going by that other post. I'll check if it includes it in the Oz Tidal version. But unlikely, I'd say, if you don't have it. (BTW, as the thread has moved in, we're talking about the inclusion, or not, in Tidal of Mona Lisas and Madhatters. Someone earlier said the Tidal version includes it. ... With EJ, I came in on Honky Chateau, so have always had a soft spot for all of that album.)

 

[MrMarty]

Why is "Nobody Wins" omitted? Contractual problems?

 

[fredblue]

Why is "Nobody Wins" omitted? Contractual problems?

there's nothing from 1981's "The Fox" album on the "Diamonds" compilation.

similarly, "Diamonds" has no tracks from 1986's "Leather Jackets", 2000's "The Road to El Dorado", 2006's "The Captain & The Kid" & 2010's "The Union".

afaik there's at least one track from each of his other studio albums, which is pretty good going as there's like 37 albums!

edit: in a way, it's hard to know what to add to "Diamonds" from each of those records?

there's fan favourites and tracks from each of those albums that got radio play back in the day or were popular when played live, tracks like "Paris", "Heartache All Over The World", "Slow Rivers", "Hey Ahab", "Someday Out Of The Blue", "Tinderbox", "The Bridge", "Breaking Down Barriers", "Just Like Belgium", "Carla/Etude/Fanfare/Chloe".. but including almost any of those tracks while dropping almost anything that's on the 3-CD version of the compilation already would feel kinda strange somehow?

 

[fredblue]

there's nothing from 1981's "The Fox" album on the "Diamonds" compilation.

similarly, "Diamonds" has no tracks from 1986's "Leather Jackets", 2000's "The Road to El Dorado", 2006's "The Captain & The Kid" & 2010's "The Union".

afaik there's at least one track from each of his other studio albums, which is pretty good going as there's like 37 albums!

edit: in a way, it's hard to know what to add to "Diamonds" from each of those records?

there's fan favourites and tracks from each of those albums that got radio play back in the day or were popular when played live, tracks like "Paris", "Heartache All Over The World", "Slow Rivers", "Hey Ahab", "Someday Out Of The Blue", "Tinderbox", "The Bridge", "Breaking Down Barriers", "Just Like Belgium", "Carla/Etude/Fanfare/Chloe".. but including almost any of those tracks while dropping almost anything that's on the 3-CD version of the compilation already would feel kinda strange somehow?

oops.. i totally forgot about 2004's "Peachtree Road" as well (i think everybody else forgot about it too!) and fwiw there's nothing from that album on "Diamonds" either!

possible candidates might have been "Answer In The Sky", "All That I'm Allowed (I'm Thankful)" & "Turn The Lights Out When You Leave" but i doubt Elton remembers any of those so no chance of them appearing on CD 3 and none of them feel remotely worthy of being on CD 2 imho.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

oops.. i totally forgot about 2004's "Peachtree Road" as well (i think everybody else forgot about it too!) and fwiw there's nothing from that album on "Diamonds" either!

possible candidates might have been "Answer In The Sky", "All That I'm Allowed (I'm Thankful)" & "Turn The Lights Out When You Leave" but i doubt Elton remembers any of those so no chance of them appearing on CD 3 and none of them feel remotely worthy of being on CD 2 imho.

Yes, if no Atmos for "Peachtree Road" but there is this SACD MC, which I like (and some here may not know exists.)

https://www.discogs.com/release/1276351-Elton-John-Peachtree-Road

 

[fredblue]

Yes, if no Atmos for "Peachtree Road" but there is this SACD MC, which I like (and some here may not know exists.)

https://www.discogs.com/release/1276351-Elton-John-Peachtree-Road

oh yes Mister P! Peachtree Road was mixed in MultiCh by the original engineer Matt Still rather than by Greg Penny but it’s Surround-y enough and you can isolate those (sometimes rough as a badger's arse sometimes not! ) vocals in the Centre channel!
"with the Weight Of The World off my back Surround speakers.."

 

[jaybird100]

It would have been great if every song Elton ever recorded could be on this collection, but imagine how many discs would be needed, and how much that collection would cost! Maybe there could be a Vol. 2 of "Diamonds" coming later (doubt it, though). I would liked "Club at the End of the Street" to be on this disc, but I realize there were better tracks to include. Personally, I couldn't be happier with the tracks that were included. It is what it is!

 

[privateuniverse]

There's a really great compilation (in stereo only, unfortunately) that just got released on the streaming services called Never Too Late: The Deeper Cuts. It's loaded with so many of my favorites that weren't hits. "High Flying Bird", "We All Fall in Love Sometimes", "Can I Put You On", "Street Kids" "Salvation", "Ticking", "Blues For Baby and Me", etc.... If Paul could get that released as an SDE blu-ray with a Greg Penney atmos mix, I would be in heaven. However it would not be in Paul's best interest to do so. If I had that I would never buy another blu-ray from SDE because it would never leave my Oppo!

 

[barfle]

I’m sure most of us can think of a song on “Diamonds” that we could do without and that there’s one we think was left off incorrectly. Me, too.

But dadratit, there’s a LOT of really good stuff on that disc. First world problems, absolutely!

 

[fredblue]

There's a really great compilation (in stereo only, unfortunately) that just got released on the streaming services called Never Too Late: The Deeper Cuts. It's loaded with so many of my favorites that weren't hits. "High Flying Bird", "We All Fall in Love Sometimes", "Can I Put You On", "Street Kids" "Salvation", "Ticking", "Blues For Baby and Me", etc.... If Paul could get that released as an SDE blu-ray with a Greg Penney atmos mix, I would be in heaven. However it would not be in Paul's best interest to do so. If I had that I would never buy another blu-ray from SDE because it would never leave my Oppo!

it's a great compilation but i can hear some people whinging already "hey! 8 of the 58 tracks are not in Atmos!"

slightly more seriously, at least half a dozen of those tracks are demos after all which are bound to be 2-channel and Greg Penny doesn't seem too keen on upmixes?

so.. ah i don't know, if they release it, i will lap it up! i said lap it up. not wrap it up!

 

[LuvMyQuad]

I would rather they just focus on releasing surround versions of the missing albums up to Blue Moves