HiRez Poll Gentle Giant - FREE HAND [Blu-Ray Audio]

[GOS]

So, on Talybont, there is a noticeable amount of audio coming from my front height speakers. For sure, it creates a sort of much wider (higher/wider) soundstage for certain passages.

 

[sjcorne]

His Last Voyage is just epic. It really is hard to compare the Atmos mix to the DTS HD Master. At least, it is for me. They both sound excellent. I can't immediately tell them apart.... Hard to flip back and forth and maintain your memory of what the prior sounded like.

Interesting - would you say the heights were used primarily to 'elevate' the entire mix, or are there actually directional sounds isolated above the listening space? If so, this might be the disc that finally gets me to invest in an Atmos setup.

I voted a 10. I can't imagine it being much better than this. My God....

Totally agree, this might be a new benchmark for Wilson. Maybe the quickest "10" I've ever cast. My only slight gripe with the remixes is that the a capella vocals in "On Reflection" seem quite a bit 'wetter' than I remember. It's also kind of disappointing that they didn't remaster the quad mix. Everyone should have a copy!

 

[Infomas]

Nothing profound to say here... It appears GG gave SW a free hand in the mix (did I really just do that?). I think it is one of his most active remixes and maybe my favorite multi channel of the year so far. Great album, great mix, great sound. Really bad pun... sorry.

 

[uffeolby]

I voted 10. I do not do Dolby Atmos so I can not comment on this, but the new 5.1 (and stereo) is meeting all the expectations I had and they were pretty high... All the SW mixes of GG are top notch and I think your favorite is more depending on the musical content than the mix.

One thought that strikes my mind - even as we know what a wizard SW is on mixing and getting the best out of old recordings, given the uniform good sound on the GG releases, the original recordings must have been very good. Still, I very much prefer his new mixes to the original stereo and Quad included in this package - deep and vibrant base and shimmering highs, not a single harsch moment to be found.

 

[GOS]

Interesting - would you say the heights were used primarily to 'elevate' the entire mix, or are there actually directional sounds isolated above the listening space? If so, this might be the disc that finally gets me to invest in an Atmos setup.

Well, Atmos really does take some time to wrap your head around. I'd say both your comments are correct. But to my ears, it's mostly elevating the entire mix. For example, with this title, I'm hearing what sounds like a tamborine (may not be a tamborine, could be some other sound coming from drumset) and I totally swear that it's coming from halfway between my right front and right height. So much so, that I figured it must be isolated to my height. Nope, as I inched closer to the front, it then clearly came from right front. I don't know how this can be, but that's the "illusion" I keep finding. Also, yes, there are what I believe are discreet elements coming from heights.

It's almost as if the heights are used to "augment" the overall mix. Hardly ever do I notice super discreet parts isolated to heights, meaning any of the main parts (lead vocal, lead guitar, bass guitar or keyboards, drums) It's more, very select sounds...and those sounds seem to be what make the soundfield sort of disappear and become much larger than your speakers.

By the way, I'd never heard Free Hand prior to this, but it's just super. These guys are really one of a kind to my ears.

 

[fredblue]

Interesting - would you say the heights were used primarily to 'elevate' the entire mix, or are there actually directional sounds isolated above the listening space? If so, this might be the disc that finally gets me to invest in an Atmos setup.



Totally agree, this might be a new benchmark for Wilson. Maybe the quickest "10" I've ever cast. My only slight gripe with the remixes is that the a capella vocals in "On Reflection" seem quite a bit 'wetter' than I remember. It's also kind of disappointing that they didn't remaster the quad mix. Everyone should have a copy!

are the channels assigned ok on the Quad?

 

[temporaryhuman]

Interesting - would you say the heights were used primarily to 'elevate' the entire mix, or are there actually directional sounds isolated above the listening space? If so, this might be the disc that finally gets me to invest in an Atmos setup.



Totally agree, this might be a new benchmark for Wilson. Maybe the quickest "10" I've ever cast. My only slight gripe with the remixes is that the a capella vocals in "On Reflection" seem quite a bit 'wetter' than I remember. It's also kind of disappointing that they didn't remaster the quad mix. Everyone should have a copy!

The extra reveb is my only issue with this new Atmos mix. Everything else about it is great.

 

[sjcorne]

are the channels assigned ok on the Quad?

Same channel assignment as the 2012 DVD.

 

[jefe1]

WARNING Its never good enough for us complaint coming........why couldn't the quad channel error have been corrected?

What is the assignment error as I don't have the earlier issue?

 

[AYanguas]

Same channel assignment as the 2012 DVD.

WARNING Its never good enough for us complaint coming........why couldn't the quad channel error have been corrected?

What is the assignment error as I don't have the earlier issue?

I have read in the Hoffman site that the Quad FR should be SR, SR -> SL, etc. I.e. rotating 90º clockwise all the channels.

I have listen from my MLP looking at the left 90º, to get that rotation, and yes, it seems it sounds better with the voices and instruments in their right place.

I have more more work for Audacity...

 

[EricKalet]

Absolutely fantastic. I listened to this in old fashioned stereo a few days ago to get a feel for the music and the SW surround mix (Atmos 7.1) just wrecks the stereo. Top, top notch effort here and gets a 10 all day, all night, 24/7 across the board for content, mix and fidelity.

 

[duneman]

I just received this, a day before I go on vacation so I'm getting one quick listen before leaving my surround system for two weeks. Wish Amazon still shipped things to arrive on release day, I'd have had all weekend to check it out. Sounding like a 10 so far. I had to take it out of my Oppo BDP-83 where it stalled out after the 'Alucard' logo and put it in my Sony Blu-ray player to hear it, curious if anyone else had problems with specific players.

Mine arrived late yesterday and I put it in my Oppo BDP-83 and it’s having the same problem as yours. I see the Alucard Digital production logo then the warning notice then nothing but a black screen. Have tried reinserting and powering down and back up again and get the same result. Pressing play does nothing. Seems the Old 83 might have reached its final mark. I’ve played a number of other BDs recently so there must be something in the authoring of this disc the 83 cannot handle. Going to check the Oppo site for a firmware update, just in case.

Edit: there is a firmware update, circa 2014, but after updating the disc still Doesn’t play. Yikes! Needs more research.

 

[SHB]

Tremendous! I gave it a 10.

 

[stereoptic]

10 for me. I've listened to the DTS 5.1 mix once so far. Nice use of the echoing on Tallybot. Nice visuals to accompany that one, and the others as well are quite mesmerizing.
This issue uses the original US LP cover photo, which was used on other CD releases as well.
The 2009 Alucard uses the original UK LP cover. Can you spot the difference?

 

[reedfoot]

Mine arrived late yesterday and I put it in my Oppo BDP-83 and it’s having the same problem as yours. I see the Alucard Digital production logo then the warning notice then nothing but a black screen. Have tried reinserting and powering down and back up again and get the same result. Pressing play does nothing. Seems the Old 83 might have reached its final mark. I’ve played a number of other BDs recently so there must be something in the authoring of this disc the 83 cannot handle. Going to check the Oppo site for a firmware update, just in case.

Edit: there is a firmware update, circa 2014, but after updating the disc still Doesn’t play. Yikes! Needs more research.

Same problem here...this is the second disc the Oppo 83 couldn't play (Transatlantic's Absolute Universe was the first). Fortunately I have a Panny UDP 820 that handles both discs, but the Oppo still sounds better to me...when it plays. I just had Oppo repair my 83 last year, so it isn't firmware related...just old tech.

Free Hand is awesome - hope you can play it somehow.

 

[JediJoker]

Same channel assignment as the 2012 DVD.

Same MEWtilated mastering, too?

 

[5.1 4 Life]

10 for me. I've listened to the DTS 5.1 mix once so far. Nice use of the echoing on Tallybot. Nice visuals to accompany that one, and the others as well are quite mesmerizing.
This issue uses the original US LP cover photo, which was used on other CD releases as well.
The 2009 Alucard uses the original UK LP cover. Can you spot the difference?

Yep; different "hands" reaching up for the picture on the mantlepiece.

 

[sjcorne]

Same MEWtilated mastering, too?

The Blu-Ray and DVD waveforms appear nearly identical, save for the fact that the Blu-Ray version has no LFE channel.

 

[duneman]

Same problem here...this is the second disc the Oppo 83 couldn't play (Transatlantic's Absolute Universe was the first). Fortunately I have a Panny UDP 820 that handles both discs, but the Oppo still sounds better to me...when it plays. I just had Oppo repair my 83 last year, so it isn't firmware related...just old tech.

Free Hand is awesome - hope you can play it somehow.

Thanks. If, as I suspect, there isn’t anything that can be done with the 83, I’ll likely invest in the SONY UBP-X800M2, which plays 4K discs, while the 83 cannot.

 

[ProgRules]

I concur with all the praises for the 5.1 mix. Great fidelity, great immersion, plenty of discreet elements, even some panning effects which SW usually eschews, but that are very appropriate. Only 1 listen so far so not ready to vote, but looking like a 10.

Also agree that the visuals aren't up to the level of P&TG, but then that's a very high bar. They are enjoyable, but don't often add a lot to the music. I am surprised no one's mentioned the Monty Python vibe- esp. in the beginning. From the hands that are reminiscent of the hand trees bit, to the use of many Terry Gilliam effects in the animation, there's a lot of echoes from the Pythons. Just adds to the Britishness of the experience.

Excellent package. No Atmos, so I can't comment on that and I haven't looked into any extras yet. I'll check out the quad mix at some point, but given the incorrect channel assignments and the stellar quality of the 5.1 mix, that will likely not get much ear time.

I never was into GG before the surround releases, so this is my 1st exposure to FH, but I'm thinking this will be my 2nd favorite after P&TG. But really looking forward to more of these releases!