HiRez Poll Kansas - THE ABSENCE OF PRESENCE [Blu-Ray Audio]

[~dave~~wave~]

...The mix is hot and front heavy...

...even Leftoverture has an AM radio level of compression.
Squashed sound has always been one of the unfortunate signatures of Kansas albums...

Astute observations and helpful counter-balance to the torches and pitchforks.

In the classic Kansas years I remember repair shops with small FM radios on every bench.
Or old cars with factory speakers, their songs cut through the noise.
Even today as background music at a big box store.

 

[Shadocal]

Really loving this album more with each play. Musically I think it is fantastic. When I first heard it I was disappointed in the 5.1 DTSMA mix but I will say this: I swear the LPCM 5.1 sounds better. I hear more bass and more clarity in the 5.1 mix. There are more discrete moments than I first gave it credit for. The rears don’t sound too low either when I play this mix on my system. I never owned a Kansas album before but love prog. I’ve since gone back and listened to Leftoverture etc but still love this new album. For me it’s a solid 8 but the music is a 9.

 

[Marplot]

I agree, the PCM is better than the DTS, still far from adventerous. It is a great price and certainly worth giving a spin.

 

[GOS]

I cannot fathom, how anyone can say this music isn't killer Man, I think it's stunning. Just my opionion, obviously. And, Baggins was totally right...the last song completely rips it. WhoopEE

 

[curtisjnewell]

Heard it very well might still be this year for Kerry Livgren's Cantata to come out, according to his website.

 

[4-earredwonder]

I cannot fathom, how anyone can say this music isn't killer Man, I think it's stunning. Just my opionion, obviously. And, Baggins was totally right...the last song completely rips it. WhoopEE

After being lost in the U S Mail for a few weeks and then being reissued by ImportCD, I have to say I'm quite impressed with the results. Ok, admittedly, NOT an adventuresome remix, MOST especially for a new album, but the music is solid, the recording absolutely fine and the fact that SONY/KANSAS issued it on BD~A/RBCD in a nifty digipak for LESS THAN THE PRICE of a stereo download is commendable.

IF ONLY contemporary remix engineers, save for a VERY few, would listen to some of those ultra discrete Dutton Vocalion QUAD SACDs from the 70's for reference, these tame modern 'remixes' wouldn't be so HO HUM! IMAGINATION, fellas: SHOULDN'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!

A SOLID 8!

 

[curtisjnewell]

Tom Breslin, keyboard player in Kansas should be allowed to write more music, for the next Kansas album, based on what he wrote for Absence of Presence!!

 

[marpow]

I voted 8. I just received this yesterday as it seemed stuck in the mail for about a month. The good thing about coming late to the party is getting to read all these great reviews, which helped my listening experience.
I liked what J-Pup said about listening out of the box, without adjustments so that is what I did.
Others talked about the LPCM vs HD-MSTR, I went back and forth, which the menu allows you to do very easy. They both have their merits but as usual I tend to like the less bright of the HD-MSTR, so most of my listen was that.
I think the call in the beginning of this thread, being "another half assed surround" if fair and accurate.
Lets be positive: The book edition is what I purchased, love the artwork, size, bios and pictures, for about the same price as an LP these days.
In fact, I wouldn't mind all releases following this model, Ayreon does the same.
The music is good, I liked it, the foundation of old Kansas is there, but new.
The on screen menu is perfect.
The fidelity did not stand out for me, probably no nothing anywhere of a live mix, I am sure, sounds very digital, modern day recording.
The surround has moments, I did like the attempt in track 4 Propulsion 1 to have the drums swirl around, this was a good track as it was short to flip back and forth between the two 5.1 choices. Track 9-The Song The River Sang, even bigger drums swirling around.
Many times the surround saves the music, This is a rare surround disc where the music saves the surround, I really liked the music and the surround ultimately did enhance the music.
I did a random track listen in stereo and prefer the surround.
This review was from the actual Blu Ray, not a ripped file.

 

[Miilda]

There is no point in making a spatial mix at such an inferior level. They should give it to someone who knows how to do it or who likes to do it. What would such an interesting album look like from S. Wilson? It\u0027s not good surround work.

 

[The Rang]

After reading this thread I’m still not sure if I should be listening to the hi-rez 2.0 (which sounds so so IMO) or having my player down mix the 5.1
As far as the 5.1, too early for me to vote, need a couple more listens

 

[RustyM]

I really enjoyed the music on The Absence of Presence. The price was right (under $20) for me to give the 5.1 surround a try. I couldn't agree more with previous reviews: a missed opportunity! I admire fellow members who rip their blu ray to hard drive and do their own tweak to satisfy their ears. I need to learn more about this. On the other hand, most of the music is in front. I did a walk around and could hear something coming out of all channels, however, I would need to back up my chair to the wall to hear the rear speakers--and that still wouldn't have been enough. Is the subject in the painting thinking "Doh!" ?

 

[svtmike]

It's interesting that the 5.1 DTS has almost nothing happening in the LFE while the 5.1 PCM has an active LFE... has anyone noticed a difference in the sound when comparing these two streams?

Ask and maybe within 5 years you will get an answer! A gander at the 5.1 LPCM mix in Audacity shows a baffling amount of high frequeny content in the LFE. Sounds to my ears like one of the toms in the drum set.

I may do a thread on this one in the Fix the Mix forum. There is more <120Hz content in the fronts and center than in the LFE in the LPCM surround stream.

 

[svtmike]

5.1 DTS
View attachment 54879

I was all excited that maybe there would be a better starting point on the disc than the 5.1 LPCM stream, but this is my fresh rip of the dts Master Audio track using AudioMuxer:



I checked the rip of track 1 by pulling in all six channels from the LPCM stream, and all six from the dtsMA stream, inverting one set and then mixing each corresponding channel (L pcm with L dts) and came up with six silent tracks meaning the LPCM and dtsMA stream outputs are bit-for-bit identical.

I find the surround mix to be very fatiguing to listen to, and very lacking in low end punch. Here's a spectrograph view of all six channels that I think illustrates that well:

Most of the energy in the LFE channel appears to be above 100Hz, which makes no sense at all, and the fronts as others have noted are compressed.

Kansas is one of my favorite bands from my early listening days, and I enjoy most of the music on this album. The current line-up put out the best two Kansas albums since the Song for America through Audio-Visions heyday.

Mix - 1 for existing
Audio Fidelity - 1 for being brick-walled
Content - 3, really solid enjoyable music for me
Package - 1, nothing to complain about

That's a 6 and again, I really enjoy the music.