HiRez Poll King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (2009) [DVD-Audio]

[timw]

I just had to add a BIG thumbs up for this excellent DVD-A release and the A+ effort all-around that went into it. Excellent sound quality for this 1969 recording! Love the surround mix, extras, menu's featuring the great coverart, and booklet. (Very cool to see the QQ guys listed in the liner notes!!! )

One thing you'll definitely not have to worry about are the discs coming loose in transit

Highly recommended......
Tim

 

[Feisal K]

Amazon has re-re-redelayed the shipping on this. Again.

It's like they have this magical ability to figure out what I REALLY want, and screw with it.

Color me decidedly unamused.

cancelled my order @ Amazon and bought one at BurningShed instead. Ordered Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 6:42 AM , shipped Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 8:52 PM.

 

[timw]

cancelled my order @ Amazon and bought one at BurningShed instead. Ordered Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 6:42 AM , shipped Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 8:52 PM.

Good move. I bet you'll have your disc in a week! I ordered mine on Oct 8 and it arrived on the 15th! I was very impressed with Burning Shed...

 

[neil wilkes]

It is only misrepresentations of my posting which suggest that Moonchild is brick-walled. It most certainly is NOT.

My comment was that this track has a slightly higher volume than before (but certainly no clipping), and thus with this DVD-A I prefer to turn the volume down for this track. Sound quality wise Moonchild is a revelation, and the increased clarity plus surround mix makes this track a more enjoyable listen than with earlier versions.

Hey, Michael, that's not the whole story - although I do appreciate the clarification here.
You definitely stated that in your opinion, "this disc is a victim of the loudness wars" which it most definitely is not.

 

[monkeyboy]

Ordered from BurningShed and it was a quick 6 day dispatch from UK to Oz.

As for the recording WOW! The 2Chan MLP version is quite amazing. I've only had a listen through a couple of times and a quick flick through the extras and have to say it's an impressive piece of work.

The clarity, definition and overall production are excellent. I've played it through some Kef Reference speakers and it's stunning. Very nice work.

It'll be getting a bit more of a spin along with Red today.

 

[JonUrban]

Folks, I "cleaned" this thread up a bit for future viewers. MichaelCPE's original thoughts are left intact, I just removed some of the back and forth that makes the thread "uncomfortable" for some. Everyone's view is important, and in reality, I think Michael just chose the wrong words to describe what he found to be unsatisfactory for him. That's his deal.

Neil has responded, so we shall move on with this one and the next KC release. Thanks to all for playing, and supporting these KC discs. Neil has told me that the initial runs are sold out, and they are currently making more. A great sign for DVD-A. If the big guys don't want to do it, maybe this will show the smaller guys that there's a market out there for 5.1 and HiRez DVD-A, despite all of the doom and gloom.

 

[Guy Robinson]

Okay. Third listen through of the 5.1. How could this be anything else but a 10 if just for the fantastic job done with especially "I Talk To The Wind". Also, "Epitaph". These were always my two favourite tracks on the album and to hear them done this way makes me extremely happy. I have never heard those 2 tracks sound this good. In fact the outcome of the entire album is better than I ever could have expected. I have never thought of this album as being a sonic stand out but it is now. At least as much as it could be considering it's age. I am on my second playing of "Red" but at this time my feelings are pretty much the same about it as well.

 

[elmer]

Okay. Third listen through of the 5.1. How could this be anything else but a 10 if just for the fantastic job done with especially "I Talk To The Wind". Also, "Epitaph". These were always my two favourite tracks on the album and to hear them done this way makes me extremely happy. I have never heard those 2 tracks sound this good. In fact the outcome of the entire album is better than I ever could have expected. I have never thought of this album as being a sonic stand out but it is now. At least as much as it could be considering it's age. I am on my second playing of "Red" but at this time my feelings are pretty much the same about it as well.

Ditto!

 

[LizardKing]

I've rated the DVD-A as a 10 - I've had about 6 listens so far.

But I do have one problem....

The 2009 stereo mix (appears to be) Group 2 and the 2004 stereo mix is Group 1 audio track 2. The 5.1 mix (which is excellent) is group 1 audio track 1.

The issue I have with this is that if you want to change between stereo and 5.1 (using the Audio button on your DVD remote) you get the 2004 mix not the 2009. Which is a bit annoying..

Also - the 5.1 mix of Moonchild is the full version - but the 2009 Stereo mix is the edited verison.

Anyone else noted this

 

[neil wilkes]

I've rated the DVD-A as a 10 - I've had about 6 listens so far.

But I do have one problem....

The 2009 stereo mix (appears to be) Group 2 and the 2004 stereo mix is Group 1 audio track 2. The 5.1 mix (which is excellent) is group 1 audio track 1.

The issue I have with this is that if you want to change between stereo and 5.1 (using the Audio button on your DVD remote) you get the 2004 mix not the 2009. Which is a bit annoying..

Also - the 5.1 mix of Moonchild is the full version - but the 2009 Stereo mix is the edited verison.

Anyone else noted this

And there is a seriously good reason for this.
The disc uses all 9 groups available in DVDA as it stands, and the ideal situation would indeed have been to put the 2009 stereo mix with the 2009 surround mix. However, because Robert decided to put the edited version of "Moonchild" on the main 2009 stereo mix instead of the full, unedited version (available in the extras, on the "Alternate Album" stream) it meant that I could not do this.
The reason is that to put both stereo & surround mixes into a single group requires use of a technique called "PGC Blocking" - this puts 2 streams into a single group, and the default option will - when PLAY is accessed from the main menu - automatically play the stream that your player is set up for. Having 2 streams in a single group shares the onscreen imagery & menus, and requires the start points (DVD equivalent of PQ points) to be the same. With an edited version of "Moonchild" in the main stream, this is simply not possible.
There were not enough groups to allow a separate group for the 2009 mix, and so the original stereo mix was the one used as it was the only one where sync could be maintained.

The only other alternative would have been to include a downmix coefficient in the 5.1 mix - something I am inherently opposed to doing - or else leaving the 5.1 mix isolated on it's own, which would be a disaster as soon as some happy fool tried to hit PLAY on a stereo player in the main group, which would inevitably lead to just Front Left/Right channels being heard - not what Steven, Robert or myself wanted - and this would also have caused confusion somewhere down the line.

I hope this explains what happened, and I apologise for the confusion.

 

[JonUrban]

OK. I finally got my "big computer" back up and running. Here is a look at the untouched wav forms of the track "Moonchild" from this release. Although there are many things that you cannot tell by looking at wav files and spectral diagrams, from this one you can see that it is far from "A victim of the Loudness Wars" (Whatever they are), and that it is a terrific surround mix.

You can clearly see quiet passages, loud passages, and no clipping, brickwalling, maximizing, etc. These wavs are from a direct DVD-Audio Explorer grab.

Check it out:

 

[kap'n krunch]

It arrived, and I listened to the 5.1.
My first thought was "How quaint!". I mean it in a nice way.
It does have this 60's sound to it, which took me back to incense and other smells from back then.

The biggest compliment is that , if the technology had been available then,
they would have wound up with the same mix,more or less.

The mix is great. all well positined, I even like the gtr chords in "cat's foot.." going around in circles.
Drums are mostly in the front but sometimes extend to the rear, nice touch.
The flowing gtr in "I talk to the wind" on the rears, yummy!!

And dig the Alternate INSTRUMENTAL album!
The first session of "21st century Sch Man" in trio form, wow, kickin' *** and taking names.
Michael Giles was awesome!

And as for stuff I don't like , well it's my usual complaint:
the 5.1 is not 96/24, so it sounds like a dts-cd to me instead of a DVD-A, oh well!
I guess 48/24 5.1 is better than a kick in the pants , like my wife would say...

Overall, great stuff.

 

[TennJed]

Mine just arrived. But unfortunately I lost my remote for my system. My terrible sony system doesn't allow you to do anything other than push play on the receiver. So no 5.1 yet, apparently the disc plays in stereo, only front (right and left) channels are audible. So I'm stuck with 2 channels, at least i'll be able to compare this mix to my vinyl version. I'll let ya guys know how it compares later on.

I also just received my SACD version of DSOTM after a terrible struggle with Tower records. They are one of the most unorganized companies I have ordered from online. I didn't think my order was coming in because it took about 3 weeks and they never sent me any tracking information, the receipt didn't even show a shipping address. Upon many emails to them over the course of the 3 weeks I didn't receive one update about the product coming in. Magically it showed up today with the King Crimson DVD-A.

 

[LizardKing]

And there is a seriously good reason for this.
The disc uses all 9 groups available in DVDA as it stands, and the ideal situation would indeed have been to put the 2009 stereo mix with the 2009 surround mix. However, because Robert decided to put the edited version of "Moonchild" on the main 2009 stereo mix instead of the full, unedited version (available in the extras, on the "Alternate Album" stream) it meant that I could not do this.

Thanks for the explanation. I was wondering if there was a limitation of 9 groups in DVD-A...

It doesn't bother me really as I'll be listening to the 5.1 mix 99.98% of the time anyway.....

 

[ssully]

Loved the surround mix on this one, but still think the music is overrated in the KC canon, though perhaps not so much as 'Red'. Also liked having the 2 channel remix , it's a nice sonic re-booting of the album without being over the top. So I gave the set an 8.

 

[TennJed]

Well went out and got a universal remote, for now all I must say is, have those trumpets always accented the heavy notes on the opening track?

Never heard them before and I've listened to this album alot, strange! Well I'll give it the whole go through before I give it a rating.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

Finally got mine, hooray. It's a solid 9, to get it over with I start with the only flaws: a slight lack of fidelity for the vocals in the 5.1 mix and the too tight outer sleeve. Some unbearable moments there trying to get inner pack out undamaged, after years of anxious waiting for this very moment to arrive.

The rest is perfect, plainly perfect. I just want to keep playing the disc over and over again, sitting down in my sofa, staring into those friendly bluish-black eyes in the main menu and let my thoughts dwindle away with the lyrics. The stereo mix is a silk smooth music experience, whilst the surround mix takes me into every single corner of the soundscape. As with "Red", curiously, it is again the 3rd track that (in my ears) gains most in surround. "Epitaph" gets so incredibly rich in terms of musical qualities in this version. I also fully appreciate the alteration of "Moonchild", for the first time the instrumental part has become interesting to me. The extras, as expected, is a blend of nostalgia and musically interesting stuff. My most sincere congratulations to everybody involved in the release.

 

[zabble]

.... for now all I must say is, have those trumpets always accented the heavy notes on the opening track?

That would be saxophone rather than trumpet. And yes they always rang out clearly on 21st Century Schizoid Man (at least to my ears). Nonetheless, I am extremely jealous of everyone who already got their copies. I haven't even gotten a notice from Burning Shed that my box shipped yet. This is torture.

 

[ssully]

Well went out and got a universal remote, for now all I must say is, have those trumpets always accented the heavy notes on the opening track?

There's always been wind instruments there, yes.

 

[TennJed]

Oh I know the wind instruments have always been there, its these staccato notes I'm referring to its only a single accent, at some of the heavier chords...

Well i'll have to listen to the old dusty vinyl and see how I missed 'em. Well they are definitely their, but very low in the mix. I'm glad for the separation allowing these few notes to shine and add a new depth to the song.

As of now I wanna give it a 10, but i'll give it another listen or two and nitpick it.

Upon reading the booklet I realized they talk about Hyde Park to West Palm Beach. What is this significance of West Palm beach? I'd like to know as I was born and raised their.

Another thing, why when played through a normal dvd player, no DVD-A. I can't get the 5.1 mix unless I select DTS on my remote..It automatically plays in 2 channel stereo, even if I hit 5.1 mix from audio selection...