Listening to Now (In Surround) - Volume 2

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Ying Quartet, Schumann (String Quartets Op. 41, Nos. 1, 2, and 3). Blu-Ray Audio (DTS-HD MA 5.1 & 7.1), 2014. More chamber music. Daniel Shores' Sono Luminus label can do no wrong, though uncharacteristically for them, this is more of a "medium-to-big chamber ambience" mix than an out-and-out immersive mix. Still gorgeous, though.
https://www.sonoluminus.com/store/schumann-string-quartets
 
Good Wednesday Morning People!
I thought I'd give this disc another try this morning....

Ultravox - Vienna
1635336401306.png 1635336423519.png 1635336467056.png 1635336484482.png

I'm afraid this disc didn't do anything for me when I listened to it the first couple of times ... I'm hoping that it'll grow on me.
 
Rufus, Rags to Rufus (1974). There's a beautifully discrete mix buried on the Q8 version of this album, but it's hard to hear it underneath all the wow and flutter of the GRT cart. Better off in this case with the QS LP, and luckily two different friends sent me two equally great sounding SurroundMaster decodes. How can anybody not love this gospelly kind of funk?

View attachment 72936

Rufusized is great in Quad too and the QS LP decodes really well through the Surround Master (y)
 
When you're sitting in the sweet spot with all four speakers running, it's actually pretty hard to distinguish the decoded LP from the discrete 8-track. I'm not sure what it is about this mix specifically that makes it work so well, but this title is a great example of how good matrixed quad can sound.

though sadly too few and far between, several of the '74/'75 ABC/Command QS Quad LPs are really great.. both Four Tops QS Quad LPs and both Rufus QS Quad LPs in particular decode so well and are decent pressings you really don't need the Q8s.. no idea what happened with the likes of Pretzel Logic which i'd absolutely love to hear in decent Surround but still :LOL:
 
Sibelius in the background as I work today. First the early tone poems The Lemminkäinen Suite and The Wood Nymph (Osmo Vänskä and the Lahti Symphony), then the "Seven Symphonies and Kullervo" bundle (Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra)--all on BIS, all in FLAC 5.0 format, downloaded from eClassical.com but also available on SACD. Both the immersiveness and the dynamics on Lemminkäinen are much better than average for BIS, by the way.
https://bis.se/label/bis/sibelius-lemminkainen-suite-the-wood-nymphhttps://bis.se/conductors/vanska-osmo/sibelius-the-seven-symphonies-and-kullervo
 
Last edited:
Carly Simon, Carly Simon (1971) and No Secrets (1972), both in conversions from QR. Workmanlike or better mixes, both at least as good as the 5.1 DVD-A of No Secrets. Especially good backing band on that second album--and I hadn't realized the string arrangements were by Paul Buckmaster. The self-titled's closer, "The Love's Still Growing," is kind of haunting. (My wife thinks it has a Roches vibe.) Even though we've got a year to go, I don't see much point in holding out hope for a 50th-Anniversary Quadio two-fer. >Sigh<

1635381332555.png
1635381144652.png
 
Carly Simon, Carly Simon (1971) and No Secrets (1972), both in conversions from QR. Workmanlike or better mixes, both at least as good as the 5.1 DVD-A of No Secrets. Especially good backing band on that second album--and I hadn't realized the string arrangements were by Paul Buckmaster. The self-titled's closer, "The Love's Still Growing," is kind of haunting. (My wife thinks it has a Roches vibe.) Even though we've got a year to go, I don't see much point in holding out hope for a 50th-Anniversary Quadio two-fer. >Sigh<

View attachment 72986 View attachment 72985

I have both on QUAD Open Reel and Carly's first album has always been a fav and would make for a remarkable BD~A 192/24 release!

BTW, Carly has 5 albums remixed in QUAD [including a BEST OF] so wouldn't that qualify for a RHINO QUADIO BOX SET?

CARLY SIMON -
Best. Elektra EQ-1048 (CD4), 8Q-1048 (Q8)
Carly Simon. Elektra EQ-4082 (CD4), ESTQ-4082-QF (QR), 8Q-4082
(Q8)
Hotcakes. Elektra EQ-1002 (CD4), ESTQ-1002-QF (QR), 8Q-1002 (Q8)
No Secrets. Elektra EQ-5049 (CD4), ESTQ-5049-QF (QR), 8Q-5049
(Q8), Elektra QP-11004E (CD4) [Japan]
Playing Possum. Elektra EQ-1033 (CD4), 8Q-1033 (Q8)
 
I have both on QUAD Open Reel and Carly's first album has always been a fav and would make for a remarkable BD~A 192/24 release!

BTW, Carly has 5 albums remixed in QUAD [including a BEST OF] so wouldn't that qualify for a RHINO QUADIO BOX SET?

CARLY SIMON -
Best. Elektra EQ-1048 (CD4), 8Q-1048 (Q8)
Carly Simon. Elektra EQ-4082 (CD4), ESTQ-4082-QF (QR), 8Q-4082
(Q8)
Hotcakes. Elektra EQ-1002 (CD4), ESTQ-1002-QF (QR), 8Q-1002 (Q8)
No Secrets. Elektra EQ-5049 (CD4), ESTQ-5049-QF (QR), 8Q-5049
(Q8), Elektra QP-11004E (CD4) [Japan]
Playing Possum. Elektra EQ-1033 (CD4), 8Q-1033 (Q8)

And perhaps RHINO can 'slip in' this simply marvelous and wonderfully discrete Bette Midler mini masterpiece AS A BONUS BD~A 192/24

R-5208562-1387506355-5436.jpeg.jpg
 
Last edited:
Carly Simon, Carly Simon (1971) and No Secrets (1972), both in conversions from QR. Workmanlike or better mixes, both at least as good as the 5.1 DVD-A of No Secrets. Especially good backing band on that second album--and I hadn't realized the string arrangements were by Paul Buckmaster. The self-titled's closer, "The Love's Still Growing," is kind of haunting. (My wife thinks it has a Roches vibe.) Even though we've got a year to go, I don't see much point in holding out hope for a 50th-Anniversary Quadio two-fer. >Sigh<

It'd be interesting to hear what the quad master of No Secrets actually sounds like - I have the CD-4 LP and the quad reel, both of which are missing a lot of high-end in comparison to the original stereo mix and new 5.1 remix. Even my old stereo LP sounds more vibrant and exciting than the reel, which makes me wonder if the poor fidelity is somehow baked into the quad mix itself (as was the case with Chicago's second album). The DVD-A is gorgeous tonally, despite the somewhat-loud mastering and tame surround mix.
 
Once Dutton reissued Eugene Ormandy's interpretation with the Philadelphia Orchestra, I figured that, from a surround point of view, I didn't need yet another recording of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony. And then Tacet came along this year and did one that also included the 9th Symphony, which I didn't have in any form. So I sprang for it, and I'm not sorry.
https://www.tacet.de/main/seite1.php?language=en&filename=production.php&bestnr=02530
View attachment 72981
Tacet can do no wrong, as far as I'm concerned.
 
Back
Top