HiRez Poll Merchant, Natalie - TIGERLILY [DVD-A]

[JonUrban]

Please post your thoughts and comments on this title!

 

[Cai Campbell]

Great music, excellent sonics, horrible surround mix. I haven't listened to it in a while, but my impression was that it is fake surround. Also, the "stereo" track is just a mix-down from surround.

Three points.

 

[neil wilkes]

Almost complete accordance with Cai - except I don't think it is fake surround, just very very conservative.
The rears seem to be predominantly there for Ambience, generally holding reverb but occasionally throwing up a surprise or two.

The sound quality overall is superb, and the disc is very well presented.
I've not actually listened to the stereo version at all.
Voted a 7 for the overall production, but it's not fake.
I think we have been spoiled by superb mixers like Elliot Scheiner, who in general makes everyone else look out of their depth.

 

[IDJIT DRAGON]

Can't agree with you Cai

Yes it has vocals in all 5 channels but I don't believe that it's a "fake mix". Sonically it's very warm and open to my ears , with instrumentation and vocals remaining anchored across the 3 front channels, despite the 5 channel spread. Musically it's first class, I've loved the CD for ages:banana:

Another perspective here www.highfidelityreview.com/reviews/review.asp?reviewnumber=19230301

An 8 for me


Cheers


Martin

 

[Manmc]

9 from me . I think her voice is the most powerful musical tool present and worthy of enveloping you from each speaker.

~M~

 

[zabble]

Not being much of a Natalie Merchant fan, I had low expectations. Listening to the DVD-A, I was hearing this album for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised. The biggest surprise was the great guitar work by Jennifer Turner.

This is not a fake surround mix, though some elements--most noticeably the guitar and drums---are very often present in most of the channels.

To my surprise, I will listen to this one more than once.

 

[MIDIQ]

I just dug this one out of the collection and gave it a listen. This was my first album by her, and i ilked it quite a lot. I thought the music was a 9, and the surround mix was a 8.1/2. I liked the surround mix, i heard a lot of distinct instruments comming from the rears. Sounded good to me. Over all i gave it a 9.:banana:

 

[Cai Campbell]

I had to go back and listen to this after all the positive comments. The surround mix is not bad as I remember it. In fact, the only reason I have any negative feelings for it is because of the surround-to-stereo mixdown instead a of a true stereo mix (probably doesn't matter much to folks here but I feel that a proper DVD-A should offer true surround and stereo mixes).

I've changed my vote from a 3 to a 7.

 

[neil wilkes]

I agree with you Cai - which is exactly why II marked down the 2 Bowie titles.
Both the stereo versions are downmixes.

 

[analogdemon]

I got this disc on Friday from CDUniverse.com and I must say, the mix is unique. I don't think I've heard another DVD-A mix with vocals in all five channels. I really like the mix overall though. It's definitely not fake surround, I just think it's unusual.

Sonically this disc can't be beat. One thing I love about DVD-Audio is how it works so well with acoustic music to really bring out the fidelity and warmth of the sound like a CD just can't.

I would give the disc a 10, but the surround mix, while I do like it, isn't as top-notch as I'd like, so I'll knock a point off and give it a 9.

 

[The Rang]

The "stereo" track is just a mix-down from surround.

Three points.

So that explains why I can't access the "Advanced Resolution Stereo" section on this disc.

 

[happykev]

I don't think there is a stereo mix at all on my DVD-A of "Tigerlily". I tried it on my Pioneer 578 player and on my PC using either WinDVD 7 or Creative's DVD-A player and saw no option to play a stereo mix. It's only 24/96 5.1 or Dolby Digital 5.1

Kev

 

[neil wilkes]

I don't think there is a stereo mix at all on my DVD-A of "Tigerlily". I tried it on my Pioneer 578 player and on my PC using either WinDVD 7 or Creative's DVD-A player and saw no option to play a stereo mix. It's only 24/96 5.1 or Dolby Digital 5.1

Kev

There isn't one, that's why!
As Cai rightly pointed out earlier the stereo is a downmix.
All that is in the Audio_TS is a single group, containing the 5.1 stream with a downmix set at the MLP encoder.

 

[filper]

I saw one of these last weekend.

I think I might go back and get it after reading this.

 

[The Rang]

There isn't one, that's why!
As Cai rightly pointed out earlier the stereo is a downmix.
All that is in the Audio_TS is a single group, containing the 5.1 stream with a downmix set at the MLP encoder.

"the 5.1 stream with a downmix set at the MLP decoder".

Hopefully this isn't a dumb question (but probably is based on earlier comments in this thread) is there any way to output this disc in stereo (PPCM, LPCM, whatever?
I see the word downmix and it makes me wonder maybe....

 

[rusinurbe]

Picked this up very reasonably not long ago. Nicely recorded but a very conservative surround mix.

Lack of a dedicated stereo mix is not much of an issue for me.

 

[dmt]

If you want a great stereo version mofi has both a gold cd version and a 45 rpm vinyl version that I highly recommend.
http://www.mofi.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=0&idproduct=123

 

[callmez]

I bought a lot of my surround discs before I put together matching speakers front and back, and not having a better system to test 'em out on, decided to reserve judgement on discs that didn't initially impress on the system I had. Now that the setup's a little better, I've been revisiting some of these discs to see if I missed something the first time around.

Tigerlily is one of these. It's one of the first DVD-As I bought, as the album has long been a favorite in this household, but the DVD-A hasn't gotten a lot of play in the surround setup. I revisited it again tonight -- it's still a great album, and the recording sounds fabulous, but in terms of surroundiness it seems like a lost opportunity more than anything else. Whiz-bang effects would be out of place, but it sure would be nice to hear the instruments spread out a bit. Altogether I can't give it more than a 7, and I really do love the music.

Mark Z

 

[dbmay75]

Natalie's voice is somewhat vanilla and can become a little tiresome after an entire album, but personally I find the surround mix to be very engaging and appropriate for the music. The "missing" stereo mix and not much for extras brings this to a 7 for me. Very hard to find these days, especially at an affordable price. Thanks to filper for helping me add this to my collection without breaking the bank

 

[etzeppy]

Does anyone else hear a little sibilance in the vocals from time to time throughout this disc? I'm pretty sure I detect the same thing on my redbook version.