HiRez Poll Petty, Tom & the Heartbreakers - HYPNOTIC EYE [BDA]

[JonUrban]

Please post your thoughts and comments on the 2014 5.1 BluRay Audio release "Hypnotic Eye" from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers


INTERVIEW: http://www.soundbard.com/soundbard/...e-on-how-he-mixed-hypnotic-eye-in-hi-res-5-1/

PRE RELEASE DISCUSSION THREAD: https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?19137

 

[corneredcat]

listening now for 3rd time in a row...gotta say..i LOVE IT! AQ is outstanding..very crank-able! content excellent also imho...not a weak tune start to finish...tho some are more outstanding than others..each one has something to offer... after filling my collection 'mostly' with classic well known stuff..refreshing to hear songs i've never heard before. of course content wise..YMMV
10!

 

[uffeolby]

I voted 9.

This one is a nice surprise for me. Good songs all over and a general hard rocking/riffing delivery with only two songs with a more laid back presentation.

The sound quality and the 5.1-mix is one step up from his other blurays - more descrete elements and a vibrant base being good examples of this.

I have many favourite songs but for the moment I lean on the album opener Amaerican Dream Plan B and Red River (classic, classic Tom Petty).

Highly recommended!

 

[JonUrban]

I have played this album a number of times now and I am really liking it. The songs are great and stick in your head, like good songs should! In fact, I find myself going back to older Petty albums as I find myself in a "Tom Petty" mood.

I still am not sure about the surround mix. It's not a great 5.1 mix IMHO, so I'm going to give it a few more critical listens before voting. I want the surround mix to be great, but if I have to look for that I am not sure it will end up being that.

It is nice to have an actual NEW RELEASE from an artist not associated with Burning Shed/SW come out in 5.1 on the same day of release of the stereo disc.

 

[The Bright Side]

It is nice to have an actual NEW RELEASE from an artist not associated with Burning Shed/SW come out in 5.1 on the same day of release of the stereo disc.

...and jump to Billboard's #1.

 

[JonUrban]

I am voting a 9 and here's why:

1) I really like this album. My favorite tunes at this moment are "Shadow People", "U Get Me High", "all You Can Carry", "Red River", "American Dream Plan B", and "Power Drunk". The other tunes are pretty good as well. It's unusual for me to like a new release this much, and have so many songs that I really like. In the old days, you'd buy an LP and play it to death, usually one side more than the other, and you'd get to know that whole side and the songs would get burned in your brain, even the ones you didn't like at first. In today's day and age of the 'Track Forward' button which can be pressed the instant you decided you don't like a song, getting the whole album in is unusual.

Still, I find I am playing this all the way through a lot, both at home and in the car. The fact that it is not heavily compressed (unlike the downloaded stereo files) makes it even better. You can crank this thing up and there are tunes that really shine when played loud.

Now the mix, well, as I said earlier, it's not an amazing surround mix like the Bob Marley disc, or a SW mix. At times you have to remind yourself that it's a 5.1 mix, but it works. It's there, it's surround, but it's just not extreme.

So, I feel this is a 9. Great disc, great material, good surround mix.

Your results may vary.

 

[kvsawilson]

I was trying to think if this is the first current #1 album to be available in surround. I know a lot of surround releases were big sellers back in the day, but have we ever had the opportunity to buy the current week's, best selling album in a surround format? Maybe back in the quad days but I don't remember them coming out at the same time as the albums either, although albums could be #1 for a lot longer back then. But again, with modern surround alternatives, have we seen this before?

K

 

[depeche76]

For me, this is a 10. Great, great, great tunes. The use of the speakers is also superb. i guess ihave played it for 10 times in a week. These kind of releases are more than welcome, when a lot of new music is esentially garbage or "disposable".
I would recommend everybody to have a listen to the tunes, at least in stereo, in order to subsequently order the surround version.

 

[bobou2]

Me and Tom took a nice ride last night in the Acura. Had to keep driving cause I couldn't stop playing this album. It has a very subtle 5.1 mix and everything sounds very clean. The punk and the Godfather will have to duke it out against Tom for playing time on the ELS system.

 

[DuncanS]

I finally got round to listening to this today. Its a great album their best in years, not a duff track on it.
Its a 10 for the music, 10 for the production/sound, but only an 8 for the surround mix - IMHO the rears only add enhancements to the fronts, rather than form an active part of the mix. Its a shame the bonus track didn't play automatically (not on my Denon anyway)
So its a 9 overall from me - just go and buy it you won't regret it!

 

[JonUrban]

I finally got round to listening to this today. Its a great album their best in years, not a duff track on it.
Its a 10 for the music, 10 for the production/sound, but only an 8 for the surround mix - IMHO the rears only add enhancements to the fronts, rather than form an active part of the mix. Its a shame the bonus track didn't play automatically (not on my Denon anyway)
So its a 9 overall from me - just go and buy it you won't regret it!

The bonus track is actually added to the back of Track 11. I noticed this when I created a disc for the car. Inserting a track point was not a big deal.

As for this disc, it's one of the few new release surround titles since the DVD-A/SACD 5.1 era began that I actually like almost all the way through for the content alone. We're usually gushing over new releases of older stuff, some going back 30+ years, but here's a totally current title that really hits my target for the type of music and quality of song writing. Surround in this case is a remarkable bonus.

 

[corneredcat]

The bonus track is actually added to the back of Track 11. I noticed this when I created a disc for the car. Inserting a track point was not a big deal.

As for this disc, it's one of the few new release surround titles since the DVD-A/SACD 5.1 era began that I actually like almost all the way through for the content alone. We're usually gushing over new releases of older stuff, some going back 30+ years, but here's a totally current title that really hits my target for the type of music and quality of song writing. Surround in this case is a remarkable bonus.

exactly! refreshing....

 

[atrocity]

The bonus track is actually added to the back of Track 11. I noticed this when I created a disc for the car. Inserting a track point was not a big deal.

Just to make it even more confusing, the track appears at the end of the playlist for the main album (after a bit of silence) and also by itself in a completely separate playlist.

 

[wavelength]

Great Petty songs that you want to listen to over and over. But this isn't what I would call surround music. There are a few moments when you go "yeah, there's the surround" but so few that it's almost not worth mentioning. There is so much good material here - the Petty guitars shine as usual. Oh what Mr. Scheiner or Bob Clearmountain could have done with this.

 

[timbre4]

It's not immersive and makes no pretense about it. For grins last Saturday I played Blu Ray discs of Hypnotic Eye, then Mojo, then Damn The Torpedoes start to finish.

This exercise of staying in "that world" of mixing, not rotating to other surround albums and mixing philosophies was very instructive to me. I enjoyed what was happening immensely.

I suspect this is exactly what the artist and producer wanted as the end result. Taken on its own merits exclusively these mixes are much better than my initial impressions.

I invite everyone to try this.


From QQ deep space

 

[himey]

It's not immersive and makes no pretense about it. For grins last Saturday I played Blu Ray discs of Hypnotic Eye, then Mojo, then Damn The Torpedoes start to finish.

This exercise of staying in "that world" of mixing, not rotating to other surround albums and mixing philosophies was very instructive to me. I enjoyed what was happening immensely.

I suspect this is exactly what the artist and producer wanted as the end result. Taken on its own merits exclusively these mixes are much better than my initial impressions.

I invite everyone to try this.


From QQ deep space

I never got into Mojo for whatever reason but tonight I shuffled this great new album and Damn The Torpedoes. For what it's worth they both held their own. This new album has no "duffs" period. The mix works better than most. I have heard better mixes and better overall sound quality but a release date, 5.1 mix with no "duffs" is a 10 easy. This gets better with each play.

 

[atlantasteve]

This is one of my favorite albums of the year and an excellent surround disc. There are too few rock records with surround to begin with. This disc accentuates the power of guitar driven music and adds the beauty of sonic sounds all around. Good use of low end and high. Makes me want to see them again in concert one more time,

 

[salsdali]

This BD-A is only 3.34 GB.

just found that strange for some reason.

 

[lmwallnj]

I believe the 3.34GB content size is due to the stereo and 5.1 mixes being 48kHz 24-bit instead of the more common 96kHz 24-bit as well as not having video content.

 

[dingus]

Great Petty songs that you want to listen to over and over. But this isn't what I would call surround music. There are a few moments when you go "yeah, there's the surround" but so few that it's almost not worth mentioning. There is so much good material here - the Petty guitars shine as usual. Oh what Mr. Scheiner or Bob Clearmountain could have done with this.

i get that, not to the same extent, but it does seem to me that the mix is a bit overly centric. when i switch back and forth from 5.1 to stereo (played back in 5.1 Stereo), the 5.1 mix is obviously cleaner, better highs and has lots more 'air'. my only other gripe is the drumming is just too subdued and not up to par performance-wise with the rest of the band, i guess i prefer Stan Lynch's style.

that said, its a very, very good TP&HB album probably my favorite at the moment and its gotten consistent play since i've had it.