HiRez Poll Pink Floyd - WISH YOU WERE HERE [Blu-Ray Audio]

[JonUrban]

Well, we wished for many a year, even longer than "Running on Empty" , and here it is! Finally in HiRez on Blu-Ray from the Wish You Were Here Immersion Box Set. Please post your thoughts and comments on the 24/96 HiRez audio of this album. Comments on both the 5.1 and the 4.0 mixes should be made in this single thread. Please indicate what mix you are commenting on when you post.

Comparisons are welcome and encouraged

 

[spenceo]

5.1 Guthrie Mix

Awesome, just awesome. My Immersion set showed up today and I listen to it immediately. The mix was immersive. I've heard parts of the title I've never heard before. Crisp and clean. Bass on Welcome to the Machine (Which has always been a bit wild) was strong and clean. It didn't overpower the speakers. A must listen!! A 10

Spence

 

[The Bright Side]

I'd love to read comparisons, guys. For DSOTM, many people said that the Guthrie mix was not very immersive, and it is widely regarded as inferior to the quad mix for being so much less discrete. Did Guthrie learn from that?

 

[Brett]

I am not of the group that feels the Guthrie 5.1 mix in inferior to Parsons 4.0 mix. I now have them both on a Blu Ray disc and only play the 5.1

 

[JonUrban]

For those who want to get a feel for the two mixes, here are two samples, under 1 minute, of the same section of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", back channels only, and converted to MP3.

This is the section from the 4.0 Mix: (Play or download)


And the same section from the 5.1 Mix: (Play or download)


Remember, these are the rears only. You can hear that the quad mix has more isolation of the instruments and voices, as is more identified with a quadraphonic mix. The 5.1 mix sounds more modern, with more stuff back there, including lead guitar and lead vocal (absent from the quad) and listening to the full playback appears to have much better audio fidelity.

The center channel in the 5.1 mix is pretty much ambient. There's nothing isolated or potted up hard in the center. Again, the use of the center for music has always been someone debatable.

Of course, a mix is a personal choice, so there is no wrong or right!

 

[LizardKing]

Wow - Guthrie is a bit more adventurous than on DSOTM. Generally I like it..

There are things I like and don't like about both mixes, one example of the differences between the mixes is on the Wish You Were Here track:

• in 5.1 the radio starts in the rear right channel , then the acoustic guitar is in all other channels
• in quad the radio starts in the front right channel (OK but I prefer it in the rear channel), then the acoustic guitar is the front left channel

Interesting....

I like both mixes....

Jon those samples are very interesting... Thanks!!

P.S. No Joke - I've lost my marbles!!!!!!

 

[GabeL]

Just arrived from Amazon today! Will give a first listen tomorrow night

 

[arnold_layne]

I don't have my immersion set yet, but can anyone confirm the quad mix is exactly as it was released back in 75 with the extended outro on HAC, the edited out cough during WYWH intro, and the extended funky part of SOYCD 6-9?

A_L

 

[Quad Linda]

SOYCD makes Shine On... sound like biodegradable software!

Linda
All Natural

 

[ArnoldLayne]

Mine arrived yesterday and I spent all evening listening to the three mixes. At first I had some problem with my soon-to-break TV. It often needs a warming up before the HDMI card starts to behave as expected. Anyway, after some fifteen shivering and trembling minutes I finally could access the menu and hit it with the 5.1 mix. Then a starnge feeling of disappointment, a sort of lack-lustered sound and unbalanced mix. But a few minutes into "Shine..." I remembered having fiddled with the receiver setup the other day. Should you ever have any doubt about your A/V receviers "night" or "dynamic compression" setting, there you go with an excellent test case.

When putting things right I accidently pushed the eject button. The disc went back in again refused to recognise it as playable. Aargh, this is just another proof that we'd be better off with independent non-profit organizations developing standards in the audio and video fields. But I've fought those battles before and after eventually cutting the power for the whole system, the disc played again. It doesn't bother that much anyway, because I have all the necessary means for making a functioning backup disc and spare the collector's item.

After this consumer electronics odyssea I could finally lean back in the sofa and listen to this delight. In all it's glory this is my absolute favorite album, the all time high in music. But IMO it doesn't grow in surround like some other albums do (Lizard...), except for have a cigar maybe. WYWH does sound more marvellous though in all these remasters (5.1, 4.0, 2.0). Now, yesterday my ears still suffered from last weekends venues: Yes on Friday and Peter Frampton on Sunday. So I'll have to do some more listening before voting.

To be continued...

 

[kap'n krunch]

This is gonna sound self centered....
I think the only thing from this new package that's gonna leave me more satisfied than my homebrewed SQ conversion is the BluRay 4.0 mix...and I'm having my doubts!

BTW , Arnold , you rock! If only I had been in decent shape to go to both shows, I would've!!! Don't matter that I've seen Frampton twice in 81 and 82 and Yes in 84, and 2003 (not counting ABWH in '89)...hope you enjoyed it!

Cheers!

G

 

[Time Lord]

I am digesting the 5.1 mix fully before moving to the quad mix. Mr Guthrie has delivered. Welcome to the Machine, usually my least favourite track on the album is absolutely fantastic. Pardon the pun but it is truly immersive and the most aggressive of the surround mixes. Shine Ons are gorgeous capturing so many moods and mental images, Have a Cigar has new venom, the choice of Roy Harper to sing this always troubled me but I understand it better now, his delivery of indifference and dry singing style with the sneering Gilmour lead guitar licks are captured in a way I hadn't experienced previously. Wish You Were Here provoked real emotion. The Wall and Animals have to be on Mr Guthrie's bucket list.

 

[channelar]

After a week of listening to the BluRay of WYWH and mainly the 5.1 and 4.0 mix, I love the 5.1 (even though it sounds mainly 4.1) and give it a 10.I'd give it a 100 if that was allowed. The sound and separation on the 4.0 is technically superb and if I had never heard the newer mix I would have thought it perfect. But!!!

I find the new 5.1 mix to be more artistic, emotionally involving and incredibly powerful. The sound quality is breathtaking and the interaction of the separate channels work to deliver an experience than is one of the most satisfying so far in surround. The mix of the synthesisers on Welcome to the Machine are an absolute highlight. They sound a little flat on the 4.0 mix but not on the 5.1. Have a Cigar and WYWH are also excellent. SOYCD has a level of detail, warmth and atmosphere that was perhaps a little more clinical before. This is a benchmark disc. I love it.

I'm glad I also ordered the SACD (which has shipped), but this BluRay version will be very hard to beat. If it came out as a separate BluRay I would buy it again if only to put the ridiculous cumbersome box away in some distant storage cuboard for my grandchildren to find.

 

[Cyber 1]

my marbles are just clear glass, bummer at least the dark side ones had color. no time to listen yet, but man you pay good money for Floyd marbles and you only get clear glass ones.............

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[LizardKing]

my marbles are just clear glass, bummer at least the dark side ones had color. no time to listen yet, but man you pay good money for Floyd marbles and you only get clear glass ones.............

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

My marbles were clear glass also (I believe) .....before I lost them.....

 

[mattB2]

You wait months for a release, wade through all the junk in the box to find the Blu-ray which, in effect, you've paid £84 for, play a really nice 5.1 mix and then everything falls apart because the transfer suffers from some quite to very loud clicks towards the end of the album (at 41:48, 43:54 and 54:10). The last two are very noticeable as they are very loud pops from the front, left speaker, particularly the one at 44:10 as the music has just about faded at that point on the 5.1 mix.

From some of the posts on the Steve Hoffman site this seems to be a problem only on the European editions which feature the other discs still in the holders at the bottom of the box rather than having them in separate sleeves so it looks like we Europeans are losing out all around.

The best we can hope for is that EMI do the honest thing and agree to replace the European Blu-rays with corrected versions.

 

[rusinurbe]

I don't have my immersion set yet, but can anyone confirm the quad mix is exactly as it was released back in 75 with the extended outro on HAC, the edited out cough during WYWH intro, and the extended funky part of SOYCD 6-9?

A_L

Pretty sure it does as the two mixes digress in time around Have a cigar. i was flicking up and down the mixes trying to decide which mix i preferred, on the DVD Dolby 1 dolby 2 stereo 4.0 and 5.1 and to start with they all run at teh same time but from have a cigar the 4.0 stereo and 5.1 are out of sync.

 

[quadstone]

This is a great sounding release for sure. In fact these last couple months with DSOTM, Aqualung and WYWH in remastered multichannel Bluray has just been an embarrassment of riches. I can't keep spending this kind of money on music, but these three sure look good sitting in my study and will get regularly played and fondled.

 

[sukothai]

can anyone confirm the quad mix is exactly as it was released back in 75 with the extended outro on HAC, the edited out cough during WYWH intro, and the extended funky part of SOYCD 6-9?

A_L

Appears to be the same as the quad mix. SOYCD 6-9 is the only song that diverges in time and the 4.0 is 33 seconds longer than the 5.1. Here's the table of times extracted by AudioMuxer:

Shine On You Crazy Diamond VI-IX 2.0:[12:39.754] 4.0:[12:58.024] 5.1:[12:25.769]

- Ben

 

[JonUrban]

If you look closely at the wav files in post 1, you'll see the Quad files are longer than the 5.1 files