Soundgarden Superunknown box set coming with 5.1 mix on Blu-ray

[keenly]

True, I thought of that but I have enough things on order right now as ordered Marillion,Lori Lieberman,Anathema,The Who,Peter Gabriel(concert BTF),Beatles(Criterion AHDN) so I have enough things coming in next few weeks so I will wait and let some other people test drive it and then see what's happening, might go the other route as someone might sell the bluray as I got a few titles that way from people at SHF.

Normally people will keep the Blu Ray, I can't see anyone selling that(unless it is atrocious). Somebody will buy the 4 CDs with booklet I am sure. I will be keeping my Blu Ray and selling the rest. Some of the people on SH forums buy CD box sets but do not care about 5.1, so that could work out well. Anyway let's see what it is like first.

It is a shame we have to buy these box sets instead of a £15 Blu Ray on it's own.

 

[DuncanS]

I've just had an e-mail from amazon.co.uk saying the Box Set has been delayed until 9th June - hopefully it won't be compressed. I haven't played the CD as I want to listen to the album when it arrives 'a fresh' so to speak, so I can't remember if it was heavily compressed on that.

 

[fredblue]

I've just had an e-mail from amazon.co.uk saying the Box Set has been delayed until 9th June - hopefully it won't be compressed. I haven't played the CD as I want to listen to the album when it arrives 'a fresh' so to speak, so I can't remember if it was heavily compressed on that.

same here, though the revised date they gave me is 12th of June (though that maybe due to me choosing free delivery I dunno?)

 

[Which_One_Is_Pink]

Just got a notification from amazon.com my Superunknown 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition just shipped so it should be here Tuesday!

 

[peterzach]

Found this on Soundgarden facebook:

" the 5.1 mix is newly mixed by Adam Kasper from the original analog multi-track masters. Blu-ray playback is in 96kHz/24-bit DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD.
Vinyl was remastered from the original analog stereo master tapes to 192kHz/24-bit before being cut to lacquers and manufactured at the best vinyl manufacturing facility in the U.S. – Quality Record Pressing (QRP). Did you want any more information? If so, please do let us know."

Question is has Adam Kasper done any other 5.1's?
Guess some people here will let us know soon enough if this is a good job or not.

 

[GabeL]

His Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Kasper

 

[rtbluray]

Found this on Soundgarden facebook:

" the 5.1 mix is newly mixed by Adam Kasper from the original analog multi-track masters. Blu-ray playback is in 96kHz/24-bit DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD.
Vinyl was remastered from the original analog stereo master tapes to 192kHz/24-bit before being cut to lacquers and manufactured at the best vinyl manufacturing facility in the U.S. – Quality Record Pressing (QRP). Did you want any more information? If so, please do let us know."

Question is has Adam Kasper done any other 5.1's?
Guess some people here will let us know soon enough if this is a good job or not.

His credit list is quite impressive, but when looking on Discogs, I didn't see any 5.1 mixing credits for studio albums.

 

[dobyblue]

Found this on Soundgarden facebook:

" the 5.1 mix is newly mixed by Adam Kasper from the original analog multi-track masters. Blu-ray playback is in 96kHz/24-bit DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD.
Vinyl was remastered from the original analog stereo master tapes to 192kHz/24-bit before being cut to lacquers and manufactured at the best vinyl manufacturing facility in the U.S. – Quality Record Pressing (QRP). Did you want any more information? If so, please do let us know."

Question is has Adam Kasper done any other 5.1's?
Guess some people here will let us know soon enough if this is a good job or not.

Yeah they FINALLY answered my questions, not like I hadn't asked it probably 40 times over the last couple months. Sounds good though!

 

[peterzach]

Did you guys see this, this release is even going 11.1:

http://www.techhive.com/article/2358463/soundgardens-superunknown-goes-super-surround-sound.html

 

[fredblue]

Uh oh...
I have a sinking feeling about the 5.1 on the BD-A...

said producer/engineer Adam Kasper,
“The experience Soundgarden’s fans will hear over headphones is identical to how I heard the mix in the studio when producing the surround sound version.”

 

[SMS]

I download the demo DTS app from Google Play. Just search for "Superunknown" and you will find it. It includes a DTS Headphone:X Demo, and Spoonman in Headphone:X surround, and in stereo. It lets you switch between 3 different surround versions, with the EQ tweaked for the style of headphone you use, and the stereo version. The surround versions do sound marginally better than the stereo version. The surround versions definitely have more headroom (less dynamic range compression), which is good. But, I am not convinced yet either way. The mix doesn't seem very active, but I don't know if that is because of this "virtual" surround thing using headphones, or if the mix itself isn't active.

Try it for yourself and share your thoughts.

 

[dobyblue]

Well, those of us hoping the stereo mix on the Blu-ray might be dynamically intact will be sad to hear it's just as bad as King Animal.

foobar2000 1.1.11 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2014-06-03 12:41:32

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Unknown Artist / ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR5 -0.10 dB -6.52 dB 3:55 ?-Chapter 01
DR6 -0.17 dB -7.67 dB 5:12 ?-Chapter 02
DR6 -0.16 dB -8.04 dB 4:43 ?-Chapter 03
DR5 -0.15 dB -6.46 dB 4:26 ?-Chapter 04
DR5 -0.17 dB -6.65 dB 5:08 ?-Chapter 05
DR6 -0.17 dB -7.79 dB 6:09 ?-Chapter 06
DR6 -0.14 dB -8.25 dB 5:19 ?-Chapter 07
DR5 -0.17 dB -6.68 dB 4:07 ?-Chapter 08
DR5 -0.11 dB -7.25 dB 5:48 ?-Chapter 09
DR6 -0.19 dB -8.28 dB 5:20 ?-Chapter 10
DR6 -0.13 dB -6.87 dB 1:34 ?-Chapter 11
DR7 -0.15 dB -7.89 dB 4:17 ?-Chapter 12
DR6 -0.20 dB -7.18 dB 5:09 ?-Chapter 13
DR8 -0.19 dB -10.45 dB 2:13 ?-Chapter 14
DR6 -0.13 dB -7.90 dB 7:05 ?-Chapter 15
DR6 -0.19 dB -7.69 dB 3:17 ?-Chapter 16
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 16
Official DR value: DR6

Samplerate: 96000 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 24
Bitrate: 4608 kbps
Codec: PCM

 

[Baker]

I've tried the Spoonman "DTS X" demo and disliked it.
Surely the sound is interesting, a different experience from what headphones usually provide, but I found the overall sound hollow and, above all, quite unpleasant, like something's tickling your eardrum.

It reminded me of Opeth's Heritage : that strange feeling someone shunted down half of the frequencies.

What makes me hope for a good surround mix is that I've heard vocals and effects I had never heard in the original stereo mix before.

 

[inkubuzz]

http://soundgardenworld.com/superunknownxdemo/?tracking=superunknown

didnt like the 11.1 thing...guitars are hidden behind the bass in my opinion. hope the 5.1 mix is better

 

[stormchaser]

http://soundgardenworld.com/superunknownxdemo/?tracking=superunknown

didnt like the 11.1 thing...guitars are hidden behind the bass in my opinion. hope the 5.1 mix is better

It isn't very good. While I've only listened to a couple of songs, the mix isn't very interesting. While there is instrumental content across all speakers, this really is kind of an "enveloping stereo" mix. I bought this on a lark and I didn't have a copy of this in my collection, so I'm not that disappointed. But, my guess is that most surround fans who aren't Soundgarden fans should skip this one.

 

[Which_One_Is_Pink]

My Superunknown box set came in today and am having my first run at the Blu-Ray in DTS-HD Master and first impression so far is pretty good to me, soundstage seems very wide lots of things spread out between the mains and rears, with some discreteness in the rears with movement of some elements all around the speakersphere. Sometimes the vocals seem fairly centered at times but if you listen to each speaker up close there does seem to be a lot of shared elements all around (vocal and instrumental) so maybe not as discrete as it seems at first in my sweet spot (more listenings needed).

There is no question they have a bass player, as the bass is prominent and deep and fairly tight (as in you can feel it in the middle of your chest kinda thump at times), this also applies to the kick drum. I have no problem with the guitars being hidden by the bass (as noted on 11.1 app version) as they seem loud and clear to me.

The onscreen graphics are quite nice sort of Cosmos meets Twilight Zone but with no song titles on screen which would have been nice at least at the start of each song. The book is also nice with lots of pictures with band and song info along with song lyrics. Unfortunately though it has the storage slots you have to slide the disc in and out off so be careful out there. There is a nice lenticular card on the front cover that I suspect may have to be glued back on at some future time as mine seems a little loose.

As general rule I don't analyze my music too much, I either like it or I don't and I like most of the multichannel discs I have (Quad conversions and even the stereo up mixed ones). So for me with this initial first run of the Superunknown Blu-Ray I would say I like it (...wish it didn't cost me $75 bucks to get it though, oh well the 5.1 beast has to eat!...even if I can't). I will give this many more listens over the next few days with hopefully a chance to crank it up a bit and let it all sink in for a better feel of it.

 

[Odys]

As general rule I don't analyze my music too much, I either like it or I don't and I like most of the multichannel discs I have (Quad conversions and even the stereo up mixed ones).

Well put, I couldn't agree more. I feel the same way about single malt scotch and wine. I gave up struggling with why I like or dislike something and I'm much happier for it.

 

[mdmost]

I listened to the DTS X demo and it sounded pretty good to me. Loved the right front high distorted vocals and the spoons clanking in the rears. I wish there was a way to get this and the blu-ray without having to spend the money for the whole set. If anyone is getting this and doesn't want to use their DTS X download code, I'd gladly take it off your hands.

Hearing it a few times. I think where they could've improved this would be to push more vocals to the front so you get a sense of sitting in a true 11.1 environment. It's mostly hearing vocals like you normally would with some panning and nice localization of certain effects. Personally I think music moving to downloadable formats is how we're eventually only going to be able to get music so if this pushed the technology to new heights then I'm all for it. I'd love to have the ability to listen to 5.1 on my headphones. I honestly do more music listening at my computer with Audirvana Plus and SACD and FLAC vinyl rips. I'd love to get multichannel ability through my computer.

 

[scorgiman]

I've listened to the DTS X version of Spoonman and have to say it is overall disappointing. I appreciate the intent here to have true separation of different elements and some playfulness such as the spoons circling your head, however that is all pointless when the whole mix sounds completely muddy. the app gives the ability to turn the surround on and off at any point during the song and each time I switch from surround to stereo there is a clear improvement in the quality of the sound.

I'm really keen to hear more from people who have listened to the 5.1 Blu-ray from the deluxe package. Can someone give their impressions of both the surround mix (is it better than listening in stereo?) and the overall quality of the sound. Is there a hi-res stereo mix on the Blu-ray? If so, how does it sound? I'm tossing up between getting the deluxe for the Blu-ray or picking up the vinyl version. My priority is quality of sound/mastering followed by enjoyable surround mix.

 

[wavelength]

Here's a comment from the Hoffman forum:

OK, I have had the chance now to listen to the Blu-ray via speakers (opposed to via headphones connected to the OPPO HA-1).

Yes, the 2.0 track BD is definitely more compressed than the '94 CD. Enough to where it really annoys me now

The 5.1 mix is more difficult to judge compression, but it's not dramatically different than the 2.0 version. Oddly, the TrueHD version is several dBs quieter than the DTS HD-MA version. Not sure if it's less mastering compression in the TrueHD version, I'll have to listen more.

I bought the "Alive In The Superunknown" EP, "Fell On Black Days" and "Spoonman" CD singles when they were originally released, so most of the b-sides are familiar to me. Right now, I'm just kinda bummed. This COULD have been much better. If you're listening Soundgarden, this was a great opportunity to showcase a brilliant work, but it has been rather squandered in mastering