WHO’S NEXT/LIFEHOUSE Box set coming in September 2023 (STEVEN WILSON DOLBY ATMOS & 5.1 MIXES CONFIRMED!!)

[4-earredwonder]

Good question.
I think I only have one XRCD a Hall & Oates? So I can't comment on those.
First, the naysayers will always pipe in and say it's just 16bit/44.1Khz a waste of money, let them be.
I have a few opinions having purchased many SHM CD's. Sometimes by luck, by there in a Japanese packing, box sets, mini LP's, etc.
They are a little thicker plastic, if you have a CD slot in a car, many times the SHM CD will get stuck coming out just for that tiny bit of thickness.
When a person buys anything Japanese produced the quality, packaging, etc. is better. The big box sets come with an outer plastic fitting sleeve protector that you get no where else.
But what about the sound?
My personal opinion is that they have a better midrange and the low end plays a little softer, more analog, I guess you would say.
The Dynamic Range is equal mostly to it's RBCD brother, generally, never worse, occasionally a little better.
I have had some Blu Spec CD's over the years and I think they are good to.
All and all in is just one big crap shoot and to each his own.
Then there is the question of CD players, of course there are better rated then others.
Being we are on the big The Who box set coming, my logic is I want to get the best version of what is available, only on these big iconic releases, like The Beatles, etc.

Just to be 'nosy,' Markie, what did CDJapan charge for DHL s/h for the Lighthouse/Who's Next massive 6" thick box set? Just curious?

 

[marpow]

Not sure as I also ordered:
Ringo Starr-Godnight Vienna-MQA
George Harrison-Brainwashed-MQA
The Who's Next also comes with External Bonus, whatever that is.
Shipping was 4264 Yen, $30.13, pretty good actually.
Total was 5100 Yen, I had saved 3741 Yen that I added to purchase.
My total end result is $364.30.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Not sure as I also ordered:
Ringo Starr-Godnight Vienna-MQA
George Harrison-Brainwashed-MQA
The Who's Next also comes with External Bonus, whatever that is.
Shipping was 4264 Yen, $30.13, pretty good actually.
Total was 5100 Yen, I had saved 3741 Yen that I added to purchase.
My total end result is $364.30.

Nice cache, Markie. CDJapan charged me US $30 just to deliver 3 Huey Lewis MQA CDs and 2 Stereo SHM~SACDs.

You got a DEAL, bud!

 

[GOS]

Not sure as I also ordered:
Ringo Starr-Godnight Vienna-MQA
George Harrison-Brainwashed-MQA
The Who's Next also comes with External Bonus, whatever that is.
Shipping was 4264 Yen, $30.13, pretty good actually.
Total was 5100 Yen, I had saved 3741 Yen that I added to purchase.
My total end result is $364.30.

You are a beast my man....

 

[cbmmm3]

Nice cache, Markie. CDJapan charged me US $30 just to deliver 3 Huey Lewis MQA CDs and 2 Stereo SHM~SACDs.

You got a DEAL, bud!

that 30 dollar DHL charge is a deal for your purchase. looks like everything you order from CDJapan is about 30 dollars for shipping whether its 1 or 2 cds or - in the case of Markie - one big box and a couple of CDs

 

[marpow]

that 30 dollar DHL charge is a deal for your purchase. looks like everything you order from CDJapan is about 30 dollars for shipping whether its 1 or 2 cds or - in the case of Markie - one big box and a couple of CDs

Keep in mind, I am closer to Japan so that has to make a difference, Ralphie paying the most in The Big Apple, Rickie in the Land Of Lions pays the middle.

 

[H.A.L.]

Good question.
I think I only have one XRCD a Hall & Oates? So I can't comment on those.
First, the naysayers will always pipe in and say it's just 16bit/44.1Khz a waste of money, let them be.
I have a few opinions having purchased many SHM CD's. Sometimes by luck, by there in a Japanese packing, box sets, mini LP's, etc.
They are a little thicker plastic, if you have a CD slot in a car, many times the SHM CD will get stuck coming out just for that tiny bit of thickness.
When a person buys anything Japanese produced the quality, packaging, etc. is better. The big box sets come with an outer plastic fitting sleeve protector that you get no where else.
But what about the sound?
My personal opinion is that they have a better midrange and the low end plays a little softer, more analog, I guess you would say.
The Dynamic Range is equal mostly to it's RBCD brother, generally, never worse, occasionally a little better.
I have had some Blu Spec CD's over the years and I think they are good to.
All and all it is just one big crap shoot and to each his own.
Then there is the question of CD players, of course there are better rated then others.
Being we are on the big The Who box set coming, my logic is I want to get the best version of what is available, only on these big iconic releases, like The Beatles, etc.

I would say SHMCDs are more "buttery" sounding on my system. Hard to explain, I know.

 

[cbmmm3]

btw, not to thread hijack, but I see the Rush Signals box set is down to $164 New on Amazon, $157 used. And that Kiss Destroyer bloat ? I told myself "No" when it came out. Last week it was $119 on Amazon. I guess No means Yes

 

[mandrix]

Good question.
I think I only have one XRCD a Hall & Oates? So I can't comment on those.
First, the naysayers will always pipe in and say it's just 16bit/44.1Khz a waste of money, let them be.
I have a few opinions having purchased many SHM CD's. Sometimes by luck, by there in a Japanese packing, box sets, mini LP's, etc.
They are a little thicker plastic, if you have a CD slot in a car, many times the SHM CD will get stuck coming out just for that tiny bit of thickness.
When a person buys anything Japanese produced the quality, packaging, etc. is better. The big box sets come with an outer plastic fitting sleeve protector that you get no where else.
But what about the sound?
My personal opinion is that they have a better midrange and the low end plays a little softer, more analog, I guess you would say.
The Dynamic Range is equal mostly to it's RBCD brother, generally, never worse, occasionally a little better.
I have had some Blu Spec CD's over the years and I think they are good to.
All and all it is just one big crap shoot and to each his own.
Then there is the question of CD players, of course there are better rated then others.
Being we are on the big The Who box set coming, my logic is I want to get the best version of what is available, only on these big iconic releases, like The Beatles, etc.

Thanks, marpow. I enjoyed your assessment. You covered a lot of territory.

 

[esimms86]

Keep in mind, I am closer to Japan so that has to make a difference, Ralphie paying the most in The Big Apple, Rickie in the Land Of Lions pays the middle.

Deleted

 

[mikusguitarius]

I used to think that, but then I saw a posting that made me reconsider. It was about what you have to do to get the music into 44.1 kHz, which is the filtering of frequencies above 22 kHz, which in turns also slightly changes the timing of the sounds below that frequency (getting into the realm of quantum physics there...). And that  probably is what people refer to when they say that they're hearing a difference between CD quality and higher sampling frequencies.

Personally, I doubt I'll be able to hear it, but higher sampling frequencies do seem to be a bit more than snake oil to me.

Yeah I do take your point. I reckon there is something in recording at twice the resolution - 88.2khz or even 96khz - but 44.1kHz as the ultimate playback medium for consumers is fine. I'm 47 and can hear up to 14k and I use custom moulded Ultimate Ears UE-11s. I also have Genelec 8030s and I don't feel I need anything higher than CD quality. But I accept it's a knotty debate!!

 

[mandrix]

When I work with music that has high sample rates, I always finish at either 48K or 44.1, so that the original rate is a multiple (e.g. 96K/2 = 48K, 88.2/2 = 44.1)) .
Audition works in 32 float unless you tell it otherwise, but I save in 24 bit normally.
Sometimes if I'm doing a lot of editing I will upsample first, here again using an exact multiple of 44.1/48. That's more for mixing/upmixing though.
Is the way I've been doing it for a long time. YMMV and/or opinion.

 

[mandrix]

I watched the old Lifehouse DVD last night. The picture sucked and sometimes the sound was atrocious, but I really enjoyed a few songs. Also loved Pete hammering on all those acoustic guitars. Orchestra wasn't too shabby either. A guy playing electric guitar was pretty darn good as well, didn't catch his name.

Getting psyched up!

 

[ManWhoCan]

IMHO it's best not to conflate SHM-CD with XRCDs as they are like apples & pears. I can believe that a SHM-CD may sound better than a regular CD when played directly, because of the material it is made of and its different coating. Once ripped I believe a SHM-CD sounds the same as a regular CD as its physical make up is no longer relevant.
XRCDs are a different kettle of fish & IMHO usually sound better than SHM-CDs & regular CDs, even when ripped.
Added to this are the HDCDs, which will give you 20bits rather than 16bits, if played with a HDCD decoder, even in software, once ripped. These last sound the best to my ears.

 

[marpow]

IMHO it's best not to conflate SHM-CD with XRCDs as they are like apples & pears. I can believe that a SHM-CD may sound better than a regular CD when played directly, because of the material it is made of and its different coating. Once ripped I believe a SHM-CD sounds the same as a regular CD as its physical make up is no longer relevant.
XRCDs are a different kettle of fish & IMHO usually sound better that SHM-CDs & regular CD, even when ripped.
Added to this are the HDCDs, which will give you 20bits rather than 16bits, if played with a HDCD decoder, even in software once ripped. These last sound the best to my ears.

Good points.
Another controversial subject is MQA, which I am a fan.
Tidal uses MQA as it's Master Quality streaming, I cannot comment.
The MQA discs I have purchased all come with new DSD mastering from original tapes in Japan. The information is on every liner note, where, when, who.
The player that I use is the Luxman D-03X, which completely unfolds the disc to MQA quality.
It also has a ASIO player from PC.
My first experience playing the hard MQA discs, was very enjoyable, they all sounded great.
As I am a big ripper of all discs, I wanted to of course rip the MQA discs to play in car, etc.
I was completely surprised when I played the ripped MQA disc through the PC Luxman ASIO, I got a MQA blue light on the Luxman machine.
I immediately played a RBCD ripped file through the player and got no MQA signal.
They do sound pretty dang good even when not unfolded to MQA and play as a plain old CD.
One common point with MQA discs is that they are mostly the same as previously released SHM SACD's from Japan. There is no way I would ever double dip as I have no confidence that I could hear the difference.
Now I am interested in XRCD's and HDCD's, I assume you need two players for those, getting complicated.

 

[ManWhoCan]

One can play ripped HDCDs via a Windows PC with a HDCD plugin for Foobar. I can't help in any other circumstances. XRCDs play same as regular CDs. They sound better to my ears only because of their better mastering.
IIRC dBpoweramp can decode HDCD. All the simplest ways are via Windows, rather than Apple, as HDCD was a Microsoft invention.

 

[cbmmm3]

Good points.
Another controversial subject is MQA, which I am a fan.
Tidal uses MQA as it's Master Quality streaming, I cannot comment.
The MQA discs I have purchased all come with new DSD mastering from original tapes in Japan. The information is on every liner note, where, when, who.
The player that I use is the Luxman D-03X, which completely unfolds the disc to MQA quality.
It also has a ASIO player from PC.
My first experience playing the hard MQA discs, was very enjoyable, they all sounded great.
As I am a big ripper of all discs, I wanted to of course rip the MQA discs to play in car, etc.
I was completely surprised when I played the ripped MQA disc through the PC Luxman ASIO, I got a MQA blue light on the Luxman machine.
I immediately played a RBCD ripped file through the player and got no MQA signal.
They do sound pretty dang good even when not unfolded to MQA and play as a plain old CD.
One common point with MQA discs is that they are mostly the same as previously released SHM SACD's from Japan. There is no way I would ever double dip as I have no confidence that I could hear the difference.
Now I am interested in XRCD's and HDCD's, I assume you need two players for those, getting complicated.

Markie

to get the full effect ( 20 bits ) of HDCD you would want a machine that decodes it. There is no proprietary decoding of an XRCD. Any spinner is fine. Your Luxie will do a fantastic job playing the XRCDs

 

[4-earredwonder]

Markie

to get the full effect ( 20 bits ) of HDCD you would want a machine that decodes it. There is no proprietary decoding of an XRCD. Any spinner is fine. Your Luxie will do a fantastic job playing the XRCDs

And if you really want to pique Markie's interest, don't forget SHM~XRCD! Only a few were released. Elusive Disc does list some!

 

[ManWhoCan]

Wot! No SHM-HDCD encoded XRCDs?

 

[cbmmm3]

Wot! No SHM-HDCD encoded XRCDs?

actually
yes there is

Bee Gees – Their Greatest Hits: The Record​

More images

Label:	Warner Music Hong Kong – 081227975814
Format:	2 x CD, HDCD, Compilation, SHM XRCD