HiRez Poll Who, The - WHO'S NEXT [Blu-Ray Audio (Dolby Atmos)]

[Zephead2112]

I voted a 5. Love SW's work but this has been the disappointment of 2023 for me. It (the Atmos mix) just sounds wrong. The 5.1 mix is far superior (IMO).

 

[stperry]

Agreed, "Getting In Tune" is incredible and maybe the highlight of the main album for me. If you solo the rear surround channels in the Atmos mix, you get just the lead guitar which is pretty neat to hear on its own.

I've played the Blu-ray on two different players, and noticed the background vocals on "Getting In Tune" are not coming through. Anyone else pick up on this?

 

[sjcorne]

I've played the Blu-ray on two different players, and noticed the background vocals on "Getting In Tune" are not coming through. Anyone else pick up on this?

Loud and clear in the rears on the 5.1 and rear heights in Atmos for me.

 

[ddahl44]

Reviewing the 5.1 mix. I can’t recall a Wilson mix where I wanted to so dramatically adjust respective channel volumes and/or EQs. Granted all of the lead vocalists sound tremendous isolated in the center channel. Roger is simply awesome. But the center channel and lead vocals overwhelm the rest. This album wants and deserves to be played loudly. I found I had to crank it to realize Pete’s power chords and bring out Moon’s superb drumming only to have to bring it down when the vocals came in. The Ox’s bass lines seem subdued as well. I’m quite familiar with this album and found flourishes I was hoping would be ear candy in multichannel distant, almost missing such as the horns at the end of My Wife. I agree with others, the bonus tracks mixes for whatever reason are quite better. I plan on upgrading the home system to Atmos with the new year, so hoping for the best. But in the Acura’s 5.1, I’ll be manning the volume control when these favorites shuffle on.

 

[rusinurbe]

You can tell the upmixes on this the change from the tame Bargain to the precision of Love Ain't for Keeping, night and day as good as the upmixes are. My favorite Who album and a plethora of extras in immersive audio the buzzword of theses days. Because of the upmixes 2 off because of the extras plus 1 can't quite make this a 10 but a strong 9

 

[sjcorne]

You can tell the upmixes on this the change from the tame Bargain to the precision of Love Ain't for Keeping, night and day as good as the upmixes are.

Yeah, the different in the low end especially between those two songs is pretty striking. It's worth noting that "Bargain" is the only upmixed track though (your post makes it sound like there's more than one).

 

[mrcond]

You can tell the upmixes on this the change from the tame Bargain to the precision of Love Ain't for Keeping, night and day as good as the upmixes are. My favorite Who album and a plethora of extras in immersive audio the buzzword of theses days. Because of the upmixes 2 off because of the extras plus 1 can't quite make this a 10 but a strong 9

When I listen to this disc, I start in Atmos, switch to stereo for Bargain, then back to Atmos for everything else. Bargain in stereo is a much better listen than the upmix.

 

[Jim.olga]

At long last! Please post your thoughts and comments on this brand new reissue of the Who's classic album "Who's Next".
Generally regarded as one of the greatest albums ever released, this 1971 album has been newly expanded into a 10CD/Blu-Ray Audio box set.
The Blu-Ray Audio disc features the entire 1971 album remixed in stereo, 5.1 surround, and Dolby Atmos by Steven Wilson, but that's not all!
Steven Wilson has also remixed an additional 14 bonus tracks in 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos too!

The Dolby Atmos mix is also available to stream on all Dolby Atmos streaming providers:

Pre-release thread for all shipping/ordering queries and non-poll related posts:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...5-1-mixes-confirmed.31444/page-31#post-711329

My wife surprised me with this for my birthday today. The atmos mix is fantastic and I would have probably rated the set a 10 if it weren't for the internal packaging goofs that resulted in damage to the photograph and one of the booklets from the pin set. The hardcover books are ok. But back to the music, I can't wait to listen to the CDs. I am looking forward to the concerts. This was one one of my favorite albums growing up and so I have at least 3 versions of it. If anybody knows if it's possible to contact the manufacturer for replacement items due to damage, I would be interested in getting a couple replacements. LONG LIVE ROCK!

 

[jimfisheye]

My first impression was skewed by the stupid upmix. And then the drums and bass being a little back in the mix to start. Bargain comes in and sounds side channel heavy in a weird way. The next track comes in a little side heavy - which in hindsight only sounds this way coming on after the upmix... and the first impression was formed.

Turn this up to more proper Who volume levels first of all! (With caution as needed. Not responsible for hearing or equipment loss, etc etc.)
Skip the upmix! (Bummer on that.)

This is a really great welcome remix!
I think the drums and bass being back in the mix follows the original mix. It makes more sense listening at 'rock music' appropriate levels for sure.

There might be some moments where the parts in the heights are surrounds are a very discrete presentation and that contrasts with the drums and bass a little scrunched together up front and mixed back. I'll still take the Atmos mix!

The bonus tracks and their production are just over the top no matter who you are.

 

[ar surround]

When I listen to this disc, I start in Atmos, switch to stereo for Bargain, then back to Atmos for everything else. Bargain in stereo is a much better listen than the upmix.

Bargain comes in and sounds side channel heavy in a weird way. The next track comes in a little side heavy - which in hindsight only sounds this way coming on after the upmix... and the first impression was formed.

Yes, I really do not not like the Atmos upmix of Bargain at all. It sounds like something went very sideways (Pun intended, Jim) in Penteo when Wilson made this Atmos upmix. I prefer the 5.1 Penteo upmix to the Atmos upmix, but it probably would have been better left to the stereo album only.

 

[quadrifonico]

8. why? overpriced set. i would want to decide to buy standalone blurays not being forced to order huge giant massive boxes maybe just for the atmos content...but speaking of the music...2nd track kills a bit the excitement after the 1st track (sounds to me like an upmix), but for the rest it is throughout a pleasing listen; also the bonus tracks on cd are worth it..."teenage wasteland" being the most interesting

 

[whoareyou]

I think the content of this set is fantastic, and the sonics pretty good. The Atmos mixes have me a bit confused, and while I really like them, I feel as though they have lost a little bit of the dynamic range compared to the stereo versions. Doesn't seem like it should be that way (and I'm listening to this loud), but that's my impression.

Example of this is Daltrey's primal scream in Won't Get Fooled Again. Yeah, it's there and it sounds great, but to me Atmos just doesn't have the same dynamic impact as the stereo version.
Don't let that put you off at all. This is very, very good release sonically, and the amount of content is staggering.

 

[ClarkNovak]

Just received my copy and am finishing listening as I write this. I couldn't be happier with the clarity, mix and overall quality of this amazing material. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that this masterpiece would ever be available in a surround audio format. And the (apparently) heroic efforts of Steven Wilson to get the best-quality MCH mixes even for tracks for which the masters have been lost is worth a knighthood, at least. And all of the bonus tracks in surround as well - that's truly amazing! I voted "10". Obviously!

 

[Titch]

I voted a 5. Love SW's work but this has been the disappointment of 2023 for me. It (the Atmos mix) just sounds wrong. The 5.1 mix is far superior (IMO).

So despite the fact that the 5.1 mix is included as an alternative ("far superior"), this gets awarded a 5? Clueless.

 

[sf49erjohn]

Thoroughly enjoying the 5.1 mix of Who's Next. WGFA and Baba are demo quality tracks IMHO. Just received my copy and I absolutely LOVE it. An easy 10 for me.

 

[James Jay]

The first thing I noticed was the rather large (unusually large) discrepancy in sonics from the Apple Music streaming sound quality to this uncompressed TrueHD version.

I had been listening to the Apple streaming of Who’s Next and it did not seem that great of a surround mix but I still ordered the the SDE single Blu ray. First thing I noticed was how much better SQ the Blu ray Atmos mix was than the Apple streaming Atmos mix. I had not previously found any of my blu ray Atmos mixes of other artists had such a wide SQ difference than the Apple Music Spatial music version. I wonder how many other QQ members noticed this. Anyways, happy I ordered this blu ray of Who’s Next.

 

[PurpleMoustache]

Rating based off the Atmos mixes for the SDE version, not the box set version.

An all time classic album, given a pretty darn good mix, however I was surprised to find that the bonus tracks had the far more adventurous mixes! While Baba and Won’t Get Fooled Again are killer, demo worthy Atmos mixes, I feel like the rest of the main album doesn’t rise to their level but oddly Water, Pure and Easy, and Naked Eye do!

And we also have to consider the bummer that is what happened to Bargain, everything sounded either behind me or over on the right side for some reason. It’s understandable given the circumstances, but can’t help but feel other Penteo tracks handled by Wilson have fared better.

A 9, solid album, solid content, but not quite perfect.

 

[Muppet69]

Just got mine today and almost finished listening to it (Who’s Next album) in MA DTS 5.1 and I must say it’s absolutely amazing!
I don’t find anything unsatisfying about Bargain or Song is Over’s mixes in 5.1 and if I hadn’t any knowledge about them being unmixed or whatever, I’d never know. So as far as I’m concerned it’s a solid 10 vote.

Now it’s time to delve deeper into the extra tracks, instrumentals and other audio options on this’box set on one disc’!