Finally! Amused to Death...

[kennyb123]

Hi Ronald - I've listened to this album on what I consider the best systems in the world and I've never heard sounds emanate from behind the listening position. The Q Sound effect is terrific on great systems, but it has its limitations.

 

I heard the sounds come from behind me on a Spectral/MIT/Avalon system on display at Overture Audio in Delaware many years ago. I was so stunned that I actually got up and walked around to try to see if sound was coming from any speakers behind me.

 

I ended up buying my Spectral electronics after hearing this along with some other amazing things from that system. I've never heard sound from behind me though when playing this. Still saving for those Avalon Eidolon speakers.

[esldude]

Hi Ronald - I've listened to this album on what I consider the best systems in the world and I've never heard sounds emanate from behind the listening position. The Q Sound effect is terrific on great systems, but it has its limitations.

 

This is interesting. It may be like binaural recordings. I have never heard any that really do a good job over headphones. Other people seem to get a big benefit in realism. I think it comes down to varying shapes of the outer ear. Qsound may be processed in a way that doesn't work for some.

 

Qsound works great for me even on the old CD. First time I heard Amused to Death I assumed 5 channel surround was going to die. No need for it. I hear sounds behind me around me and they are quite a bit more real sounding. A friend was playing this the first time, and had a phone in a door alcove almost where the phone rings on Amused to Death. Never having heard it before he got up and turned to answer it walking over to it before realizing it was in the recording. He backed up the CD and played that small portion over and over amazed at how real it sounded.

 

Now I haven't heard the latest object oriented surround, but having heard some pretty nice 5 or 7 channel surrounds I have never heard those come close to equaling Qsound for quality, realism and envelopment despite the extra channels. I sorely wish it had become the norm for movies. And while Qsound works better on good equipment the effect works pretty well for me even on mass market bookshelf speakers.

[JKJK]

I found this old thread after buying the new DSD mix on HDTracks.
I just have to mention that I hear all sorts of things happening around me and especially behind me on this album. Also on the new mix, but a tiny bit different on the new mix vs. old one (both good and bad).
I have dogs barking behind me in my kitchen cupboards for crying out loud. .😂

 

Great album, great new remaster and great thread.  

[barrows]

A couple of notes.  It is not unusual for some mastering engineers to master in analogue, even when presented with a high res PCM mix for mastering.  My understanding is that they do this because they have preferred tools (like EQ devices and compression devices) which are analog.  So it is not unheard of to go from, say, a 24/96 mix, to analog mastering, and then final capture for distribution (could be 24/96 again, or higher, or DSD, etc).  Personally, I feel most DACs these days, sound better with DSD input, unless one has a DAC which is R2R rather than SDM, so I will always purchase the DSD version of something as long as I trust that the DSD capture is done well (Gus S. seems to do a lot of this, I trust him).  It would make sense if ATD had a "final" analog master, which was then captured in various formats for distribution, but it does seem weird that the 24/192 was not sourced from analog and the DSD is?

 

BTW, I would advise that people not be too afraid of oversampling for some high res (re-mastered) releases so much...  I used to feel this way as well, but once I started to listen to some of these projects, I realized that some of these mastering engineers are nearly alchemists in what they can accomplish.  A case in point is the Analogue Productions SACD of the Cowboy Junkies classic, Trinity Sessions release.  The source recording is a DAT with just two tracks (the album was recorded using a single stereo microphone).  The original CD was an audiophile treasure, but the new mastering and SACD release sounds far, far better to me in every way, I never would have believed this myself, until @ted_b let me know the SACD/DSD new version was really fantastic (thanks Ted), he was right!

 

BTW, has anyone heard any more news on the forthcoming Animals SACD from Analogue Productions?