lairdo

Ok, so it turns out you can rip a MQA CD to lossless ALAC and retain that MQA info. Did not know that, and this makes A-B testing the files much easier!! (That I did know!) As I suspected, the differences were harder to detect (if even noticeable) with the same signal processing. I think the native 96/24 file is slightly brighter and dynamics are a bit easier to pick up. But overall, I would say they are pretty equivalent. The MQA version unfolds to 176.4 / 24 - so basically 4x on the frequency and up on the bit rate - at least according to my set up and playback device. If those s

Interestingly, the Japanese deluxe edition comes in a jewel case with a sleeve of the main art and shiny gold logo. The deluxe is thicker than a standard CD jewel case. The booklet itself has the same image as the sleeve and the gold logo (but not shiny). Also included are 2 hard stock front insert cards - I guess if you don't want to have the booklet as the front image with JW and the orchestra? One card is an image with JW waving to the crowd with the traditional DGG yellow logo which is cool. (The DigiPack Deluxe Edition has this image as the gatefold when you open it.) The 2nd card is the

Yeah, I thought it was a nice touch. Mine came all the way to Seattle and arrived a week after release. (I ordered the CD, Blu-Ray and LP from them.) All of them beat my Amazon order. Amazon lost the CD shipment and never shipped the others (the Oct 2 date). So I canceled the entire Amazon one. Price was the same in the end I think. Ahh. Great to know. Thanks for that detail. It's interesting to think about why DGG/Universal Music had this issue. Is it popularity? Not enough planned demand? COVID manufacturing/shipping issues? Whatev

That does not show up for me on the Apple Music US Store. I can follow the link and see it, but when I add it to my library, it does not play. Odd. Thanks for your notes. I was not at the concerts, so I was seeing the performance for the first time. I watched about a quarter of it today (my deluxe edition arrived yesterday from Presto Music). A few additional thoughts on the video and my playback set up. I'm watching on an Oppo 4K Blu-Ray, connected through a Denon receiver with Dolby Atmos. LG 4K (2019 model) for the video playback. The LG is do

I think that there can be actual benefits to gain if you have the time and money to invest in Atmos, but for most of us I'm guessing the effort it would take going from a good 5.1 system to Atmos is not worth the difference in improvement for most of us - but that would be highly individual. That said, I'd rather hear about people investing in a Atmos (or even a good 5.1 system for that matter!) and good speakers and getting their setup right, rather than spending their money on Hi-res audio files where the actual benefit is extremely minimal no matter what system your'

We just remodeled and we added ceiling speakers so as to have height speakers for Atmos playback! Will report what I think of the mix whenever my disc arrives.

I am not sure. I have some HD files with MQA and a system that will unfold them, but I think this will be my first CD in that format. If played on small headphones, I doubt there is a difference (maybe in spatial separation?). But on an open air large speaker set up, it might be audible. I order the disc as much for the audio possibilities as just owning the disc in my collection.

I too got my shipping notice from JPC coming from Germany to the US. Shipping via DHL. It shows as having cleared processing in Germany for export, so hoping to have everything (LP, CD, Blu-Ray Combo) on Friday or Saturday. We'll see.... I did order the UHQCD version (import from Japan as best I can tell). It was expensive on Amazon, but that was the best price I saw. I was both curious about it and also wanting to have the edition in my collection. No idea when that is going to make it. Very excited for this release! (And I am guessing we will get HD downlo

Yes, that makes sense. Good clarification and explanation. And, of course, the bigger news is that this is the first time he has led them and given them feedback on playing his music. I have to imagine, now that I think about it, that the orchestra would have made available to him the clips of his music. He might not have listened, but I suspect his management did. I wonder if Schindler's List was every played there? Feels like something that would have gotten programmed given it shows up in the classic rep every year, and perhaps a visiting soloist played it as an encore. Cannot p

Well, I don't blame JW for not knowing, but in the Summer Concert 2017, Hedwig's Theme was played by the Vienna Phil. Track 10 on the CD release. https://www.amazon.com/Sommernachtskonzert-2017-Christoph-Eschenbach/dp/B06XTMXLTD?tag=masterworks-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=as2&ascsubtag=7fdae2a3fca5d984032812c0ccfa3bb6

Those are lovely. 4 Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a is short but a wonderful experience. You don't need to know the opera to enjoy these. The Violin Concerto is great. Lots of recordings of it too. (Love the timpani to start it too. Wonder if brother Williams has played that.) I have seen Turn of the Screw (Seattle Opera) and Billy Budd (SF Opera) and enjoyed them both immensely. (I am also listening to a lot of Leonard Bernstein and Dmitri Shostakovich!)

The article is wonderful, and in The New Yorker style, almost more of a conversation than an interview. Ross not only raises interesting questions and gets interesting answers, but he also sets the scene for us in a way that invites us into the room. Perhaps because we on this site delve into all those micro edits, this is easier for us to imagine. Still, I think the average reader will also feel closer to Williams than they have in the past and know more about him beyond just the composer of big scores. It's been on my mind to re-read Ross's The Rest is Noise as I have been spending a lot of

The track is on Tidal too, in Master quality. https://tidal.com/browse/track/142439896

I would love him to record 60 minutes of his favorite piano pieces. I really think that there would be a market for it. I love some of the old videos of him playing with the Boston Pops. And I am so happy he is doing well and sending his warmth into the world. We had our graduation for the Cinema School on Friday too, and we got Ron Howard to drop in plus a number of other celebs, so it's great for the kids to have some sort of surprises like this. At least there is some extra bits for them.

While I agree that order generally does not ultimately change the end experience since most of us (all?) will end up digitizing the release and therefore can have any and every combination of tracks we desire through playlists, we can think about possible reasons in categories. 1. Legal/Licensing In this case, it might be that the ability for Intrada, La-La Land or any other label to release the expanded edition is because they have licensed the original album (or even had it previously) and are expanding this. As such, the license holders might require the album tracks to be