Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Good job RCA Records and "Living Stereo"!

I received (and listened to) an old "Living Stereo" remastered on SACD. Unbelievable! I was a bit relunctant to order at first because 50 years is still years, but at 10$, hey!

Well, they are re-using their old 3-channels (left, center, right) master tapes and dumping them as-is on DSD support. The result is really, really amazing. Of course, modern-day recordings are better (I have quite a few of them ), but they managed to preserve some astounding performances with natural dynamics and no alterations whatsover. No back channels, but that's definitely not important.

I just listened to "Harold in Italy" by the Boston Symphony under Charlest Munch and it was if they had been playing right in front of me... actually, it is a 90+ orchestra, so some of them would have been a bit farther away...

So, if any of you were hesitant to buy "Living Stereo" SACDs, don't be. I myself just ordered five more!

Eric, some are very good, and some are not so good. I have the Saint-Saens "Symphony No. 3" with the Boston Symphony and it sounds a little muddy. I'm sure there are just a few "bad" ones. The six other RCA "Living Stereo" CDs sound spectacular.

CD or SACD? I have the same one I just received in CD and it is muddy. That is why I was so impressed with this 3-channel DSD remastering.

No, it is the SACD. For some reason it doesn't sound right to me. Especially compared to the excellence of the other SACDs from the Living Stereo catalogue.

Eric, let me add this, the SACD of Saint-Saens may sound better than the standard CD, but I think the quality of SACD recording compared to other SACDs still falls short.

I don't want it to sound like I'm raining on your parade. If you like it, go with it!

Damn. That was the second one I had ordered a few weeks ago, but that I have not received yet (already shipped, unfortunately). Well... it's only ten bucks!

Hey you changed your post on me!

Yeah, sorry about the quick edit.

Ten bucks is the good news! I guess since SACD never really caught on, stores are pricing these competitively to get rid of them.

Man, now I feel bad. Sorry, Eric.

No problem man! I will now have reasonable expectation for Saint-Saens's 3rd and will promise to update this post after I have a better sampling than 1! I might have been premature in my hat-tipping. But, man, that performance of Berlioz's Harold in Italy is spectacular!

Ok, whew!

I keep meaning to buy one of the package deals of the Living Stereo series, but I never seem to get around to it.

I have the Mussorgsky from that collection. I'll have to dig it out and give it a re-listen. It's been awhile!

Quit being so Modest, Ken.