Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Hearing Things DSOTM SACD experience/review!

I have been hearing about the DSOTM for quite a while from many sources and figured there must be something to this so I caught it on sale at Amazon at a "couldn't pass price" and bought it. I did finally sit down about an hour ago and listened to the entire DSOTM SACD, here's my take on it:

But, first, for those who were like me and didn't have the benefit of being a fan of the group and had no idea what DSOTM meant it's The "Dark Side of The Moon" by Pink Floyd! Believe it or not, everyone doesn't know that and for some reason, no one want to say the entire title because i guess it's cooler to say DSOTM and of course in this email & phone text world we live in it's quicker to type!!

I decided to make one change on my Oppo 83 player, i changed the SACD settings from DSD to PCM. my 5507 now shows the incoming frequency at 88.2khz instead of 44.1khz when using DSD.

This is the first time I have ever listened to the DSOTM from start to finsh, i have heard 2 songs before on the radio but they never said who the artist was so i never knew it was them.

So, listening to this SACD, Oppo 83 playing it, Onkyo 5507 accepting it and sending it out to the Emo XPA-5, which sends it out to my 5 V3 Axiom speakers and let me tell you....I LOVED IT!

This was on beautifully made and engineered album! This is one of the best 5.1 mixes (music only) that I think I have ever heard. No, i'm not a pink floyd fan, but, when it moves you to the positive, good music is good music and there are no two ways about it! The engineer outdid himself with this one. I enjoyed it from start to finish and was sad to see (hear) it end!

I would like to note that there were some bass/LFE heavy tracks on the album and they were #"s 8 & 9. I would also like to mention that there three really good uses of surround sound on the album and they were #4 "Time", #6 "Money" and #7 "Us & Them"

I would like to note one other thing that at first I thought it was just me, but, track # 7, "Us & Them" instantly reminded me of the track off of the Alan Parsons Project "Time", it almost had the same beat and tone to it. Of course I took the SACD jacket out and read it and who do you think the engineer was on this SACD album, that's right you guessed it, Alan Parsons! WTF! I did also like how it was made to be like one big set, there was never a stoppage of music from one track to the other, always overlapping (huh, who ever actually complains about "overlapping"!?!, neither party i'd bet!!! :p :D)

The music had full range throughout in every track, from the sometimes extreme lows, beautifully done midrange and the highs from those damn bells being rung! the amp powered those speakers to put out some incredible sounding music as commanded by the player to the 5507 pre-amp!

Thanks to listening to soooooo many folks who kept saying over all this time that whenever someone wanted to test out their speakers or their receivers or their Emotiva amp, this SACD always came up in the recommendation for audio testing of a system; I can see why!

I will now be one of the folks from now forward, recommending folks get this SACD and using it for testing their audio systems and also because it's one hellova piece of music!

I'm still not a big Pink Floyd fan, but, I do love the DSOTM!

I'd like to hear what others think about this SACD when listening to it on their systems and especially those who have Axiom speakers!

I only listened to it once all the way through, but I was equally impressed with it. I've used "Time" to show off surround music to some people. But yeah, excellent-sounding album. I should put it in again sometime.

I love DSOTM but have not heard it in SACD form, the cd is extremely good on it's own. Your review makes me want to get an SACD capable player and the SACD

DSOTM was the first SACD I bought because I had read rave reviews of it and am a Pink Floyd fan. I was totally blown away when I listened to it and can’t wait until I don’t work for my rich “Uncle” anymore so I can really be blown away and listen to it the way it’s meant to be heard.

Although I’m not a huge Elton John fan when Sean (StPatGuy) brought over his copy of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)" I was quite impressed. Has to be one of the best most seamlessly mastered multi-channel SACDs I’ve ever heard. It really showed off the perfect tonal match of my Axiom speakers.

I love to hear stories from people experiencing joy.

I haven't heard the SACD, but you certainly motivated me. I've always thought of Pink Floyd as ear candy.

And I thought this thread was going to be about syncing DSOTM with The Wizard of Oz.

DSOTM is an excellent mix on SACD and recommended listening. My other Pink Floyd recordings on reg cd are also excellent I must point out, but SACD is just a little more....spacial?

Or spacey depending upon where your "head" is at!

I've got a gyprock buzz going right now.

gyprock? Is that like, The Black Crowes play the music of Django Reinhardt or something?

Kidding, of course. Seems like I mostly hear it called "sheetrock". I love Canada.

Most common name in Canada is "drywall", but I've heard gyprock and sheetrock(US) used also.

So, did you come down from your drywall buzz, then?

"Cough...cough..."

Tom?...is...that...you...man?

If you recall the Cheech and Chong episode where the car fills with "smoke", the bedroom I'm adding looks kind of like that but with drywall dust every time I sand it.

Jason, even if you only ever buy DSOTM, it's worth buying an SACD player. No joke. It's an amazing mix of a fantastic work. And if you're at all familiar with DSOTM, you'll find that the mix is different here and there, I swear. I've worn out the vinyl, CD, and 20th Anniversary discs. The original CD is utter crap compared to the SACD. I'll always wonder what the SACD would've been like had they let Parsons handle it. Still, thoroughly enjoyable.

Solarrdadd hadn't been to the Dark Side Of The Moon. Irony not lost.

SACD and DVD-Audio are the best listening experiences I have, as I haven't quite yet heard good audio from a BR player, but it won't be long now.

Among other great SACDs for pop/rock music are Roxy Music's Avalon, Dire Strait's Brothers in Arms. DVD-Audio hits include the aforementioned Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Queen's A Night at the Opera, The Beatles Love, anything by Steely Dan and Donald Fagen's The Nightfly, among others.

If you're feeling like something heavier, check out Porcupine Tree's Deadwing or In Absentia. Pretty dark stuff though.

The tough part now is finding affordable pop/rock SACD (classical music is widely available, right JohnK?) and DVD-A discs. That is, if you can find them at all.

Speaking of which, who knows a good source for such things, besides the usual Amazon sites?

Where do you find DVD-A discs? Amazon seems to have about 10.

I should have said "the usual Amazon sites that don't have DVD-A in stock".

Bestbuy.com seems to have a lot listed as backorder, as in "you actually hope that we'll ship that to you?"

One time Amazon took seven months to cancel my order for Thin Lizzy's box set. I suppose that they couldn't source it.

I bought most of mine from brick & mortar stores, some from Amazon.ca.

One of my all time favorites Roxy Music's Avalon

I have to say I wasn't wowed by DSOTM SACD, but then I had the disk memorized. The SACD is kinda cool, but the music and production stands on its own regardless of format.

I'm, a big floyd fan and have owned Umma Gumma and Atom Heart Mothers (THAT'S a hard disk to listen to!!)

A recent artist that has released all her work in SACD is Hiromi Uehara (Jazz). Haven't picked one up yet, but I'm sure it will be well produced.

Hey Fred I thought that you picked up “Beyond Standard.” It was just pure luck that I picked it up in the first batch of SACDs I bought because there wasn’t a lot to choose from at the store. That was my first experience of Hiromi’s Sonic Bloom and I fell in love.

This thread inspired me....wow. I read the opening post and it dawned on me that I was given the SACD a while back, however didn't have a player that could represent it properly. Just received the new OPPO 93, found the disc and boom. Utter joy!!
This and the NIN DVD-A of the Downward Spiral made for a nice listening night.

I picked it up as a standard CD before I realized she released everything as SACD as well. Silly thing is that the SACDs are the same price as a regular CD.

I plan to pick up Time, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

New Axiom slogan

LOL, no doutbt.

I had the DSPTM SACD but so far only listen to it once and not the whole SACD, the mixes are really good and with this thread, I am gonna take it out and listen again.

Another DVD-A to test the surround sound is Blue Man Group's Audio, wonderful demo material and if you wanted to test your sub-woofer for accuracy and speed, this is the one to get.

to source for SACD:-

http://dvdpacific.directtoustore.com/GlobalSearch.aspx?search=SACD&IMAGE1.x=0&IMAGE1.y=0

and for DVD-Audio:-

http://dvdpacific.directtoustore.com/Music/Dcs.aspx?dcs=1&Format=DVD+Audio

Man... I've loved this SACD since the day it was released.

I've heard it on vinyl as a kid (when it was released).

And Quadraphonic (4 channel surround) vinyl once a little a later.

Heard it way overplayed on the radio.

Heard the early (crappy) cd re-masters.

And subsequent (much better) re-re-masters.

It's a work that I love and know like the back of my hand.

An album that stayed on the charts in perpetuity.

But I would KILL to hear the SACD with virgin ears!!!

Seriously, you must be pretty young not to have ever heard it. Or did you live on a remote and isolated island?

I envy you!!!

It's a brilliant work of art that has stood the test of time.

And remember, the inspiration for DSOTM (and pretty much all of Pink Floyd's post Barrett albums) is the decline and descent into madness (and back again) of their charismatic founder and front man...

Syd Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006)

How bad must Syds feet have smelled to drive that poor nekkid woman to the farthest corner of the room?

I was thinking she must of done something really bad for him to make her sit with her nose in the corner like that.

Is that the dark side of the moon in the corner?

Lmao!

This is why I spend such an inordinate amount of time on this forum. All of you are so damn funny, cool and entertaining.

That and the fact that I love, and passionately believe in, the greatness and quality of Axiom speakers.

A big thanks to Ian (and all that work at Axiom!) for bringing so much listening enjoyment to the masses at a ridiculously reasonable price.

Peace, love and happy holidaze to all of you!

I first heard DSOTM when it first came out on LP. Years passed and rediscovered this gem after building my HT (SACD format). Great then...even better today. Work of art is so many respects.

Although PF's "Pulse" concert has been out for some time, this DVD is equally spectacular. Best visual show to date IMO. It's performed without Roger Waters but that doesn't take anything away.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/dvd/reviews/article_1184101.php/DVD_Review_Pink_Floyd_-_Pulse

I received the BR of David Gilmore - Live at Royal Albert Hall for Christmas, I would highly recommend this disc to add to any Pink Floyd fan's collection

i got the EMI version of DSOTM on CD: CP35-3017
and it seems to be a japanese release.

is that one of the better mixes or should i buy the BR?

Just happened across the upcoming BR release of DSOTM. Is that what you were referring to JB?

Anyway, thought you PF fans would want to know.

I have it on my todo list to re-experience this album on my Axioms ever since reading this thread, just haven't had the time or the source material! I heard this album growing up by sneaking into my big brother's room when he wasn't home and (carefully for fear of my life) playing his vinyl, but haven't listened through the whole thing again in many years.

Cheers,

I hope they're release the BD as a standalone. I like PF and wouldn't mind having this album (I have Pulse on DVD and really like it) but I'm not that big of a fan to spend $130 on this box set.

yes, that's the one i was referring to.
i hope the BR version will have a jump in quality, otherwise i won't get it.

Hey that brings up a question - what is the difference between SACD and HD Audio formats anyway? Is SACD more or less equivalent to HD Audio formats (Dolby or DTS)?

Look at me replying to my own post! You should hear the amount of conversation when I'm alone in my office all day!

What I meant to ask is - Is DTS-HD or DDHD formats in any way superior to SACD? I know that DTS and DD are digital and can be carried over digital cables and that SACD (as far as I know) must be routed through analog cables to your receiver, but is one theoretically better than another? I'm a be curious.

Thanks!

I know ClubNeon isn't too impressed with SACD as a format, but he'll have to explain why. I'm still a bit too dim about the subject. I know the SACD of Dark Side of the Moon sounds amazing. I really don't know what Blu-ray would add to the sound quality, but it would make it more accessible.

SACD audio can be sent over digital connections a couple of ways. The player can either convert the DSD to PCM, or the player and receiver would both have to support DSD.

Lossless PCM (compressed or not) formats are all well know. They are easy to edit, transport, and decode. There are plenty of theories that accurately describe what to expect from a specific bit depth and sampling rate.

DSD is an odd one. It's a digital format that attempts to act like analog. It has a slew rate (i.e. it can't go from silence to maximum volume instantly). There are no easy ways to manipulate the data. Sony was pushing the format on it's recording studios. When the engineers asked for tools to perform basic mixing tasks Sony delayed, and delayed, and eventually shipped tools to convert DSD to PCM and back. So the work could be done in PCM. It is likely that very few SACDs are direct analog to DSD conversions. Instead they made a trip by high resolution PCM. PCM to DSD is a lossy process, there are valid PCM signals that can not be stored in DSD.

The math for estimating the limitations of DSD is not as clear as it is for PCM (with the work from Nyquist, et al.), but it does seem that the signal to noise ratio at the high frequency end (still in the human hearing range, though) is very poor. Worse than a well mastered CD in fact. Now, when it comes to storing bass information DSD far exceeds everything else. But for quickly changing signals it doesn't keep up.

Here's more: http://sound.westhost.com/cd-sacd-dvda.htm

Fascinating, thanks Chris.