In reply to:
Layla...sounded as if I was listening to it while wearing my motorcycle helmet. What were they thinking?...this seems to be a common complaint about...even the SACD...
I've got the Layla SACD and I agree. Great artistically, Clapton is a genius, but one of the worst mixing jobs I've ever heard.
But you can't "get blood out of a turnip" as they say. If the original tapes were poor quality no amount of digital remastering and remixing can fix that.
I just don't understand it. Some early 70s material (e.g. Dark Side of the Moon) were obviously recorded with primitive equipement by today's standards, yet they are technically magnificant on stereo CD, and even better in multichannel SACD.
One of the most mysterious differences is between the two Elton John Albums "Don't Shoot Me", and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Both recorded by the same artist, the same band, using the same producer, at the same studio, and within 1 yr of each other. Despite great songs, Don't Shoot Me is acoustically flat and muddy. By contrast Yellow Brick Road (esp on SACD) IMO rivals Dark Side of the Moon in pure acoustic engineering. The sound is 3 dimensional, vivid, spectacular.
No question with Axiom speakers the bad sounds worse and the good sounds better. Too bad there's not more good.
See the thread in this forum titled "Favorite 5-10 SACDs" for some recommendations, both pro and con.