Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler The Downward Spiral SACD

As I slowly but surely get my system back up and running, I am highly anticipating listening to this album in SACD. I have listened to it as a regular CD (Digitally Remastered) and there is a certain level of detail that has increased.

Anyone else here listened to it? Is the mix well done?

Ravi, I've got the SACD version and have only listened to it once. I'm sorry I can't give a direct comparison because I haven't listened to the redbook version. The only other NIN album I own (or owned) was a cassette of "Pretty Hate Machine."
In any case, only played the stereo version and not the 5.1. Compared to other SACDs I've heard, the sound reproduction on this is quite good. I don't know if it has to do with the actual recording or room acoustics, but sometimes I heard sounds coming from the sides. Very enveloping for two channel. If you want to give your speakers a dynamic workout, this is it. Goes from very soft to very loud. Anyway, just my two cents.

It's really quite good - the mix is definitely "different." That is, the balance amongst the instruments is changed. You'll hear parts you'd never heard before (indeed, in a couple of places, I'm a little incredulous of Trent's claim that there was nothing added - but if that's what he says, then I guess that's all there is to say on the matter). A downside is that some other parts are buried more, and if they happened to be parts you liked... well, that's a bit unfortunate.

Based on that, I personally enjoy it, but think of it as an "alternative version" of the album. Generally I prefer the original mix. Of course, the remastered version of the stereo mix is great for that purpose!

I have it but have only listened to it a couple times in SACD. It is hard for me to compare to the original, since I haven't heard it since 1995 or so. It got lost in college and I never replaced it, since I didn't like it as much as his other stuff. But, when I saw the SACD (actually, I have the DVD-A version) was coming out, I figured I would give it a try again.