OBSESSION, which is a spectacular audio production, though the music (like most Herrmann) is less impressive in isolation than in the cinema. One of these days I'll get the entire Solti Ring on a single BR disc! You would think that Blu-Ray would supplant SACD for high-res audio fans, since the BR medium is so widely accepted for video. For some reason this has not happened yet.
This is the DG Leonard Bernstein Centenary page which has an article and YouTube links about the Blu-Ray remastering of Bernstein's DG recordings of the Beethoven symphonies. The video on the remastering of the 9th symphony really shows the difference. Well worth watching for a better understanding of how analog tapes are remastered for Blu-Ray and the limitations of the (really obsolete) CD format.
The Obsession BD is one of the best I have. The BD remastering of the Lord of the Rings Complete Recordings is terrific. I really liked the DVD-A recordings, but the BDs might be better. (I say might as my DVD-A compatible player fried when the power can on after an outage even though it was connected to a UPS so I no longer have it for a comparison.)
Some remasterings are better than others. The BD remastering of Karl Bohm's recording of the Bruckner 4th symphony was not a "knock your socks off" improvement over the CD. However, the recent BD only release on DG of Karl Richter's Bach cantata recordings (from the early 70s) is outstanding. (Amazon reviewers have noted issues with this release in that tracks start some seconds into the track cutting off the beginning. I have not experienced this. However, between cantatas there is a noticeable thump which does not occur in any of my other BDs.) The Decca BD remastering of Istvan Kertesz's Dvorak recordings is also clearly superior to the CDs even if it does reveal a more bass heavy sound.
There is no doubt that Blu-Ray is a clearly superior audio format. I believe that there is a lot more potential here than is currently being exploited. CDs and LPs are mature formats which really have no where else to go in terms of any real improvements. In fact, as I understand it, today's LP technology has not really changed in 50 years. Everything being done today was already being done 50 years ago. Most LPs 50 years ago were poor quality, even junk (thinking here especially of Philip imports to the US and RCA LPs). What's improved is the attention to quality. No real technical improvements. Even today's quality was being done 50 years ago by some boutique brands which were very expensive for their time. (Most classical and soundtrack LPs listed for $5.99 and could be purchased on sale for about $2.99. High quality LPs were around $25.00 and more.)
OBSESSION, which is a spectacular audio production, though the music (like most Herrmann) is less impressive in isolation than in the cinema. One of these days I'll get the entire Solti Ring on a single BR disc! You would think that Blu-Ray would supplant SACD for high-res audio fans, since the BR medium is so widely accepted for video. For some reason this has not happened yet.
I have the BD of the Solti Ring. Definitely better than the CDs and all on one disc. I read that the original analog tapes were too far gone to use for the BD release so that the digital remastering was used as the BD source.
I have a number of the Final Fantasy 14 Blu-ray soundtracks, also the Final Fantasy X HD Blu-ray album. I haven't listened to all of them yet, because some run as long as 6 hours - but I do love that these ones have vide clips and images accompanying the audio. Sound quality is amazing.
I also recently got Tadlow's Obsession, haven't opened it yet.
Another one that Tadlow was involved in is BT's Electronic Opus. It's got 2.0, 5.1, and Atmos which I think is 11.1 - I've listened to both the 2.0 and 5.1 - amazing disc.
