ohbaby Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Listening to a ton of drum corps lately..curious for potentially testing out a new theater system which will sound better, the Audio Collectors cd set 86-91 or the Legacy dvd set. Have been playing a ton of 87-93 era lately. Sometimes a dvd audio is compressed more than a cd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peel Paint Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Interesting. I haven't run that comparison. But what you've observed wouldn't be a huge surprise. Given the era you're looking at, for the DVDs anyway, they may have just transferred over the sound that was mixed for analog VHS tapes. Also you may be hearing that this material was not mixed for audiophiles but for people playing videos on TV built-in speakers on TVs and CDs on car stereos. Add to that (and maybe even more importanly on recent releases), the whole loudness wars phenomenon, and the dynamic range digital disks promise can be thrown overboard for other objectives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 (edited) Listening to a ton of drum corps lately..curious for potentially testing out a new theater system which will sound better, the Audio Collectors cd set 86-91 or the Legacy dvd set. Have been playing a ton of 87-93 era lately. Sometimes a dvd audio is compressed more than a cd. Your observations are right--the DVD audio is heavily compressed. Your best bet is to rip the video files from each DVD and use software to replace the audio track with the non-compressed track from the CD. It's a pain, but it's the only way I've found to enjoy the legacy collection in a home theater system. Edited March 19, 2016 by Hrothgar15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drangin Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 (edited) Listening to a ton of drum corps lately..curious for potentially testing out a new theater system which will sound better, the Audio Collectors cd set 86-91 or the Legacy dvd set. Have been playing a ton of 87-93 era lately. Sometimes a dvd audio is compressed more than a cd. All the CDs in the range you mentioned need to be remastered, judging by the 20-disc set I bought. The level is way too low compared to the earlier recordings; apparently no limiting or compression were used at all. And the DVDs from that time were mastered simply auto-level. It all sounds terrible. Edited March 19, 2016 by drangin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drangin Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 (edited) Edited March 19, 2016 by drangin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Listening to a ton of drum corps lately..curious for potentially testing out a new theater system which will sound better, the Audio Collectors cd set 86-91 or the Legacy dvd set. Have been playing a ton of 87-93 era lately. Sometimes a dvd audio is compressed more than a cd. I know I'm cheating and giving you an option you didn't ask for, but Blu-ray all the way. If you have a legit awesome home theater system I'd be surprised if you did not have a Blu-ray player & I can't stress enough how amazing the DCI Blu-rays are: video AND sound! I've heard musical nuance in the Blu-rays of shows that I'd listened to hundreds of times on Cd and DVD (and vinyl and tape and VHS) and never noticed. The audio clarity is so amazing it's spoiled me: if a show isn't on one of the 'Essentials' Blu-ray collections I'm going to have a hard time really enjoying it: I'll still like/appreciate what I have available but I'll listen/watch the 'Essential' Blu-rays ANY DAY over the DVDs (which reminds me, I _HATE_ the Cadets 1993 isn't on Blu-ray; also I think some of the subtlety of Star 93 would REALLY benefit from Blu-ray) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 I know I'm cheating and giving you an option you didn't ask for, but Blu-ray all the way. If you have a legit awesome home theater system I'd be surprised if you did not have a Blu-ray player & I can't stress enough how amazing the DCI Blu-rays are: video AND sound! I've heard musical nuance in the Blu-rays of shows that I'd listened to hundreds of times on Cd and DVD (and vinyl and tape and VHS) and never noticed. The audio clarity is so amazing it's spoiled me: if a show isn't on one of the 'Essentials' Blu-ray collections I'm going to have a hard time really enjoying it: I'll still like/appreciate what I have available but I'll listen/watch the 'Essential' Blu-rays ANY DAY over the DVDs (which reminds me, I _HATE_ the Cadets 1993 isn't on Blu-ray; also I think some of the subtlety of Star 93 would REALLY benefit from Blu-ray) Confirmed. The audio and video remasters on the Essentials Collection are fantastic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumManTx Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Was actually about to start a similar topic. I'll slip my question onto this thread if someone will indulge me. Was considering investing in some more of the CD sets, how is the quality in comparison to the audio downloads? Really love the 2015 set I ordered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 All the CDs in the range you mentioned need to be remastered, judging by the 20-disc set I bought. The level is way too low compared to the earlier recordings; apparently no limiting or compression were used at all. And the DVDs from that time were mastered simply auto-level. It all sounds terrible. Yeah I bought some Legacy DVDs a while back and I was taken aback how not-that-great they look/sound. They're better than my aged VHS tapes, but only in the sense that there isn't tape damage or anything. I know the cost-to-profit ratio likely doesn't exist for DCI to remaster all of that stuff (especially with the legal turmoil going on), and again DCI has done an AMAZING job with the Essentials, and with the modern DVDs/Blu-rays. But it bums me out that some of my favorite, iconic DCI shows are currently only available on uber compressed lowish quality DVD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Was actually about to start a similar topic. I'll slip my question onto this thread if someone will indulge me. Was considering investing in some more of the CD sets, how is the quality in comparison to the audio downloads? Really love the 2015 set I ordered. My general observations: * the newer the set, the better the sound. I think the modern stuff sounds GREAT * stuff from late 90s-mid 2000s sound really good though are inconsistent year-to-year at times * early 90s and previous is a real crap shoot of quality (most of which is pretty subpar compared to modern stuff IMO). * in general I would take the CDs over the audio downloads any day, which seems pretty low quality comparatively (audio downloads = more compressed I think); if you're looking for a pure upgrade over the audio downloads the CDs are a good option for music-only * if the absolute best sound is a huge deal to you I would focus on Blu-rays and try to rip the audio from those for your own personal music needs Don't get me wrong, those are great shows and I'll take what I can get so I'm resigned to the fact that older school drum corps recording quality is pretty meh: but meh BD 86 (as an example) is still fan-freaking-tastic!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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