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- Verified Buyer
This review is specifically for the Blu-ray Pure Audio format. The Sea Change album itself is fantastic, as nearly every review will tell you.I've loved Beck for years now and own nearly all of his albums that I can get my hands on in order to help support him. When it came to legitimately owning Sea Change, an album I've loved for years but never owned in a physical format, I wanted a better quality than a CD quality recording could give. I'm not a vinyl guy, so hi-res digital is the way to go for me.First, a bit about my quest to actually find this:Unfortunately the very well respected and much sought-after SACD version is out of print and super pricey now, and coupled with the fact that my my fat PS3 recently died - meaning no more SACD player - meant this was not the way to go for me. I only own about 1 or 2 other SACD's, and that format is obviously dying out - so I'm not going to buy a new player.There is a gold pressed Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab CD version available as well, but its 'improved' sound quality is highly debatable, as it is still a redbook CD. Not worth $30+ to me.On to HDtracks or some of their counterparts for a hi-res digital download.. worth a shot. They have it in 24/192, but of course - not for Canada currently! I'm not getting a VPN just for this, so that too was out.Once I found out this album was on Blu-ray Pure Audio format, I figured I had to spring for it. I don't own any other Blu-ray Pure Audio discs as there is still such a limited selection, but I thought this would be the perfect way to try it out.Unfortunately again, Amazon Canada did not carry this. (Ever wonder why music sales are declining? Keep making it easy to buy, record labels!!)The U.S. side of course has it, so I bugged Amazon.ca about it a bit - and they said eventually .ca would carry it but if I wanted it sooner, I'd have to buy it from .com. So I waited a while... eventually .ca listed it, first with status 'Ships in 1-2 months', then 'Ships in 4-6 weeks' which also means 'if ever!').During this time, I had a few other items on .com to order, so I finally decided to just take the hit of paying a bit more with exchange and duties. (That is what Christmas money is for, right?!).When I got it home, I fired it up in my various modest systems - my home studio (2x KRK VXT6 & 10s sub, Steinberg UR44 24/192 interface/A&H Mixer + Beyerdynamic DT880s), my home theater 7.2 surround system (Onkyo 1007, outboard Emotiva XPA2 & XPA5 amps, Polk RtiA9 mains & 4x RTi8 surrounds, 2x SVS PB-13 subs, treated room), and my small 2.1 system upstairs (Onkyo TX-NR605, 2x Polk RTi8 & Klipsch CHT10 sub). I could certainly stand to upgrade some of these components to really wring out some detail in hi-res stuff; but that would cost a lot more for a relatively small jump in performance. For now I have quite a bit of bang-for-buck.Each and every time I listened to this disc, I was transported anew to a world that is uniquely Beck's: Swirling, silky strings; crisp bass, plucked guitar strings that vibrate and twang, deeply affected vocals alongside incredible harmonies; synths & effects that pan, swoosh and lift you up - even when the sad songs bring you down. Amazing. I could easily get this over 100dB without straining my systems or my ears, and I hardly ever play music that loud. Every second was excellent. This disc has both PCM 2.0 and 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 5.1 in 24bit/192kHz... so basically identical sound - but pick whichever you prefer, I guess. Either in surround or two channel, this album absolutely envelops you. Sometimes I couldn't tell the 2.0 from 5.1! It's so spacious and open.For around 30 dollars give or take, this is worth it. Even if the disc is basically barebones (about 30GB of 50GB is used, plain one page menu, no other visuals - nor does it advertise any, but still). - the sound quality is amazing and therein lies the value. Even on my modest systems I can tell that I am hearing exactly what was intended and nothing else. This is worth it if you're a purist, and if you can put it to good use on a decent set-up or two. A warning though: you may get hooked on high-res and it might lead you to want to upgrade your system(s)!Overall, 5 stars for the sound quality, and needless to say, 5 stars for this amazing album.More music needs to exist like this - and it should be easier to purchase!
