SQ of "Rock of Ages" on CD

@tomic601 

Thanks for your comments.

I plan to order the Academy version this week. 

@tomcy6 

Thanks; I'll check it out. 

I asked here because I've purchased cds before that were popular on the Hoffman site and have not liked the SQ of the mixes they favor.

I suspect Rock of Ages was simply not recorded well, to begin with, which is a shame. 

Just found a Sound and Vision interview with R. Robertson. Apparently the original mixing was done by him and Phil Ramone at Criteria, before the studio was completed and they didn't like the mix, either, which Robertson describes as "murky". Supposedly, this was subsequently rectified when he and Bob Clearmountain redid it for the Academy of Music box set. I'll look into that. 

@bkeske 

Have you heard the Academy of Music mix? 

Yeah-- I dunno about about SACD SQ (never owned an SACD player) but I've found the Redbook SQ of MoFi hybrids to be very inconsistent. Some are quite good, others just meh-- most definitely not worth the money. 

As far as the Band album is concerned, I thought I'd have to buy the out of print box but there's a 2CD set that's still available with the same tunes as the Deluxe version. Might as well try it. 

@jafant 

Thanks for your input.

I haven't found that original mixes are uniformly more pleasing to my ears; it really depends on the record in question. 

And given R. Robertson"s opinion, I'm curious to hear the Academy of Music version.  I'll report back once I've heard it. 

@jafant 

The hybrid SACD just says "Original Master Recording".

Hasn't MoFi admitted to making such claims falsely in the past?

Are R. Robertson's assertions reliable?  I don't know.  

But given the SQ (or lack thereof) of the MoFi and my fondness for the music, I'm willing to pay the modest cost of the 2CD set to see whether it does in fact sound better.  

@tomic601 

Thanks. Do you mean the box set?

I'm going to buy the 2 disc version. 

@tomic601 

Thanks. I got it pretty cheap from importcds. 

The Academy of Music set arrived yesterday. I’ve only listened to a few tracks.

Compared to the MoFi, what I’ve noticed so far are an improved, overall sense of immediacy that you’d expect from a live show coupled with improved resolution/separation.

At the same time, the presentation is a bit bright on my system. It’s certainly not enough to be described as fatiguing but it’s there. However, the Schiit Lokius pretty well compensates for this.

For reference, my system:

Jay’s Audio CD2 MKIII transport

Aqua La Voce S2 DAC

Hegel H390

Silverline SR 17.5 monitors

Cables by Audio art and Acoustic Zen

Schiit Lokius

Seems to me the MofI is a waste of $. As time goes on, I’m afraid I’m becoming increasingly cynical about MoFi’s hybrids due to their inconsistency.