DTS 5.1 96/24 DVD Music Discs - Depeche Mode

[Deleted member 133]

While in Nashville last week I had the chance to hit a good handful of the local record/CD stores and carted home probably 70 or so CDs.

Amongst the haul were three Depeche Mode box sets, all released in 2006, but representing three the band's first four albums: Speak & Spell (1981); A Broken Frame (1982); and Some Great Reward (1984). They were $5 each.

Each sets contains a CD and a DVD. The DVD contains, among other bonus tracks/material, all of the CD's tracks, but in three formats: PCM stereo; DD 5.1 Surround (24bit); and DTS 5.1 (24bit/96k).

I already owned a similar box set, for their Music for the Masses (1987) release and was curious to see how the earliest releases sounded in comparison.

So I took these three DVDs for a quick spin, chose the DTS 5.1 option for each one, and must say that the mix / quality of the sound is excellent in each case. Sonically it struck me as equivalent to SACD multichannnel.

Having only ever heard the DTS 5.1 96/24 format once prior to this, I really wasn't familiar with it. I did a little online searching and reading and it appears that while it was short-lived it is supposedly the sonic equivalent of SACD and BD's DTS-HD Master Audio.

Judging by the dearth of content (at least that I've come across) it's market life must have been extremely short although my Onkyo 886 immediately recognized it and displayed "DTS 96/24" so it must have been in vogue long enough for the likes of Onkyo to cover it (although they seem to cover everything in their gear!)

If you like Depeche Mode's early stuff, I'd definitely suggest seeing if you can track down a cheap copy of one of these sets, giving it a spin, and then tracking down cheap copies of the others if you liked it. Especially if you liked those early discs in stereo and want to hear very good multichannel remixes. Not worth it for the sound / technical experience alone if you're not a fan.

IMO Depeche Mode has been way out front of the pack, with but a few others, at releasing its old stuff in multichannel formats. I have one of their other albums (the "live" 101) on SACD. It looks like they used the DTS 5.1 format prior to moving to SACD, or perhaps concurrently in some cases. Regardless, and as I said, they seem equal to one another, so if you are at that used CD store and have a copy of each in hand, just choose the cheaper of the two!

 

[Towen7]

I just can't seem to find those kinds of bargains.

 

[Huey]

I just can't seem to find those kinds of bargains.

Here you go, as low as .24 cents! LINK :handgestures-thumbup:

 

[Razz]

cool post Jeff.

I can't find those bargains either. Lionelle Richy is no bargain at 24cents.

Jeff,
I often use Depeche Mode's "World in my eyes" off the Violator album as my number one demo and when evaluating speakers.

 

[Deleted member 133]

Trust me gents, it takes some effort to consistently find the good deals.

I find that buying "used" off Amazon.com works more times than not. But there's that $2.98 per CD in shipping. (So those 70 CDs or so that I bought in Nashville would have cost me an extra $208.60 just for shipping. However this is offset a bit given that I seem much more likely to find $0.99 (or even $0.01!) used specials on Amazon whereas bricks and mortar sticker prices ten to be $0.99 for the greatest deal and $3-4 on average otherwise. Nashville tended to have higher sticker prices than I was seeing last year in Vegas, but I knew they would because of the reading I did in advance.)

What I've been doing the last year or two is researching the lanscape of whatever city I'll be next visiting and hitting 3-5 used record/CD stores while I'm there. And that usually involves looking not just in the regular bins, but literally getting down on the ground and searching through the boxes and crates of unsorted CDs sitting under the bins!



Jeff

ps. to Razz: Just added Violator to my "must get" list!

 

[Batman]

This is great!! DM has been my favorite band since the late 80s when Violator was released. When Enjoy the Silence was released as a single in 89 I was instantly hooked and have bought up whatever I could get my hands on ever since...I have most if not all of their catalog, with the exception of not going crazy trying to track down imports etc.

 

[Deleted member 133]

Bats and Razz, you have restored my faith in humanity!

To find devoted, and much more knowledgeable on the subject than I, fans of Depeche Mode amongst our esteemed Forum members, makes the world seem that much more better.

I have been worried about my own musical Epicureanism (sic) leanings ever since Flint turned his nose up at my taking some Depeche Mode for a spin on one of the occasions when he visited my humble abode.

 

[Kazaam]

Most of these (if not all?) were released as SACD/DVD-V w DTS 5.1 discs in Europe. But North America only got CD/DVD w DTS 5.1. Not that I'm complaining a whole lot.

Anyway...

I picked up many of these back when they were at Yourmusic (long before it sucked and closed). The 5.1 mix on "Violator" is very good. And I also have "Some Great Reward" and (I think I have) "A Broken Frame", too. At least one of those is also quite good---probably both---just going off of memory, which is admittedly kind of foggy. That said, I was very disappointed with the 5.1 mix on "Songs of Faith and Devotion".

Depeche Mode have also done 5.1 of many of their other albums, including some recent ones such as "Playing The Angel" (good 5.1 mix) and "Sounds of the Universe" (I haven't heard yet).