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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Agharta Blu-Spec CD Review and Comparison to the 1991 Contemporary Masters Release, March 31, 2009
Now to my understanding through scant info over the internet written in english, Blu-Spec allows a disc to be written with a blu-ray laser which improves the accuracy of writting bits to the pits of the disc which is of a new high-polymer polycarbonate material. The result is less reading errors and jitter, and translates to the human ears as a more open, vivid, and realistic sound that is closer to the quality of the master tapes.
Also the new high-polymer polycarbonate disc is supposed to be more scratch resistant than a normal disc (???)
Now being that the sources of Agharta and Pangaea were taken from the 2006 DSD Remasterings, The Blu-Spec versions can't be any better than those right? Blu Spec quality should be limited by its source. If the original masters were created with a high audio quality Bluray format, then Blu-Spec I'm sure would sound amazing.
Now I only previously owned the 1991 Columbia release of Agharta. It is'nt terrible, but I did wish it had more bass, and I was aware that it was the worse sounding of the releases. So when I compared it with the Blu-Spec disc, I was a bit underwhelmed. It does sound better, but my mind just was'nt blown.
The instruments come through clearer, and each have a disctinct presence. This is great but it does create a problem. Since sections of the music are very complex, theres a ton of different sounds flying out of the speakers all at once. It creates a very dense and claustrophobic wall of noise, and it does'nt help too much that the Blu Spec version adds more electronic and instruments in some places, that the 1991 version left out of the mix. Since some intruments in the 1991 release had less presence, its sort of easier to listen to.
The bass is stronger also, but only by a fraction, maybe because the kick drums and bass instruments come through more closely. But both the 1991 and the 2009 release benifit from some sort of EQ adjustment to aplify the bass as bit. There is also more depth to the sound stage. I beleive that every improvement from the Bluc Spec CDs is because of a better mastering rather that the Bluray writting procedure.
Another thing I don't like is how the Japanese engineers combined parts 1 and 2 of the Prelude, and combined The Interlude with Theme from Jack Johnson. I liked how they were seperated into thier own tracks on the 1991 release.
Bottom line is if you have'nt picked up the Blu-Spec CD yet, then don't rush, and don't ignore the 2006 release either. The 1991 release still has some advantages also, so don't throw it away.
Agharta - Disc 1
01. Prelude 32:29
02. Maiysha 12:20
Agharta - Disc 2
01. Interlude / Theme from Jack Johnson 51:36
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