Garfield, David: the Retro Jazz Quintet.

Garfield, David: The Retro Jazz Quintet. Recorded in 2003, at Zipper Concert Hall Colburn School for Performing Arts. Engineer: Mark Waldrep. 70+ minutes (repeated with several technologies, with additional non-music material). Aix 80022.

This is another one of those super-duper Aix releases that admittedly does things that no two-channel recording could possibly do.

Namely, while the 96 kHz, 24-bit (Meridian Lossless Packing) DVD-A and 448 kbps Dolby Digital tracks offer up the usual "audience" perspective, the 1509 kbps DTS tracks offer a "stage" perspective that puts the listener right in there with the musicians. (On some DVD players you can instantly compare the DD audience and DTS stage mixes by hitting the "audio" button on the remote.) The stage mix is not my cup of tea, but for those for whom it is, the DTS tracks go well beyond what any conventional CD could deliver. There is also a two-channel 96 kHz, 24-bit PCM DVD-A track for those who see surround sound as an abomination and want the two cleanest channels possible.

The disc also includes a video of the recording sessions (showing the performers playing, with much of what you see unrelated to the sound coming from the speakers), biographies, a photo gallery, comprehensive notes and set-up information, and DVD-ROM web connection software. Yeah, this is a packed piece of material, indeed.

I much preferred the audience mix (it includes a proper center channel, for a better off-axis-listening soundstage), and the overall sound was excellent, to say the least. (Waldrep has certainly mastered surround-sound recording technology and techniques better than some other engineers.) The soundstage is quite wide, and the presentation drives home the advantages of a good center that is well integrated with the left and right mains. The DD tracks sounded as good as the DVD-A 5.1 tracks, by the way, and would have the potential to sound even better with typical processors working with systems that lacked largish satellite speakers and proper speaker distancing.

Interestingly, if the two-channel PCM version was given a "Classical/Opera" DSP or Dolby Pro Logic II (music) mix with my main system's RXZ1 processor, it sounded as good as the DVD-A or Dolby Digital surround mixes. And to be truthful, I really do not see what the 96/24 two-channel mix itself offered that would make it subjectively better than a conventional 44.1/16 CD mix. Sure, the noise level would be lower and the top-end frequency response would be more extended--but so what? Who can hear those advantages, even in a very good home-listening room?

--HF