If you like Audiophile Masters Volume I, you gonna love this one.
Beautifully recorded and wonderful music.
I got the download and did compared the DSD with the 192k. The DSD sounded slightly smoother, but really not that much difference, but I slightly preferred the 192k because it is like turning the sharpness control slightly higher.
( https://www.psaudio.com/products/audiophile-masters-volume-2/)
Ordered mine today.
Did you get the SACD?
I’m listening to it in 192k right now and it sounds amazing!! On track 7 (Omnitones), the highs are so pure with this Dragon HDMI cable that I hear all the rich metal tones that are struck and air and space is incredible! The bass is so tight that you really feel it in your guts! Love every track so far and especially the lovely track 8 (Company of Crows).
I ordered the SACD
Thanks, guys! I am so pleased with this latest release. It just sound killer on our system as well, especially on the new FR30 speakers.
Tell us more!
I thought about ordering it, but then realized I’m still waiting on Things Worth Remembering, which I ordered over three weeks ago. Of course, now that I’ve mentioned that, it’ll show up in today’s mail. 
I am still adjusting to the placement of the FR30, how it reacts to the room, how it needs to be set up. It’;s really a fascinating project. What I can tell you so far is that the speaker is absolutely seamless - as if there were no drivers making the sound. There’s zero discontinuity between drivers - something I cannot say is true with the IRS. When the IRS transitions from the woofers to mid and then again from the mid to tweeters, over time you get to predict what it’ll sound like. It’s not bad, it’s just something you kind of get used to.
Not so in the Fr30. It’s as if there’s only one driver. And the midrange. The midrange is simply extraordinary. I’ve never heard midrange with this level of lifelike clarity and detail, not even from an electrostat.
Paul, you’re making my mouth water, sound like a true IRS Killer!!
Thanks, Paul!
I am eager to hear a pair.
Ordered yesterday!
That’s a bold statement! I know how good that electrostatic clarity and detail can sound!
Ordered.
You’re gonna love this one. Every track is recorded with exceptional fidelity. Much better than previous Octave releases. And marvelous music. I think my favorite is track 5 (A Place Called Home) with Tyler Thompson. His raspy voice sounds so human. The bass and vibes has such weight and solidity to it. The density of the instruments are so lifelike and so present. Love this recording.
Thanks! Yes, Tyler’s voice is something else. I think we’re getting better with each release as we’re honing down our processes and the engineers and mixers are figuring out what it means to make an audiophile level recording.
That’s most important! I always assumed the IRS are not good in that and I hoped for the new speaker it turns out like that. Great it does!
I never got used to speakers lacking seamless sound, that was a problem which always jumped at me.
I’ve been listening to these tracks. Is Tyler Thompson a man or a woman? Anyway, I couldn’t listen to more than a few seconds of it.
Generally I was very impressed, I listened to a few similar things and thought these tracks were mostly in the sale league - Keb Mo/Keb Mo, Melody Gardot/The Absence, Bill Frissell/Americana and Emily Barker/Dear River.
I don’t have any accordion music, although having read a long article about Piazzolla recently in Gramophone (plus he played bandoneon and was South American, not French), it had a certain je ne sais quoi.
Quite a few of the tracks were very in your face, a bit like the Bill Frissell album. That’s a matter of taste and it shows off the sound. I don’t think it worked for the string quartet, which needed a bit more air. I listened to Shostakovich Quartet no 1/Takacs for comparison.
I get these are demo tracks and not meant to be a coherent album. They certainly indicate to an amateur like me that Octave is getting to a good level of recording, mixing and mastering.
I just looked up its tracking number and looks like it might be delayed a bit. Still in transit but I have hopes that it should arrive in the next week or two.
Arrived today SACD. From what I’ve heard so far superb recording quality!
Love the acoustics on the Track 1 Tango
The horns sound great on track 2 Amethyst
Track 3 The Cuckoo has a bluegrass folk vibe.
Enjoying so far.
Oh, I’d love to hear these speakers!