Octave. An easy and nothing subtle about it system upgrade. My gear has never sounded better. Said another way the rest of my collection has never sounded worse. Volume V and Clandestine Amigo “Things Worth Remembering”. All worth experiencing. Sign me up for that subscription
Two issues:
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Octave just re-released Gabriel Mervine’s Say Somethin’; now remixed and with 2 new songs. I purchased the original release April 2, 2023, what Paul calls “quick on the draw” to purchase. Perhaps we should wait to purchase new releases for several months in the event of a re-release.
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A month ago, after I informed Octave about dropouts from most songs on Things Worth Remembering, I was informed that several Octave albums also were found to have dropouts AND that Octave would send me fixed albums for my dozen+ Octave purchases. I have heard nothing more; no fixed albums were sent. Perhaps we should wait to purchase new releases for several months in the event of a fixed release.
(I also had purchased the Vinyl release for Say Somethin’, which now seems unavailable to purchase either the original or the re-release.)
Update.
Contacting PSA/Octave, I was sent the DSD for the remastered Say Somethin’.
Thank you.
Look forward to a fine audio experience
My daughter, a musician, got to hear my new system for the first time on Thursday. She sat, open mouthed for a couple of hours listening to a few favorites, and then I put on a couple of Octave DSD’s. There were tears in her eyes as she listened to Zuill Bailey. And then I played Miguel Espinoza Fusion’s Gabriella and she was completely in awe of the soundstage and separation between instruments. Ditto with Live at Nocturne.
Thanks Paul, Terri, Jessica, Darren and all the others at PS Audio.
PS: For the record my system is a SGCD, PST, and a pair of M700s connected to a Magnepan LRS speakers.
PPS: My wife was traveling, so we could play the system at the appropriate sounds levels
That’s as good as it gets.
A Maggie with an appropriate amp, even if not perfect in everything, betters most out there in overall delivery.
I am a sucker for buying the same recording over and over again, especially if the sound is much better in the latest release and it is in spades with the latest release of “Say Something”. If you want the ease and richness of analog sounding DSD256, then this lastest release is for you. The soundstage goes to my back wall with the former release. Now with DSD256 it goes way beyond my back wall and the 3D dimensionality is quite a bit more noticable too.
One remaster is great but I don’t want to see this remastered again in two years.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Say Somethin’ one of Octave’s very first releases? Maybe not the actual first, but at least it was in the first half-dozen, which had to be two or three years ago anyway. I seem to recall it came out very shortly after that initial Don Grusin album and the Otis Taylor disc.
Whether a reissue was or wasn’t a necessary endeavor, it was done well past 4 months after its initial sale.
yes, the 4 months reference referred to my purchase
nicely, PSA sent me the new one
Something is terribly wrong with remastered Say Somethin’
Muffled and different song durations (EG, first song: original length 5:47 (491.5 mb file), remastered length :18 (27 mb file))
fixed: song duration for track 1 is no longer 18 seconds (but several minutes) and remastered (the warped sound is gone). PSA sent me the new 256 yesterday. thank you. no other record company would be so responsive.
last week’s release, Say Somethin’ Remastered, is different from the original released 2021, a year before Aspen FR30 release) beyond having 2 additional tracks…top EQ was removed to make the new release sound more natural (direct communication with wizard Paul)
while this new release sounds great, I prefer the original (other than missing the 2 new tracks). It must be that my speakers are not as ‘bright’ as the FR30s, or stated another way…my speakers benefit from the top EQ of the original release whereas in the FR30s used to set, or not, top EQ must inherently be brighter and thus the top EQ of the original is overly bright in Octave’s FR30 mixing monitors. (perhaps it is my system, not simply my speakers…this package is the best I have heard in this 2023 of auditioning ultra high end systems, though my exploration is not over)
I spent much time yesterday comparing track 1 between the original and new release received yesterday. Interestingly, in my system the drums appear in center stage on the new release but on the right in the original release, thus presenting wider stage in the original release.
Track 4, 1964, is important to me. As a professional acoustic bassist (in the last century) I enjoy the wine of the wood as the note decays, a core feature of this track. In the new release, on my system, this delightful delicacy is significantly reduced.
Undoubtedly, my reports are related both to my system and to direct A-B track comparisons.
Alas, I have not benefited from hearing Aspen speakers, which I admire for looks and ribbon setup. But I wonder now if they would be too bright for me. I thoroughly have enjoyed the last several months hundreds of Qobuz and DSD tracks, finding that sparkle and magic abounds. Now that the FR30 is used for Octave mixing, Octave recordings may contain less sparkle in my system than preferred…meaning perhaps that I need a new system. Well, a plan is in the works, very much inspired by @luca.pelliccioli.
Curious to know!
Interesting, not sure if I want to buy it, to experience the same. I thought, that even the old release is not extremely open sounding and I wouldn’t want it at all less so. And I also use a very open sounding AMT ribbon, no conventional tweeter.
I think of it, it would really be interesting to make my own experience and if the rest is also rather worse, I wonder about the effect of the different mixing path. Cookie would probably wonder less, as she prefers the analog path anyway.
Say Somethin’ is one of my references when I make system changes
Gabriel Mervine on trumpet is superb and as good as it gets for Octave; his Qobuz Aurora is excellent too
We may have a slightly different take here.
I really like the Mervine recording and that’s why I probably buy the new version and compare. But I think even among PS audio recordings, single tracks at least of the soundstage sampler have better recording quality and feature more 3-D, but that’s still not close to e.g. any Chesky, Opus 3, MA Recordings, Fone, Sound Liaison, Reference Recordings or Stockfisch recording and several others, which I’d call my references ahead of others I’d also call superior like, Ozella, Nimbus, Dorian/Sono Luminus, Fidelio, Turtle Records, Northstar, NAIM, Yarlung, XLO etc. But for me Octave is still partly very good.
I’ll get back as soon as I heard the new mix. Do buyers of the new mix also get the old one for free?
Don’t know
I was hoping that buyers of the old one would get the new one for free.
Ever the optimist!
Bought it, compared the first track.
To me the new mix has certainly differently placed instruments (different, not really better except maybe for the drums), mainly the drum set is more in the middle with cymbals still towards right. Piano somehow here and there. The drumset sounds more 3D with deeper soundstage and more pronounced toms, on the old mix the drumset goes more to the right than into the depth.
The bass on the remastering sounds somehow fleshed out on the bottom and in natural resonance (not just better controlled as one could think…it rather sounds less real).
The whole energy and openness on the remastering seems inhibited, not only because the top end has less volume, it’s also through the mids. The old mix is like fresh air with more organic bass in comparison. The somehow comparably damped character of the remastering, inhibited in energy and dynamic behavior compared to better recordings, is something I already recognized on the „Soundstage“ album.
The remastering also has a partly slightly annoyingly resonating piano sound in upper mids/lower treble, I’m not used to from other recordings, the old mix having nicer, non resonating, and more interestingly shaped piano strokes and sound.
I have no strange tonality in my setup (I also use a quite dynamic sounding AMT ribbon on top end, so not totally different from the FR30‘s ribbon) and usually agree with common characterizations of recording’s tonality and sound, but I fail to recognize better sound here, rather the opposite. For me either the new mixing path or the FR30 monitoring or both doesn’t work as intended. If the monitoring of the new mix sounds better and more right on the FR 30, the FR 30 must have a more voluminous bass and stronger treble level than most other label‘s monitoring chains. Not sure how some other recordings sound there then.
I will compare more tracks on the weekend. Probably the extra tracks are the main benefit for me.