SHM-CD Format: Hype or Hope?, Metallica's New Album Options

[Livy]

There's been a lot of discussion over at SA-CD Net about SHM-CD's and whether the "clearer plastic" technology they use generates any actual improvement in sound quality. Many people simply don't believe that would be possible. Metallica's new album - Death Magnetic - is going to be released in Japan in SHM-CD format.

I'm not very knowledgeable about this area - does anyone here know more or have opinions about SHM-CD?

Edit: I've read that mastering engineer Ted Jansen is going to working on this album - whether as mastering and recording engineer, I don't know.

This post has been edited by Livy: Jul 29 2008, 15:48

[Squeller]

Well, there's an Article in Stereo magazine (german language). http://www.stereo.de/index.php?id=613

They first searched for bit identical CDs (normal vs. shm cd) to avoid comparing different mastering. Well, that's good on the one hand, but on the other IMO they proved that they must sound identical. But in the listening test they heard clear differences, not surprisingly the SHM CD sounds better (english speakers, no need to translate. Some bullshit bingo attributes you already know from listening tests):

in den oberen Lagen entspannter, weniger glasig, beschwingter, gelöster und dreidimensionaler. Die Normal-CD wirkt dagegen wie eingeschnürt: kompakter und belegter.

That is beyond my logical thinking.

This post has been edited by Squeller: Oct 24 2012, 19:16