Ella & Louis

Ella & Louis and its follow-up, Again, are two of my favorite jazz albums of all time. After buying various remasters over the years, I thought I had made a "final purchase" when I bought the SACDs from Analogue Productions. The sound quality, I felt, was absolute perfection, and all the more astonishing for a mono recording from the late 50s. The voices of Ella and Louis had a palpable presence in my living room, utterly natural sounding and convincingly right there. Instruments had the unmistakable weight, timbre and texture that they do when played live in a real space.So if I had reached audio nirvana, why bother buying this blu-ray? Good question. First, and most importantly, it contains all 19 songs from Again compared to just 9 songs on the SACD. (Many versions of Again are similarly truncated.) So the ability to have both albums complete on one disc was very appealing, especially at a price under $30. The SACDs, by comparison, are $30 each and contain 10 fewer songs. Second, there was the possibility that UMG had managed to wring even higher sound quality from the original master tapes, though I wasn't sure how that would be possible. Nevertheless, it seemed worth checking out.Well, enough with the preamble, let me get to the conclusion and explain from there: it didn't take much comparison to realize that, in terms of sound quality, the APO SACDs blow this Pure Audio Blu-ray away. The Blu-ray is a very nice recording. The SACDs are the unmistakable sound of real singers and real instruments in a live space. The difference is just that simple, and is not subtle or nuanced at all.Some caveats about this conclusion: if you only owned this Pure Audio Blu-Ray, you might be perfectly happy with it, unaware of its shortcomings without a clearly superior remastering against which to compare it. That said, I'm still happy that I purchased it for the 10 additional songs on Again.Also keep in mind that the superiority of the SACDs isn't going to matter if you're not set-up for SACD playback of the pure DSD stream. Otherwise you're left with the CD layer of this hybrid disc, which is simply not as good. Finally, I wanted to mention the playback system used for this comparison:For the Analogue Productions SACDs, it's an Oppo BDP-95 feeding the pure DSD signal via analog XLR to the passive pre-amp section of a Theta Gen VIII processor, then out via XLR to a Spectron Musician III Amp and Gallo Reference 3.5 speakers. All cables and interconnects are Cardas Golden Reference. For the blu-ray, it's much the same, except the Oppo is feeding a lossless, 24/96 PCM 2.0 signal into the Theta Gen VIII for decoding, then out via balanced XLR to the amp and speakers.Thanks for taking the time to read my review and I hope you find it helpful in making a buying decision.

I've always been a fan of Ella & Louis. I just love this collection of swinging and jazz standards. It should be noted that these tracks are NOT presented in 5.1 audio. The original stereo tracks were remastered and presented here in HD audio in three ways: PCM, DTS-HD MA, and Dolby TrueHD. You can change between all three audio tracks using your remote or the on-screen guide. My preference actually varies by track, but so far I've noticed that the vocals are noticeably louder and more centralized in Dolby True HD. Make no mistake, though: Ella, Louis and the music sound awesome here regardless of the audio chosen. The vocals are crisp and clear and I'm hearing elements of the music for the first time, it seems. A few personal favorites are Autumn In New York, Moonlight In Vermont, Let's Call The Whole Thing Off, and A Fine Romance. You also get a code to download the whole album once, albeit in CD quality. The only way you can get the HD versions of this album is to rip the music using a blu-ray writer and perhaps store them on a server so you can listen at any time, but I digress.Regarding the audio choices: it should be noted that you need a blu-ray player or a receiver that can decode these audio codecs. Most units manufactured in the last 5 years or so should be able to decode them. HDMI cables are also needed, otherwise you won't be hearing the full uncompressed tracks. Listeners should also let their receiver decode the audio (if they have one) as opposed to the blu-ray player. Most receivers now show the audio on the front of unit itself when it is decoding the audio, so you'll see either PCM, DTS-HD MA or Dolby True HD on the front of your receiver depending on which audio you choose. This will ensure you're hearing the full, uncompressed version of the tracks in all their Pure Audio glory.

This is a combination of two of the best jazz vocal albums ever made. What is more Ella & Louis Again has 19 tracks, but only 12 were ever released in Australia. I see it came out as two albums in USA originally.This is NOT the problem.I have among the best of interactive Blu-ray players, but non-3D. I have one of the best Multi-channel receivers capable of 7.1 (not just 5.1) surround sound. The best my system could do with this disc was interpret it as PCM stereo. It did not perceive a DTS signal or HD surround sound signal.I had emailed Amazon before buying to establish & confirm the disks at least are ZONE FREE, unlike many Blu-ray movies.Sony and Pioneer told me today it will be 2-3 years before the equipment catches up with this new audio medium. Luckily the disk came with the facility to download an MP3 version of all the tracks so at least I now have an extra seven tracks previously unreleased in Australia and in great stereo. So sorry, Amazon, I won't be buying any more Pure Audio for the time being.

Three magnificent albums in the best sound I've ever heard on these sessions. I love that Universal is issuing Blu-ray CDs in such glorious sound. I wish there were more of them, and I wish they were cheaper. But three albums for this price, and classics at that. What's stopping you?

I bought this disc to demo my surround sound system and now I can't stop listening to the songs. The disc provides pure PCM audio audio. My speaker never sounded this good.

I just have a Paradigm CT system ($700) and while better than regular consumer products it is not audiophile by any means. I can still tell the difference with this blu ray vs. mp3 or cd.

Great music, well worth having. This blu-ray audio release is the same content as the previous 2 SACD releases of the same albums. If you already have those you can skip this.

Very nice

Recorded in 1956, well before my arrival on planet earth, the fusion of Ella and Louis is timeless.I had never heard these guys before and I was the poorer for it.This is an outstandingly intimate recording of songs from the american songbook involving peerless musical masters.If you like me you haven't really explored the voice of Ella Fitzgerald, try this recording - I feel like the words have yet to be created to begin to adequately describe her. I was a little familiar with Louis Armstrong from his work on a James Bond film (You Got To My Head), this recording brings him right up close and personal.In my view this is best played intentionally on either vinyl or blu ray audio (HDR downloads or sacd don't seem to be available); I got hold of the blu ray.The bluray audio is outstanding, and the sound engineering surpasses pretty much everything I hear nowadays, even though by todays standards they used simple equipment; modern sound engineers seem to compress the life out of recordings and mix to a low standard (mp3s on headphones); it seems to me that this recording allows every element to breathe: Louis' trumpet rings out clear full of nuance; their voices are tantalisingly tangible; the instrumentalists playing oh so sensitively - it's as if the ensemble are loungng in my front room and performing just for me.Using a digital coaxial output from blu ray to amp (not hdmi) facilitated use of the HD master option on the disc. I couldn't really tell the difference between the options - but playing in mutli channel mode transformed the recording - rendering each artist in a 3d mosaic of tremendous beauty.Highly recommended.

... these are the most important friends to have for the rest of your life. I hear those jazz albums since the the first releas at my age of ten, and I can't tell the difference of sound through the fifty seven years that passed. But I always buy the new editions of those songs I know by heart, simply by the chalenge of founding something to discover either in the immortal voices of ella and louis, or in the instrumental section of oscar peterson. I don't know if, in days to come, another invention is still coming to introduce those genius to future generations. Please listen to "moonlight in vermont" or the solo of ella in "these foolish things" and you'll forget all your troubles (if on a desert island you'll get some...).

A fantastic sounding album or should I say two(one a double) albums on one HFPA disc 30 tracks , Jazz giants Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong more than ably backed by the Oscar Peterson Trio, a selection of songs from the Great American song book.Sound quality wise I have to ask why it is than an album recorded nearly 60 years ago sounds better than many albums recorded this century.This is one of the best HFPA discs I have recommended for fans of Jazz and Good music.

The songs and vocals do not need further introduction or recommendations. The all stars band played great to support the singers. The most impressive factors of this disc are the quality of mastering and good use of dynamic range given by 24 bit 96 kHz. The mastering of the old recording sounds very natural and faithful to a well balanced analogue recording, well pressed record, played on a good turntable. The sound is full and yet there was no exaggerated high or low end frequencies. However, the 24 bit 96 kHz specification on a disc is nothing new because it was achieved a long time ago on DVD-Audio discs. This disc shows the importance of careful and good quality remastering.

Great music, great sound, but docked a star because it's not in stereo, as is claimed on the label. It's the only mono Blu Ray Audio disc in my collection, but it's still lovely.