Search - Celine Dion :: New Day Has Come (Multichannel/Stereo)

A New Day Has Come to Another Level

Gregory R. Josephs | Boston, MA USA | 04/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An SACD everyone should have!In 2002 Celine Dion released 'A New Day Has Come' (ANDHC) hailed as a fresh reinvention of her illustrious carreer. ANDHC was far and away the most cohesive and best crafted album of 2002. Each song on the disc works in perfect harmony with all the rest to create an interesting and lively musical journey filled with worldly flavors and a variety of musical styles.Everyone applauded and cheered. And then came the SACD.I am thoroughly convinced that Sony's Super Audio CD is the perfect medium for an artist the calibre of Celine Dion. From the very beginning with the encompassing rhythmic intensity of 'I'm Alive' all the way to the rich acoustic sound of 'Nature Boy,' the album's final track, the SACD experience is phenomenal. To experience this immaculate album with such perfect sound reproduction and in three dimensional 5.1 surround sound is a stop-everything-to-listen event.Highlights from the SACD version of the album include the phenomenal 5.1 mixes of 'Right In Front Of You,' 'A New Day Has Come,' 'Prayer,' 'I Surrender,' and 'Sorry For Love.'In both versions of the title track which appear on this album the rich orchestral harmonization is displayed at best advantage through the surround sound. The strings are actually assigned their very own speaker channels so as not to be marred by the other instrumentation and Celine's heavenly vocals.'Sorry For Love's' incredible dance appeal and ambient electronic sound, coupled with its huge dynamic range makes one wonder why dance clubs haven't started exploring the possibility of creating a surround environment.In the closing track, 'Nature Boy,' the SACD reproduction is so incredible, that the listener can hear the piano player's feet tapping the piano petals.All in all, the SACD version of ANDHC creates an incomparable wash of colors and sounds. It is an insurpassable purchase, and will certainly become an SACD standard even among music lovers for whom Celine Dion has seemed lack-luster, over-exposed and over-played.A must have for any SACD collection"

Wow.

L. Harris | Winter Haven, FL USA | 08/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'll assume you're a Celine Deon fan familiar with this album on CD and limit my comments to my impression of it on SACD.



Background: I'm relatively new to SACD because I've only recently replaced my old but excellent pre/pro with an Integra DTC-9.8, and my old processor didn't have multichannel audio inputs. The Integra feeds a 7.1 channel system of Aerial Acoustics speakers I've assembled over the years (all but one of which which was purchased used), each of which is powered by a separate amplifier. The three front channels use 200W amplifiers, as do the rear channels. The side channels run 125W amps. Speaker cables are all 10AWG.



This SACD reminds me why I invested the time and money I did to build my system. It's amazing. With my ear four inches from the tweeter of one of my 10Ts (27Hz-22kHz ± 2 dB) during quiet passages I can hear *no* hiss or noise of any kind. I don't see how a recording could be any cleaner. Overall it has a wonderful, full sound to it that makes good use of everything in my system, including the subwoofer (not heavy, but present).



One thing I like to do with multichannel SACDs is figure out how they used the channels when they mixed it. Since each of my speakers uses a different amp, it's a simple matter to turn amps on or off on the fly and hear what's coming out of the remaining speakers. When I did this, I discovered the center channel is used exclusively in a limited way for bass and midrange percussion. Not low bass, that gets sent to the subwoofer. But if you only listened to the center channel, there's no way you could tell what album was playing. For example, on track 3, Have You Ever Been in Love, more than a minute goes by at the beginning of the song before any sound comes out of the center speaker at all. You'd never notice listening normally, but it was an interesting choice, and the result of the mix is a clear success. It is, however, a strong argument for using good, full range speakers for all channels (my center speaker is rated 40Hz-22kHz ± 2 dB, as are my rear speakers).



You'll never hear this as it was intended to be heard on a sub/satellite system with small speakers supplemented by a (sub)woofer like Bose Lifestyle systems and their competitors, but on a good system the effect is amazing."