Search - Steely Dan :: Gaucho (Hybr)

Awesome In Any Format

Andrew Collins | San Angelo, Texas United States | 03/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you're a fan of Steely Dan's 1984 release, this album is for you. Hail by most recording engineers as one of the best engineered albums (ever), the SACD version is certainly no exception. The album, of course, features everybody from "The Don" and Walter Becker to Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler, Toto's Jeff Pocaro, and legendary studio drummer Steve Gadd.

If you're a surround sound enthusiast, this is the album for you. DSD technology is fairly new (new enough that not many studios are equipped to deal with it). It is completely different than it's PCM cousins in that it deals with a single bit rate with a 2.8 MHz sampling frequency. You cannot tell the difference between DSD and analog tape. Having said that, this technology is mostly used for archiving and restoration projects. To give you a frquency comparison, the DVD-A version of this will only carry a 24-bit/96,000 PCM load, which is the highest that DVD-Audio can carry. The compact disc can only carry 16-bit/44,1000. You can surely see where I'm going with this. With DSD, you get all the warmth and clarity of the analog tape without the hiss and the melting in your car. Spend a little extra money and buy the Hybird SACD. You won't be sorry."

My second favorite SD album; first favorite in terms of qual

L. Milone | Wallingford, PA USA | 09/11/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gaucho is one of those albums that continued to climb up the scale on my all time favorite albums the more I listened to it. It's certainly one of my favorite Steely Dan albums. Katy lied is my favorite, Gaucho is my second, Aja third, Royal Scam fouth, and the rest are about equal. I love them all.



But in terms of recording/playback quality - this is by far the best Steely Dan album because it's SACD. If you have an SACD player, (and darn it, it's a great sounding format that deserves to have been more successful), you probably care a lot about quality audio and you'll love this album. I wish all of the Steely Dan albums were remastered in this format."

Is there a better recorded rock SACD than this?

Richie Rich | Burlington, Vt. | 04/21/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't think so! At least not until the SACD gods release " Aja ". The first song easily has the best dynamic range of any rock recording I've ever heard. Panoramic sound-staging and depth. Donald Fagan and friends spent, reportedly one million dollars, producing this album and it sounds it! After hearing great reproductions of lousy recordings (Dylan, Kinks, Creedence, ad nauseum), why doesn't someone release the entire Steely Dan catalogue?...and Donald Fagen's "Nightfly" as long as they're at it?"