Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms (20th Anniversary Edition) [DVD-A Audio Rip 48/24 PCM]

Technical Details:

The album has a DVD side which features a 5.1 surround sound mix in 96 kHz/24 bit, a stereo mix in 48 kHz/24 bit, and a Dolby Digital Surround mix. The Stereo Mix 48/24 is the one I used to make the audio rip. Why? Because I like the stereo sound over any other audio format. It's just a matter of taste.

Dolby Digital Mix: They did a good job with it. It contains the same surround sound mix as the advanced resolution track, and has a very good clear sound to it. It doesn't have that pristine quality that the advanced resolution tracks do, but for anyone who doesn't have a DVD-Audio player, this is a terrific mix for anyone who owns a DVD player.

Stereo Track: This sounded a bit better than the CD because it was mastered in 24 bit, but I couldn't understand why it was only sampled at 48 kHz. Most DVD-Audio is sampled at 96 kHz or above. Nevertheless, stereo creates a good sound stage, although I felt detail and depth was lost. The sound stage is not so good that you imagine a center channel, its clearly a stereo mix. The instruments and vocals all sound good, but not as good as I think they could have sounded. If I only owned the CD, and wasn't interested in the surround sound tracks, I would not get this for the High resolution stereo track.


Audiophiles Advisory:





Album Review:

Brothers in Arms is the fifth studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits, released in 1985. The first half of the album is a development of their unique brand of arena rock which had evolved in their music since the 1980 album Making Movies, while the second half consists of more folk-influenced material. The whole album maintains the original Dire Straits' bluesy and laid back guitar-based sound whilst retaining a more lavish and bombastic production and overall sound. It is the band's best-selling album, and one of the top 10 best-selling albums in UK music history.


History:

Brothers in Arms was one of the first albums to be directed at the CD market, and was a full digital recording (DDD) at a time when most popular music was recorded on analog equipment. It was also released on vinyl and cassette.

Brothers in Arms was the first album to sell one million copies in the CD format and to outsell its LP version. A Rykodisc employee would subsequently write, "[In 1985 we] were fighting to get our CDs manufactured because the entire worldwide manufacturing capacity was overwhelmed by demand for a single rock title (Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms)."

It was remastered and released with the rest of the Dire Straits catalogue in 1996 for most of the world outside the United States and on September 19, 2000 in the United States. It was also released in XRCD2 format in 2000, then the 20th Anniversary Edition was issued in Super Audio CD format on July 26, 2005 (becoming the 3000th title for the SACD format) and DualDisc format with DVD-Audio 24 bit/96 kHz track on August 16, 2005, remixed in 5.1 by Chuck Ainlay and winning a Grammy for Best Surround Sound Album.

In 2006, a half-speed-mastered vinyl version of the album was issued. Mastered by the renowned Stan Ricker, this version puts the full-length songs on vinyl for the first time. In order to do this, the album spans four sides on two 33 1/3 rpm discs.


Album Details:

Artist: Dire Straits
Album: Brothers In Arms (20th Anniversary Edition)
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Catalogue #: 49377-2
Format: Stereo, 48000 Hz / 24 bits
Type: Album
Country: USA
Release Date: 2005
Original Release Date: 1985
Language: English
Time: 55:13
Rating: 4 stars (allmusic.com)
Genre: Pop/Rock
Styles: Classic Rock, Rock & Roll, Album Rock, Contemporary Pop/Rock


Track listing:

All songs written by Mark Knopfler, except where indicated.

1. So Far Away – 5:11
2. Money for Nothing (Knopfler, Sting) – 8:27
3. Walk of Life – 4:12
4. Your Latest Trick – 6:34
5. Why Worry – 8:31
6. Ride Across the River – 6:58
7. The Man's Too Strong – 4:40
8. One World – 3:40
9. Brothers in Arms – 7:00


Personnel:

Band Personnel

* Mark Knopfler: guitars, vocals
* John Illsley: bass, vocals
* Alan Clark: keyboards
* Guy Fletcher: keyboards, vocals
* Terry Williams: drums

Additional Personnel

* Omar Hakim: drums
* Jack Sonni: guitar
* Michael Brecker: saxophone
* Randy Brecker: horn
* Malcolm Duncan: tenor saxophone
* Neil Jason: bass
* Tony Levin: bass
* Jimmy Maelen: percussion
* Michael Mainieri: background vocals
* Dave Plews: horn
* Sting: vocals on "Money for Nothing"


Lineage:

DVD-A –> DVDFab (Clone Mode) –> ISO file mounted it as a virtual drive with Daemon Tools –> DVD Decrypter (IFO Mode + Stream Processing + Demux + Audio - LPCM / 2ch / 48kHz / 24bit / English –> WavPack Frontend (normal compression) –> WV –> AvaxHome


Extra info:

- Original DVD-A Layer posted by TopCat on Jan 16,2009.
- I mounted the ISO file as a virtual drive with Daemon Tools.
- I used DVD Decrypter for ripping the LPCM 48/24 tracks.
- Codec used for lossless compression: WavPack v.4.60.1.
- Audio properties: Stereo / Samplerate 48000 Hz / Bitrate 24 bits.
- Artwork, 300 dpi, png format.


How to decode WV to WAV:

1. Open WavPack folder
2. Execute "WavPack frontend.exe"
3. Go to "Unpack" label
4. Drag & drop the .wv files
5. Click "Go"

- If you want to burn the tracks to CDR, you'll have to convert first to Redbook format (44.100 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo, PCM), which I think it's pretty useless. I prefer creating an Audio DVD with programs like Goland Audio DVD Creator. Audio DVD should not be confused with DVD-Audio, for which you need a special player and discs!









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