Jazz at the Pawnshop / Various

Very nice...this is my first SACD...never understood my DVD Oppo 103 had external decoder "outputs" RCA connects. and more surprising my 1999 Yamaha HTR-5150 receiver has the required external decoder inputs...never knew why it had external decoder setting. Now it makes sense. I am in the SACD business and I play clarinet, so right off Tracks 1 and 2 some nice clarinet jazz, which is not so common. He's playing sax now, that's Disc2 on an old Sony 5-CD player. I like the hybrid idea: allows single disc SACD DVD or 5-CD player options.

When I listen to this album, my only gripe is that I can't believe I hadn't heard of it until just recently. This has become my go to background jazz music. With the sounds at the bar and perfect recording, you feel like you're just hanging out in a fantastic place.Of course, I don't just use it for background music. The album deserves much more respect than that. I recently upgraded my music system at home and have started to enjoy vinyl again. Quite frankly, the last time I enjoyed vinyl this much was when I was a little kid swapping out the smaller 45s on my 'portable' record player.I first came across this album by listening to one of the many YouTube sites that I follow. It was suggested as one of the best vinyl recording ever made. I could have listened to it on Spotify or Tidal, but I decided to wait until the vinyl record came it. From the moment I started to play the record, I was absolutely blown away by so many things. The quality is just phenomenal. You truly get the feeling that you're there in the crowd watching the band play. The musicians and the music are also just amazing. I'm becoming a major jazz enthusiast, so I didn't recognize all of the songs but for the ones that I did (especially Take Five) I was so pleased with the rendition that it made me love those songs all over again.The price of vinyl albums is really quite astounding so I don't have a huge collection. I think pretty hard before handing this much money over for something I could easily stream for no extra out of pocket costs. However, in this case I was happy to add this to my collection. It's something that I'll care for and enjoy for as long as I can live. I also want to make sure that my children can appreciate this at some point, so I will take care of it to hand it over to them as well.Very highly recommended!

This recording is legendary. I know it has its haters… don’t listen to them. Play this with a decent 2 channel setup and sit in the sweet spot. The instruments will float in front of you and you feel like you are there. Looking for something to test your soundstage? This is it. I purchased the 3 disc SACD 30th anniversary version with the DVD. This was worth every penny.

I bought this thinking I was getting the Limited Numbered Edition set. Everything about it appeared as though that is what I was getting. The Amazon image clearly shows "Limited Numbered Edition", however when i received it, that wording was nowhere to be found.I checked on Proprius' website and found this item in their catalog, where it specifically showed the same image, and mentioned the worldwide limit to 3000 copies. It is catalog #PRSACD 7879.PRSACD 7879 is indeed what is on the jacket of what I received from Amazon.So I began to wonder if there was just an outer jacket on it covering the real box that does say "Limited Numbered Edition" and the pressing #. But concerned I wouldn't be able to return it once it was opened, I called Amazon CS...while I'm not completely sure the CS rep I spoke to completely understood me, I explained my situation and concern and she said to go ahead and open it and if its not what I ordered I could return and recieve a full refund no problem. So while I was on the phone with her I did just that....I was disappointed. There is no indication that this is a Numbered edition in any way shape or form. The only Number on it is the Catalog # and the UPC code.Unfortunately I will be sending this back. I will be ordering the proper Numbered edition from elsewhere. I'd love to have just gotten it right the first time or to at least get a new one sent to me, but something tells me that Amazon does NOT have this in the numbered edition and that I would just be going through this exercise all over again.Because this is not the limited edition, that might explain why it was on pre-order status and only just released on Nov 17th 2009, when in fact this has been on the market for a few years now. Proprius probably released this as a not so limited release.So if you don't care about this being a limited #'ed edition, then go for it.I rated it 5/5 stars simply because the product itself simply deserves that based on the overwhelming reviews I've read elsewhere. It does not deserve a ding because Amazon is not selling the right version. Hopefully they will correct the image if they expect to avoid many returns and disappointed customers.