Blu-ray Audio discs with original quad and high-res stereo mixes (both 192/24 resolution) of the following albums:

The J. Geils Band - Nightmares… and Other Tales from the Vinyl Jungle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCB2Y93S/?tag=imwan-20

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCB266DK/?tag=imwan-20

Jefferson Starship - Red Octopus
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCB1MZPR/?tag=imwan-20

Black Sabbath - Paranoid
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCB4K6TP/?tag=imwan-20

I was excited when I got this news from Rhino on Friday. I already ordered two of these blu-rays. Wasn't sure if this should be posted here or in From The Vaults. I'll let the admins move it as they see fit.

Wish Sony/Columbia would do the same with the 2 Blue Öyster Cult albums that had quad mixes - particularly Tyrrany & Mutation since that one sounds significantly different from the stereo mix.

Got my order in of course! Really excited about Jefferson Starship’s ‘Red Octopus’! My surround system needs some new demo material.

I would love to get some early BOC quad mixes (did they do any other albums in that format?). Also, Sony could probably do a box set of Santana quad mixes. They just need to come up with a name as catchy as "Quadio" (sarcasm alert).

They only did Secret Treaties and Tyranny from what I remember. ST isn’t all that remarkable (there was a SACD release not that long ago), but T&M is the real gem, because the mix is very different in some spots. I spoke to Buck about it once and he said the big difference was that the band was actually involved with the T&M mix and even recorded some extra tracks for it, whereas the ST mix was just handled by one of the producers.

Tony Iommi acknowledges how great it is to have Paranoid in quad today on Facebook!

I'm pretty sure it has been out in the Quad mix before.

If someone could post how the 2.0 on this compares to the previous Warner dvd-a, I'd appreciate it!

For which album, Geff?

If I only had a brain..................

Alice Cooper Billion Dollar Babies.

For some reason, Rhino apparently shipped my two Quadio blu-rays in separate packages even though they were placed in the same order. One of the shipments is on its way while the other one is still waiting to be received by the USPS. I'm hoping they erroneously sent me two tracking numbers and the one that's in transit has both items. Any idea if Rhino is reliable when it comes to fulfilling orders?

Rhino's shipping is fine, but I wouldn't be surprised if the two discs are shipped separately.

I've never had issues w/Rhino delivering.

I got my Black Sabbath blu-ray today. Played the quad mix and it was...just okay. It's a bit gimmicky with sounds bouncing between speakers, although some songs were done better than others. Since I love the entire Chicago "Qaudio" set I had high expectations for these, but it all depends on the original quad mix. Hoping the Alice Cooper blu-ray, which is arriving tomorrow, sounds better. I will also play the Sabbath high-res stereo mix later this week.

Rich, thanks! Looking forward to your opinion of the Cooper 2.0, especially if you have the old dvd-a to compare it to!

Got the 4 today, 3 came in one package, Paranoid came in its own package.

The quad is a neat idea, but I think I'm going to get the ones I get mainly for the hi-res. Although some of the alternate mixes have been good for exposing parts that are hard to hear in the stereo mix ("God Of Thunder" guitar solo on Kiss's "Destroyer").

I haven't had a chance to play the Paranoid high-res stereo mix yet. Geff, I'll let you know my thoughts when I do. I don't have the original DVD-Audio so I can only compare it to my existing CD. I just played the Billion Dollar Babies blu-ray and its fantastic. Whoever did the original quad mix knew what he was doing. There are some gimmicky sound effects but it works here (unlike on the Sabbath disc), and the overall sound is stellar (with a great phantom center so Alice's vocals are right there).

My only other complaint (a minor one) is the packaging. Unlike the Chicago Quadio discs, which had exact replicas of the original sleeves (including gatefolds, inserts, posters, etc), these have 8-page booklets, with two of the pages devoted to quad mixes (vs. mono & stereo) and an explanation of "Quadio."

John, I couldn't justify spending any more on the other two, even though I love J. Geils Band and like Jefferson Starship, so please let us know how those sound to you.

I thought long and hard about the Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper but in the end am going to pass I don't do surround so it was all about the hi rez stereo for me, and from comments from Rhino it sounds like they really focused on the quad mastering and the stereo version received much less attention. And while I am no expert on such matters, there are a lot of comments around the internet that Paranoid used a master tape from the Warners archive while a master in the British archives is in better shape and is much preferred by the diehards (could be so, but the difference could be so slight that I'd probably not be able to notice). That's not intended to be a knock on Rhino, as they probably used the best of what they had access to. All that being said, the comments I've seen online regarding these releases have been very positive.

Geff, I played the Sabbath hi-res stereo mix yesterday. As I mentioned before, I don't have the previous DVD-Audio to compare it to, so I'll just say that I think this version sounds fantastic. The volume is lower than the quad mix so I got to crank the volume up and enjoyed the warm and punchy sound. I have a mid-range system so it won't compare to yours, but I'm confident that you will enjoy it if you decide to buy the blu-ray, and hopefully it will be an improvement over any previous versions you've heard.

On a related note, the high-res stereo version of Billion Dollar Babies was just okay. I was much more impressed by the quad mix on that disc.

Rich, thanks; that was helpful!