YES "High Vibration" hybrid SACD set.

I had a chance to listen to a number of tracks from several albums from this set (I did not listen to an entire album from the box)).

First, I listened to the "Tormato" disc. I listened to "On The Silent Wings Of Freedom". When the track started, I could tell there was a slight veil on the track compared to the standard Rhino CD (IMO). Not too bad of a veil, but there. The tonality was good, but not blow the CD out of the water good. I thought it bested the standard CD, but not a night and day difference. One thing I did notice is that the song sounded smooth as silk compared to the standard CD.

Next, I compared "And You And I" from the the High Vibration set to the Audio Fidelity Steve Hoffman mastered hybrid disc. I listened to the High vibration disc first, the the AF (Steve Hoffman) and the the High Vibration again. After the comparison, I will say that I do not know what others were hearing, but the AF (Steve Hoffman) mastered hybrid SACD is definately better than the High Vibration SACD. It is close, but the AF (Steve Hoffman) disc is certainly better from a tonality point-of-view. I will also say that for all other discs that have a previously mastered hybrid SACD/Gold CD this is true.

Next, I listened to Tales From Topographic Oceans and the track of "The Ancient:Giants Under The Sun". Holy ****! this sounded good! I have heard this album hundreds of times and this time the bass, high end, clarity, detail, etc., were all better than previously heard. I do not know about a "night and day difference" but certainly noticable. AF (Steve Hoffman) need to release this on a SACD and it would be "perfect".

Next, I listened to 90125 and "Owner Of A Lonely Heart", and "It Can Happen". Owner of a lonely heart sounded very good! Better than the Gold AF disc. More resolution, but possibly not as smooth as the Gold AF disc (the one exception to my rule above and below).

Next I listened to the Big Generator SACD and "Shoot High, Aim Low". Sounds good, but not terribly better than the standard CD. The SACD does show that the production of the album, specifically the drums of Alan White could be better.

I took a break after that.

I came back and the listened to The YES Album and the first 3 tracks ("Your Is No Discgrace", "Clap" and "Starship Trooper"). I was comparing this SACd to the Mobile Fidelity Gold CD. The Mobile Fidelity absolutely has better tone to it. The bass is more solid, the vocals are more clear, and the resolution is better (IMO). It was becoming more and more clear that even standard CD's sound better than SACD's when mastered better. this is good evidence of that fact.

Next, I listened to the "bonus disc" in the High Vibration set; and specifically "Dear Father". The track sounded good. I always liked the way this track sounded on normal CD. The SACD made it even better. The resolution, detail and clarity were all better than the CD, but again, not a night and day difference.

In conclusion, I hope this gives you all and idea of how this set sounds. i still recommend keeping your AF SACD's and/or Mobile Fidelity Gold CD's. This set does sound better than the Standard CD's put out for the other albums however. Tales sounds phenominal! I still need to l,isten to Relayer, Drama, GFTO, YES, Time and a word, and Fragile. Perhaps I will report back afterwards. Thanks for reading.