Blood, Sweat, and Tears "Child Is Father To The Man" Audio Fidelity Hybrid SACD

I will start this off by saying I own the Mobile Fidelity 24Kt. Gold CD, the Sony SBM 24Kt. Gold CD, the Japanese "Mini-LP" (not pictured) and now this Audio Fidelity hybrid SACD mastered by Steve Hoffman (for the stereo CD and SACD). I will say I did not listen to the 5.1 Ch. as I am not typically into multi-channel mixes (although I am intrigued because this mix is done by Al Kooper himself (mastered by Bob Ludwig).

I have heard this album well over 200 times in my life easily and am very very familiar with how it sounds. I have owned the Sony SBM 24Kt. gold CD and MFSL 24Kt. gold CD since they came out (in 1994 and 1998? respectively). They are both well done, but find myself listening to the MFSL CD a little more.

So, I put on the Steve Hoffman mastered stereo SACD layer from the beginning and when it started I have to say that I immediately noticed how absolutely real this sounds. The orchestration sounds "in your room". "Overture" is a phenominal opening to this album. Next came "I love you more than you'll ever know". I was immediately struck at the resolution of the instruments, and especially Al Kooper's voice. Good Lord this sounds absolutely phenominal! I continued listening onto "Morning Glory", which is one of my favorite tracks on the album (they are all pheominal). Again, Steve Katz's voice is absolutely stellar sounding!! No, really! Stellar! Again the resolution is absolutely unreal! It blows away any other mastering of this album I have heard.

Also, the imaging on this mastering is WAY more 3-D sounding than any other mastering.

I skipped ahead to " Meagan's Gypsy Eyes". The instruments sound absolutly real! The acoustic guitar sounds absolutely in the room! At this point I am grinning from ear to ear! I am very impressed!

I continued on listening to the rest of the album and enjoyed every minute of it!

Steve Hoffman absolutely oblitereated every other mastering of this album. It is that good!

Everyone absolutely needs to hear this mastering. The resolution is jaw dropping.......no really! It is that good.

I love this SACD! I haven;t heard the CD layer yet, but I am sure it's just as good (but lower resolution of course).

BUY THIS DISC!!!!!!!! You will not regret it.