**or**
Chicago - Chicago V DVD-Audio (Kazaamies = 4 of 5)
For the sake of brevity, I hope no one minds; but I'll try to cover both of these separate releases combined into a single review. They are very similar, so comments pretty much apply to both. Here's what I think: The surround mixes are somewhat aggressive, but they sound nice. A little bit of everything---horns, vocals, percussion, etc---seems to appear in the surrounds at one time or another. However, I find it to be very listenable even after repeated plays. I suppose it's because of the great songs and the 'live' vibe of the performance. As far as the sonics/fidelity aspect goes, I used to believe these weren't very good. I thought they were probably overcompressed. It has been my opinion that the advanced resolution DVD-Audio didn't sound all that much different from even the lossy Dolby Digital tracks. And, I suppose, they don't. However, after acquiring a recent CD of the band's greatest hits album entitled "Only The Beginning", I realized that the sound on these DVD-Audios is, in fact, not overcompressed. At least not when compared to that particular CD. For instance, the opening bass line of "Dialogue (Parts I & II)" is loose and open on the DVD-Audio. It just resonates and sounds full. In comparison, the opening bass line on the CD version sounds tight and restrained; but not in a good way. So I always liked these DVD-Audios of Chicago II and V. However, it appears they are actually better than I originally thought.
Note: If I'm not mistaken, the packaging for the frequency rate and bit depth listed on the back cover of these two albums is reversed. I can't recall which is which. But one of them says the stereo tracks are 192 kHz / 24 bits when it is actually 96 kHz / 24 bits. And the other says it is 96 kHz / 24 bits when it is actually 192 kHz / 24 bits. I don't recall if there were any inconsistencies with regards to the figures listed for the multi-channel tracks, though.
