Despite the best efforts of a handful of devoted journalists, a few former hippies at the major record labels, and approximately four consumers who wish to remain anonymous, DVD-Audio is dead and Super Audio CD is on its last legs. Yet I come not to bury multichannel music, but to exalt it. Some may question why I celebrate something few seem to care about. But I insist that people do care. When I spin a cut from Frank Zappa or Herbie Hancock in surround sound, my guests are immediately aurally engaged like never before. But most simply cannot or will not invest in the technology because of its competing, confining, and cumbersome proprietary formats that cannot be ripped to their iPods.

Any audio format that hopes to bring surround-sound music to the masses must be flexible, intuitive, and compatible with hardware everyone already has—and that includes iPods and other MP3 players. Because it fulfills these requirements, Monster Music’s new SuperDisc Digital Music Album may succeed where its music surround-sound predecessors have failed. With one exception, every SuperDisc comes packed with a separate stereo CD and multichannel DVD, along with supplemental background material and, more often than not, several versions of the album mixed from completely different vantage points.

But the real Monster Music coup de grâce may be the inclusion of digital music files ripped straight from the master audio files and tailor-made for your MP3 player, computer, or music server—all THX-certified, in stereo or with Dolby Headphone encoding for full surround sound from any ordinary set of headphones or earbuds, to boot. So whether you’re sitting at home encircled by speakers, or stuck in the subway with an iPod on your hip, SuperDisc delivers one heck of a Show-Off—any time, any place.

Ray Charles: Genius Loves Company
Best Track: 2—“Sweet Potato Pie”

This smoking remix of Ray’s final gift to the music world—a compilation of duets featuring the likes of Norah Jones, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, and Van Morrison—represents everything there is to love about multichannel music. Rather than simply fluffing up the original stereo mix, the surround-sound redux essentially reinvents each song from scratch, at times following the fine line between brilliance and insanity, poking it with a short stick, then running with a giggle back to relative safety. Photography courtesy of Monster Music

Ray’s duet with James Taylor represents this bold, gleeful, and even mischievous approach better than any other cut from the disc. Almost as if they are afraid to share the same space with two such legends, the horns and six-string rush to the back of the room and fill it from top to bottom. And whereas the original stereo locks their voices in the middle of the mix, the surround sound pushes them to opposite sides of the stage and plays a graceful game of aural Pong with their back-and-forth banter. It gives the vocals such an amazing energy that when they finally do brush against one another in a fleeting moment of oh-so-sweet harmony, the air between them almost bursts into flame.Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Best Track: 4—“Linus and Lucy”
Various Artists: 40 Years, A Charlie Brown Christmas
Best Track: 3—“Linus and Lucy”

Monster Music’s twin release of Guaraldi’s original holiday classic juxtaposed with the new light-jazz interpretations of the same songs makes for an entertaining study in variations on a theme. The modern interpretations offer more raw materials for a flexible, flirtatious sonic dance, especially Dave Koz’s riff on “Linus and Lucy.” (And if you are unfamiliar with the songs by name, get out in the middle of the floor and do the Snoopy Dance—the first song that will pop into your head is almost certainly this one.)

But the original is perhaps the greater revelation of the two. Browse through the Jazz Club, Concert Hall, and On Stage mixes and take note of how the very shape of the song ebbs and flows. Then switch over to the stereo track—created from the original master tapes—and witness this beautifully constructed audible world collapse like a house of cards. Photography courtesy of Monster Music

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3 Doors Down: Live, Away from the Sun
Best Track: 10—“It’s Not Me”

Although this is the only SuperDisc that does not include a CD, it is one of two so far to feature full video accompaniment along with its slick surround audio, and what a gorgeous accompaniment it is. The glossy, almost high-definition widescreen concert footage bristles with detail and an effervescent palette of colors that cut right through the screen without bleeding.

The visuals take a back seat to the audio presence of the disc, though. For those who want a more traditional concert experience, the In the Audience mix plops you in the midst of the screaming crowd, with the band spread out in front of you and the walls of the stadium a million miles away. For my money, though, the liquidity of the On Stage mix is so much more fun, especially on in-betweener tracks such as “It’s Not Me,” which lacks the raunch of rockers like “Kryptonite” but doesn’t fall into the power ballad vein of “Be Like That.”

This is a tough arrangement to analyze, but an easy one in which to get lost: Each speaker does its own thing, but somehow they meld into a single, albeit amorphous, entity. Frontman Brad Arnold’s voice bathes your front, but cannot be nailed down to the front speakers. Guitars paint the walls, bass melts into the carpet, and drums emanate from somewhere between your fifth and sixth ribs. But somehow it all comes together, and the whole becomes amazingly greater than the sum of its parts. Photography courtesy of Monster Music

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Peter Cincotti: Live in New York
Best Track: 14—“Night in Tunisia”

For something a bit more laid back, in both content and presentation, take a gander at this head-bopping, foot-tapping, collection of zippy jazz standards and original pieces borne of the same mold. Cincotti’s performance is a deft mix of fresh interpretation and unabashed reverence—a spirit embodied beautifully by the playful ambience of the surround sound.
 
As enjoyable as the dedicated surround mix is, however, I actually prefer the Dolby Headphone-encoded files. I often rave about surround sound that makes a room sound larger; Dolby Headphone actually makes your head sound larger. That is a good thing. Unless you sport a head the size of a prize-winning pumpkin, the sense of scale created by two tiny speakers strapped to the sides of your cranium typically does not cut it. But with Dolby Headphone, the piano, drums, horns, and strings are definitely “out there,” rather than “in here.” What’s more, the immediacy of the sound brings out subtle details that struggle to make their way through actual atmosphere but slice right through the Dolby Headphone-generated environment with grace and ease. Photography courtesy of Monster Music