Review :Ilayaraja- Raaja Digital CD's

[Audio_Freek]

Hi IR (Isai Raja )Current Fans and Future Fans,

I received long waited 11 Raaja Digital CDs previous day.I spent some time listening to the CD's and thought of registering my thoughts in name of Review.

I use to listen IR songs only via Radio\Cassette mostly during my childhood and now sourcing cds if it fits to my bill,So my midset before reviewing the CD was simple, the CD quality should be better than MP3 and if its sounds Like Cassette its good and If its like Radio then Very Good.Also I have heard Some Oriental\Pyramid\Ramiy CDs of IR, Its not fare to compare Head to head on those CDs to Raaja Digital, Since those CD costed 150-350 INT in 90's and this is Just 75 INR.

Moreover IR had gone though lot of troubles to bring these CD's in market,So being his fan we need to give our feedback some way, So that it could be corrected in future releases of IR Cd's from Raaja Digital. Will do part by part review and please post your thoughts as well.

CD1:Sri Ragavendra and Thaai Moogambikai
Art Work :2.5/5
Final Verdict : I have Oriental Second Edition and this sound not better to them on Quality

sriragavendra Songs
Rating:2.5-could feel the LP Hissing for most of the Songs.

Thaai Moogambikai
Rating :2.5/5,Below Average- Source is Noisy LP-No noice Reduction done or Remastering.

CD2agal Nilavu-Neethaney Andha Kuyil
Artwork:2.5/5
Final Verdict : No much improvement from MP3,not recommended
Neethaney Andha Kuyil
Rating :Below Average-Source is Noisy LP-No noice Reduction done or Remastering.
Hights: Poojaiketha Pooedu Sounds promissing

Pagal Nilavu
Average-Volume boosted up and its uneven across the tracks, Treable is too high and No much clarity compared to MP3 for few Songs.
Heights : Vaidehi Raman and Myna Myna -Songs is fair quality

CD3oonthota Kavalkaran-Pulan Visaranai-Ninaivey Sangeetham
Artwork:3/5
Final Verdict: Must have CD for Ilayaraja Iyya Fan's

Poonthota Kavalkaran
Rating :4/5
Heights:Balanced Voulme across the Songs, Clear Vocal, Lot of dynamics and Sounds Promising.

Ninaivey Oru Sangeetham
Rating :4/5
Heights:Balanced Voulme across the Songs, Clear Vocal, Lot of dynamics and Sounds Promissing.

Pulan Visaranai
Rating:3.5/5,Vocal could have been supressed and treable is High,But not too bad

CD4:Udayageetham-Rettai Vaal Kuruvi-Magudi
Artwork:3.5/5- for using the Films scene as Background for the CD Cover.
Final Vedict:2.5/5

Udayageeetham
Rating:3.5/5, Looks like Songs are sourced from LP\Cassete, Few songs are really good,But still remaining are bit Noisy and Low frequency has been supressed
Heights:Surely better than MP3 ,but not supreior though.Hit numbers are sounding good.

Rettai Vaal Kuruvi
Rating:3/5,Slight Noisy and voice supressed in few songs but overall Ok Ok.

Magudi
Rating: 2.5, Not better than MP3

CD5:Chinna Tambi- Aruvadai Naal
Artwork :4/5
Final Verdict : They have worked out on remastering, Volume, Vocal,High\Low Freq Blanced and Highly Recommended.

Chinna Tambi
Rating:4/5, This is the best Quality I have heard for Chinna Tambi in CD, Lot of detail

Aruvadai Naal
Rating :4/5,They have worked on remastering, for few songs Voice sounds laid back but not much noticeable

To be continued..

 

[COOLDUDE7808]

In my Opinion - AVM CD's and later on Agi Music CD's were of superior quality compared to what was available at that point in time .

I am going to get all the 12 CD's today ... Will Listen to it and post my comments

 

[Audio_Freek]

Agi Music CD's I Have Few and they are equal to Aditya. I was disappointed with AGI.

If I was Marketing manager for Raaja Digital, Would reach out to the Fan's to share their CD collection which they have on Oriental\Shankar\Pyramid\AVM etc and use them as Master to press these one's.
99% Fans might not heard Master, They know the Oriental and Pyramid Quality, If they press the same Quality, then It would have been clear success.

But I think they will learn from their mistakes. Either Just copy paste from First Edition CD's else spend time in mastering (Which is tedious).

We can Just keep Waiting.. as we did since now.

N.S Few Titles of Raaja Digital sound poor even compared to the Pirated CD.Bitter truth.

 

[Deleted member 25636]

Honest review..Great job audio freek :clapping::clapping:,Thanks a lot. Agni natchatram/anjali also good mastering. :clapping:

 

[COOLDUDE7808]

Got all the cd's .. noticed that some of the cd's have some extra tracks which are not present in Oriental CD's which I have . CD and Artwork quality is ok for the price .

Amman Koil Kizhakkale has the other version of Kalai Nera Vennila
Sindhu Bhairavi has Aditya Hrudyam Song sung by KJ Yesudas


Heard Aboorva Sagotharargal / Nanum Oru Thozhilali today .

Both of them are on the slightly brighter side . Heard the Oriental CD of Aboorva Sagotharargal which is much more smooth . But I guess slightly bright recordings for Indian songs is a plus .

Aboorva Sagotharargal was good . I liked the sound quality . The Oriental Version has the hiss sound in some songs which was not there in this one . Plus the sound in Oriental was suppressed whereas here it was more open . Hence could hear more instruments and new sounds very clearly . I would prefer this to the oriental version .

Nanum Oru Thozhilali - Cant play at even slightly loud volumes , vocals start cracking in some songs . You will notice a slight distortion in vocals if you hear carefully . Have not heard this in any other version . So cant compare this . Overall too loud .. not that good .
This reminds me of Sakalakala Vallavan which has much more complex music arrangements , and yet the SQ (AVM Audios ) is very good .


Listening to - Anjali / Agni Natchathiram (one of my all time fav)

 

[COOLDUDE7808]

Agni Natchathiram - Prefer the oriental version . More clarity and much more natural sound . Raaja Digital seems to have used Bass Booster . In case u have not heard Oriental you will like this one too . ITs much better than mp3 versions .

Anjali - I never liked the oriental version . This is a slight improvement over that .

Overall This CD is good in case you have been listening only to MP3 versions

 

[jmascreen]

Where to get it?

 

[ttarasu]

Where to get it?

http://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/B01N8R...SX118_SY170_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=raja+audio+c


TT

 

[Audio_Freek]

Part 2:
CD5:Aboorva Sagodharrargal-Nanum Oru Tholilali
Artwork:3/5
Final Verdict isappointed and not worthy to collect.

Abborva Sagodharrargal
Rating:2.5/5,Not Better than MP3,Unbalanced Volume,Hissing is evident.Looks like Bad Source could have used better source.
Nanum Oru Thozihali
Rating:2.5/5,Not Better than MP3,Unbalanced Volume,Hissing is evident.Looks like Bad Source could have used better source.


CD6:Agni Natchathiram-Anjali
Artwork:3/5
Final Verdict: Agni Natchathiram is one in the best of IR compositions and dont know why the Raaja Digital forgot to give some special attention to get the good source and try Remaastering.Atleast in Anjali they source some good CD i guess its evident in the CD.Though its not a best quality but really better to Mp3.

Agni Natchathiram
Rating:2.5/5,No Mastering has been done, very normal Source I think so.Slightly better to MP3.Vocal is not so good and vibrating and beading for some songs.

Anjali
Rating:3.5/5,Total Analogue feel, No added dynamics\clarity to the music ,its simply like listening in Cassette, So its Good. Volume is balanced across all music.

CD7:Ninaivellam Nithya-Pandi Naatu thangam-Paadum Paravaigal
Artwork:3/5
Final Verdict: If you like Paandi Naatu thangam, then buy this CD, its worth for one film only

Ninaivellam Nithya
Rating:3/5, SOurce is not good even here, Volume imbalance across the ablum, They have tried remastering on Treable and looks like missed to balance it with other frequency.What happen to Vocal man !!!? Slighty better to MP3,But not so evident.

Paandi Naatu Thangam
Rating:3.5/5, The quality is good,Nice clarity,Dynamics,extra sounds in remastering .But cant give 4/5 (Its worth) Since the film songs are good even in MP3 (Might be recordig was good for this film).

Paadum Paravaigal
Rating: 2,I had never heard this movie music not even at average from any source until now, Might be Master itself sounds same.Hence not disappointed, and You could better thing this album is not there in the CD


CD8 : Punnagai Mannan -Enakul Oruvan
Artwork :3.5/5
Final Verdict : Yes, its worth and Quality is Good\Okok. The Tracks mismatch to the Inlay

Punnaigai Mannan
Rating:4/5, Defenitely Worth for AudiO CD quality, but Felt that they Could have Sourced Oriental First Edition and remastered forsuch Gem Album for some fresh feel.

Enakkul Oruvan
Rating :3.5, It good and has analogue feel though remastering has supressed the vocal slightly.Mutham Podathey song Is like Remix :-(, if you like this song, Please dont listen in the CD

To be Continued...

 

[jmascreen]

Thanks

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

[Tamil Music]

good reviews thanks
i prefer raaja's earlier cds

 

[indy70]

Nice Thread guys. I saw the Audio CD bunch at odyssey in Adyar and was wondering about the quality. I bought Agni Natchatram and Anjali and it seems to be ok. Anjali is better than my Oriental CD. Agni Natchatram I have only from iTunes remastered which is actually good and this one seems to be in par but not great or any better.

I also felt, agi and aditya music are great CDs. They have to remaster and rerelease like how they are doing for Beatles.

 

[vinothkumarb]

Hi all,

I was planning to buy this 12 CD set, but looking at the reviews I'm not sure if I should. It's been a long time since we saw any decent Audio CDs of Raja sir music & it's a let down again.

When can we have good Sound Engineers work on re-mastering his great music collection?

 

[Audio_Freek]

Vinoth,

Even I got these CD's (Expecting only Average Quality),Since the intention is that the Raaja Audio company should realize there are Few People in Crowd who still like to pay for the CD'S and If we spend some time TIME to reach best Source and Remastering, we have Small market and people will buy.

By getting and Giving the Feedback about the Raaja Digital Cd's, We can get better CD's in future release of Raaja.