Which artists or changes would give SACD and/or DVD-Audio the biggest boost? (1 Viewer)

[Lee Scoggins]

42% of SACD player owners recommend Trident to their friends who chew gum

42% of Super Audio fans recommend no DBTs to the their friends who Chu Gai

 

[KeithH]

Lee, that's cute.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Thank you.

 

[KeithH]

Lee, I have to give credit where credit is due.

 

[Justin Lane]

I wish Warner would get off their butts and put Dire Straits out on DVD-A for one.

As mentioned earlier The Beatles The Who, Led Zep, more Paul Simon and the Eagles would do good for either format, though some of the artists mentioned would probably be married to DVD-A because of their relationship with Warner. Really though, Sony needs to put out Hybrid discs. If the only way titles were available were Hybrids either via new releases or remasters, SACD could own the marketplace quite quickly by being backward compatible with CD.

J

 

[KeithH]

Justin, I wouldn't be able to control myself if Dire Straits Brothers in Arms came out on DVD-Audio, especially with a 24/192 stereo track. I can only imagine how good that would sound. Wow. Maybe we should start a petition and send it to Warner.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Keith,

Since 'Brothers in Arms' was recorded in 16/48, it is not going to benefit much from 24/192.

 

[GordonL]

The bottom line is the availability of more titles that appeal to the age group that buys the most music, whatever that may be. Making the hardware more portable/mobile would help also. I don't think the masses will buy if they can't take the music with them.

 

[KeithH]

Michael, it is true that Brothers in Arms is an early digital recording, but I would still like to hear it in 24/192. It still may beat any of the versions on CD including the XRCD (which I have). If nothing else, perhaps the utmost care would be taken to author the DVD-Audio disc. Maybe a DVD-Audio version would be no better than the current CDs, but I would like to be able to make the comparison. I will say this. To my ears, the XRCD beats the Warner remastered CD (I have both the US and UK versions), so perhaps there is further room for improvement in releasing Brothers in Arms on DVD-Audio.

 

[Brian Perry]

Since 'Brothers in Arms' was recorded in 16/48, it is not going to benefit much from 24/192.

This is an excellent point, and is part of the confusion that will hinder the acceptance of hi-res formats to the general public. Unless, as Rich suggested, the rollout is done stealthily, I don't see the point of new formats when the studios are not even using the current CD standard to its maximum potential!

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Since 'Brothers in Arms' was recorded in 16/48, it is not going to benefit much from 24/192.

Yes, but if someone was smart and kept an analog copy, we could get DSD or 24/192 treatment that is very tasty and filling.
Let's hope there is an analog master for this album which is one of my favorites.

 

[Brian Perry]

Yes, but if someone was smart and kept an analog copy, we could get DSD or 24/192 treatment that is very tasty and filling.

Let's hope there is an analog master for this album which is one of my favorites.

???

When the front of the CD says "Full Digital Recording" doesn't that imply there is no analog copy? Maybe Vince or someone else can chime in, but is it possible to record both ways simultaneously?

 

[Zen Butler]

I agree with the majority, that if a big band (Creed, Jay-Z, Dr. Dre etc.) or even an established (Bowie, Prince) truly embraces one of the formats, it would help spring the aforementioned forward a bit.
To speak for myself and many of my music collecting friends, we have been just waiting in the wings for
1. prices to come down(but with an SACD player for $179 now, it's almost a non-issue)
2. To see which of the formats prevail.
I have spoke with many, that are very aware of these hi-rez formats and are planning to upgrade or add to their current collections.

 

[Jeff Savage]

I think portable, car, and PC players are the key. Why would J6P purchase something that can only be played in the living room? Look at the explosion of MP3 players. People want portability and convenience. They couldn't care less about sound quality.
I have a universal player so it does not matter to me which one wins
Laters,

 

[Lee Scoggins]

When the front of the CD says "Full Digital Recording" doesn't that imply there is no analog copy? Maybe Vince or someone else can chime in, but is it possible to record both ways simultaneously?

Yes, absolutely. We do it all the time at Chesky records. You just use a splitter or mixing circuit to split off a signal chain to each of the ADC or Analog reel.
Stereophile also does this I believe on its recordings.

It will definitely depend on what the original engineers did, but there can be some improvement in sound even at 16/44 upsampled. This explains why upsamplers are popular among audiophiles. Of course, the best deal is to use original hi-rez, but it was still in research form at the time of this album.

 

[AaronD]

IMHO Sony needs to get enough manufacturing capacity on hand to release the majority of their CD's as Hybrid SACD's. The stealth roll out talked about here is the way to go.

Once a significant number of disc's are available the marketing department can then take over. I think instead of focusing solely on the better quality they should focus on the multi-channel mixes for J6P. The multi-channel mixes will give the consumer a reason to buy that new piece of hardware so they can hear their music in "surround sound".

Instead of an artist touting their latest CD they can tout their latest CD with a multi-channel version...RIGHT ON THE SAME DISC! How cool is that? Heh, no news to us but others will think it's neato!

I think if SA gains mainstream popularity it will be by blurring the lines between CD and SACD so the consumer sees it mostly as an extension of the CD. The consumer will know that if they want to take advantage of this new "CD" they'll have to purchase an additional piece of hardware (or perhaps their DVD player already has the capability).

As for artists, I think the real dam buster will be top 40 albums promoted as new "spiffy" cd's.

My $0.02...

-Aaron

 

[Danny Tse]

I agree with Jeff from above regarding portable, car, and PC usability. Wouldn't more hybrid discs take care of that situation? I think more hybrid SACD rollouts of big albums, like the recent Dixie Chicks and Elvis releases, would get the ball going.

 

[Neil Weinstock]

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes (the above sentiments, not the band, though I wouldn't mind hearing "Close to the Edge" on DVD-A.)

Mobile players are key. Heck, that's what limits *me* from buying DVD-A discs; most of my listening is done in my car. With DVD-A, I can't listen to it in my car, and I can't rip it to an MP3 player. That means that in most cases, I must own DVD-A titles on CD as well. As long as this situation exists, I don't think anything could trigger mass acceptance of the format. If they threw in an audio CD version with the DVD-A disc, that would help, though I doubt they'd ever do it.

SACD's hybrid discs are nearly a solution to this problem. That they're producing non-hybrid discs right now really seems a shame, regardless of the reasons.

Admittedly, when CD's first started to gain a toehold, car players and portable players were not yet common. However, the CD offered such a major improvement in convenience and perceived sound quality that people didn't care. The convenience was a huge issue; the new formats offer no such advantage.

A car should be a great place to listen to multi-channel audio disks, even if just the DD 5.1 track. And good heavens, they need to be navigable without a video screen.

To be fair, the DVD-A selection right now really is meager; however, even if the whole music catalog were available I still don't think there'd be a stampede to use it, at least not yet.

 

[Al B. C]

With DVD-A, I can't listen to it in my car,

Sure you can.

There's a bunch of in dash DVD car decks that will play back DD & DTS audio, and Panasonic has at least one DVD-A unit available right now.

 

[Neil Weinstock]

Not in my case. In my car (Saab, and many others nowadays) it is not readily possible to replace the head unit, as it is integrated in with the electronics of the car. I'm stuck with redbook for this car, and it's possible that with my next one I'll be stuck with whatever they support from the factory. Believe me, I wish that weren't the case. It's too bad, because my car has a built-in center channel on the dash.

I'm encouraged by the increasing availability of multichannel head units, but I think there's still quite a way to go.

I could also be completely wrong in my opinion on this; it's just my gut feel.

I've also been thinking some more about why CD's weren't deterred by this same problem. I've concluded that people were already accustomed to recording their LPs to cassette tape for in-car listening. In this respect, CDs were therefore no worse than LPs. On the contrary, tapes made from CDs would have some of the same benefits as CDs themselves (no clicks or pops). The advent of ubiquitous mobile CD players was just a huge bonus for the format, though one that (IMHO) people are now accustomed to.