Heaven! (1 Viewer)

Being a musician I've been to countless shows, played shows, listened to lots of stereos and PA's etc.. I can't believe I've never heard music through a surround system before.. Man have I been missing out. I didn't know music could sound so awesome! I haven't even got my sub in yet today but I'm sitting here in total bliss rocking out to Alice In Chains, back up vocals sneaking up behind me singing in my ear, scorching guitar solos screaming around me like I'm enveloped in a musical wave of energy... I can't even describe it... (you all know what I'm talking about though lol) As soon as I hook the sub up and the bass drum is thumping in my chest I probably wont want to leave the house... A few people had me questioning if I made the right decision getting these Infinity speakers... I couldn't imagine a better sound!

If you ever decide to spend big bucks and buy speakers your grandkids kids will be enjoying... Zu Audio Soul Superfly Apogee (any of them...if you find them, the company went under 15 years{???} Ago and they ruined me from ever buying ML) KEF Muon (I have no idea how much those are...just know around the cost of a decent car) And the list goes on. Big tip, try to get into DVD-A/SACD and get (at minimum) an Oppo 970.

HAHA, those price tags are not worth any sound quality to me, hell those speakers better wake up and make me breakfast for those prices! Wow...

Second the DVD-A/SACD suggestion. And if you only have a regular dvd/bluray player DVD-A's have a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 layer...track...whatever it's supposed to be called...so you can enjoy true 5.1 (even if it is standard resolution). Some of the most popular DVD-A's are getting pretty expensive on the used market. Glad I got mine at the original prices many years ago. Pet Sounds can be played in 5 different formats! And the Extra's are facinating. As a musician you would enjoy them. It and Dark Side Of The Moon can both be found at original prices at some Fry's and maybe on-line. The Infinity Primus 163's and Beta 20's are excellent bookshelf speakers for the price. Good bargains on CL too but prices can jump pretty high on ebay for the Beta's. BTW, here's a system I'd love to audition in a proper room... http://www.hometheater.com/content/revel-ultima2-salon2-speaker-system :yum:

I use my PS3 for Movies, that and Netflix. I've been listening to music off of YouTube today and a lot of it sounds like it must have 5.1 tracks unless my receiver is just splitting it up. But the way the backup vocals and certain musical parts were coming in from the surrounds they must be in 5.1?? I know nothing about these other formats your talking about, you have to buy special cd/dvds to play in them or is it just some kind of new standard encoding?

You need a universal dvd or bluray player. You can get them at less than $100 for a decent one, like the OPPO Sam suggested, or Pioneer Elite. Get one that outputs those formats via hdmi. The older models used the 6 channel analog inputs. Denon, yamaha and some others also made them a a while back. Like I said, DVD-A's can be played on a regular dvd/br player in standard definition. DVD-A is 48, 96 or 192K, cd's are 44.1K. SACD is a whole different thing. Concert dvd's are also a blast in surround sound.

What do DVD-A's have that Blue Ray doesn't? Or are we just talking for soundtracks?

I haven't checked in a while, but DSD is a higher bit rate than anything on BD...like almost double. Basically...imagine the entire bit-rate of BD...but for audio only. That is DSD(SACD). DVD-A is the "dolby digital" where SACD is akin to DTS...(Those that know what I'm talking about are nodding in agreement) Elton John Madman Across the Water is an excellent SACD to start with...and your PS3 will play it. Your Denon might decode DSD...if it does, send it raw. If the Denon doesn't, have the PS3 convert it to MCH PCM. (Multi-CHannel)

Most of the NIN albums released "after" DSD are hybrids(easy to find) and from before Trent went "rogue".

DVD-A is basically music on a dvd disc. DVD's can carry a lot more information than a cd can. 6 times as much in fact. CD's are 16 bit/44.1khz while dvd's are 24 bit/48khz. DVD-A's can be as high as 24 bit/192khz, but it is still a lossy format. A single DVD-A disc can have a hi-resolution 5.1 layer, a stereo layer, a mono layer, a Dolby Digital layer, etc. The Pet Sounds DVD-A can be played in 5.1, stereo and mono hi-resolution as well as stereo and 5.1 standard resolution. Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio are even better. They are lossless. You get everything that's on the recording. An album on BluRay in DTS Master Audio will be much better than a DVD-A but very few albums have been on BluRay so far. There were quite a few DVD-A's released in the early 2000's and many of them were Classic and Album rock. The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Eric Claptan, etc. were released on DVD-A. Many were also released SACD but Classical music has always been the popular genre on SACD. As Sam said, your PS3 will play back SACD and the Dolby Digital 5.1 layers of DVD-A so give them a try. many DVD-A's and SACD's are prohibitively expensive but many are still affordable. Check the availability of music on BluRay, either in album or concert form, and really get the best you can get.

Originally Posted by Ryan West
I've been listening to music off of YouTube today and a lot of it sounds like it must have 5.1 tracks unless my receiver is just splitting it up. But the way the backup vocals and certain musical parts were coming in from the surrounds they must be in 5.1??
I know nothing about these other formats your talking about, you have to buy special cd/dvds to play in them or is it just some kind of new standard encoding?

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To summarize a lot of what Sam and Gene are talking about - regular CDs are simple stereo (2.0). Most likely anything off of YouTube is also 2.0 stereo. Some NetFlix movies have a form of Dolby 5.1, but not all of them do.
Your new AVR uses Dolby ProLogic or other signal processing to simulate surround sound, and as you've discovered, for some material it does a pretty impressive job. Most receivers have an "All Channel Stereo" mode that can very effective at filling a room with music during a party - it basically duplicates the front left signal in the surround left, the front right in the surround right, etc. If you leave your receiver set to "Direct" or whatever the equivalent is to "no signal processing" you should hear the original stereo soundtrack whenever you play a CD.
DVD-A and SACD are special audio formats that are actually encoded with more than 2 channels of audio. Since these formats are native 5.1 (or thereabouts), the result is even better than what you get with ProLogic. In order to play these formats, requires a compatible player, the appropriate discs and the ability of your receiver to decode them.
Glad to see that you're enjoying the new system. You really have stepped into a whole new world. Congrats!

Ryan West said:

HAHA, those price tags are not worth any sound quality to me, hell those speakers better wake up and make me breakfast for those prices! Wow...

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I've posted a few times about getting an audition at http://egglestonworks.com/ . They only had a pair of Savoy's ($55,000/pair) on display. Add in the cost of the amps (Boulder monoblocks), the extras and the system cost more than my first house. Then again, I got the same feeling when I listened to my first set of quality DIY speakers - Dayton DIII. It's difficult to describe the feeling but I know exactly what you felt when you were sitting there listening.

Wow if it gets better than the ProLogic I'll have to check it out! I never knew there were different format options available for CD's I just thought a music CD was a music CD.. Do music stores display these SACD's in their own racks or are they mixed in with the regulars or what? Geez I sound dumb huh? It's been awhile since I shopped for music other than through iTunes..

Forget trying to find SACD/DVD-A at a record store. Last time I was at BB, I asked them where a NIN hybrid was...cause I "assumed" the Hi-Res would be in a different spot. Nope, BB doesn't even bother to even notice they have them. I went and found the NIN I wanted and showed it to the two I originally asked. They still had no clue what it was. SACD/DVD-A haven't died in Gernany or Brazil. The two countries that are still under "50% streamed music". There have been new releases by Adele and Mumford and Sons on Hi-Res...but only in Germany. Basically DVD-A "lost" to SACD(although there really wasn't a "format war" per se)...and Sony sent SACD off to be a lost stepchild. Thankfully there is a lot of world music(namely one of the albums Robert Plant did many moons ago is an outstanding DVD-A) and "adult contemporary"(Diana Krall has several Hi-Res that are sure to put "many a couple in a really good mood..."). So, in a nutshell..."older" OOP DVD-A/SACD can be expensive. Current is easy to find...depending on genre. What makes matters worse is shopping for DVD-A on Ebay. Ebay actually has separate categories for both SACD and DVD-A. SACD category is fine. DVD-A is a f@$^(ng mess cause of retarded people putting "DVDs of music videos" in the category. Because of that I've bought stuff in the DVD-A category, knowing full well it wasn't DVD-A...but it was stuff I wanted anyway...and once I got the stuff, I complained about "misrepresentation" and got my money back...in addition to keeping the disc. Hi-Res is the "collective term" for SACD-DVD-A...as there is no "cross pollination" between the formats...and typically you care more for "what the disc is" than what format it is in. OOP is Out Of Print.

Ya I've been looking through Amazon and a couple other places, I see what you mean about the DVD videos being mixed in.. I can't find a whole lot of music I like too much.. I'm more into heavier stuff.. Although some of the Pink Floyd, SRV and there's a Toby Keith that might be good lol.. Adele would be good too, I saw that one.. Most of the stuff is golden oldies way before my time...

To really shop for Hi-Res you need to find sites "dedicated" to it(like Music Direct...but their prices are high) or learn how to shop Amazon.DE. I haven't bought one "straight from Brazil" in a while...but there is a record store(sadly, does ZERO online) in Chicago. He won't even take phone orders. He is Brazilian and travels to the Caribbean quite often and meets family members and brings cool stuff with him. Some of it will be Hi-Res Brazilian that weren't released anywhere else. Shockingly he once had Kid Rock Rock and Roll Jesus. If he wasn't charging $60 for it...I might have picked it up.

Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here define the SACD format. Their 5.1 mixes are stunning.

I had a Fiat 124 for 18 years but sold it because I kind of "let it go" it it just needed too much work to be "right". I miss the old girl though... The thread dedicated to hi-resolution audio. http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/176763/what-hirez-discs-have-you-purchased-recently/2580#post_4034364

gene c said:

I had a Fiat 124 for 18 years but sold it because I kind of "let it go" it it just needed too much work to be "right". I miss the old girl though

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I don't like to drive a car that's so small I might get killed if I get hit by a bicycle.

I know it's small, but it's still bigger than a sprite! I have to admit, I do feel safer in the 450sl (Avatar) which is one of the reasons I kept it instead of the 124. But still, the Fiat was a lot of fun.