What is the difference between DTS CD and DVD-A ? (1 Viewer)

[Bill cc]

Sorry for the newb question...

Also, how does SACD fall into the comparison ?

 

[MickeS]

In a nutshell:

DTS CD is pretty much a regular CD, but with DTS encoding available. If you pass the digital signal from the CD or DVD player, and your receiver/processor has DTS encoding, you can listen to DTS CD's.

DVD-A has a higher bitrate (soundquality) than regular CD and requires a special DVD-Audio player. They also have a second Dolby Digital track on them, so you can play them in a DVD-Video player, but you won't get the improved sound quality that DVD-A has. They can be multi- or two-channel.

SACD also requires a special SACD player, and has better sound quality than a regular CD. I think there are a few players that can play both SACD and DVD-A, but I'm not sure if they do multi-channel for both formats. They can be multi- or two-channel.

/Mike

 

[Wes]

Mike left out the fact that DTS is now piggy backing on DVD-A to encode their DTS CDs. So if you want DTS CD you now will buy a DVD-A that has the DTS and DVD-A tracks and in some cases you will get a DD multi channel track also.

From what I have seen DVD-A disc can contain the following:

-DVD-A multi channel, High Resolution DVD-A stereo and DTS multi channel.

-DVD-A multi channel, DTS multi channel and Dolby Digital multi channel.

-DVD-A multi channel, High Resolution DVD-A stereo, Dolby Digital multi channel and Dolby Digital 2.0.

-Some will even have DVD Video and or still photos played along with the music with the DTS or Dolby Digital.

It seems unlimited as to what they can and do place on a DVD-A disc, So close inspection to the disc you want will reveal what audio is on that disc.

Wes

 

[Scott Pagac]

Another multi-channel audio newb question here:

Are DTS "CDs" encoded at the full DTS bit rate or is it more of a multi-44K/16bit redbook-type audio? Since I do not have a DVD-A player, but would like more multi-channel audio, would I hear an improvement (obviously not as much as DVD-A or SACD) over regular CDs? Besides the price, are there any real drawbacks to the format?

Thanks.

 

[John Kotches]

MickeS said this:

Quote:

Yes, if you stick this in the wrong player, with no digital output, you could end up with a very ugly burst of noise as the DACs try to decode the DTS data. Not "music to my ears", in fact it sounds downright scary!
Regards all,

 

[MickeS]

DTS CDs aren't "pretty much a regular CD". It isn't PCM data. More correctly, DTS uses CD media to deliver its content.

I know, but I was trying to keep it short and simple. From the user perspective, a DTS CD is pretty much the same as a regular CD, as long as the signal is transported digitally to a DTS decoder. Unless they've changed something in how they work.

I didn't know that DTS is now included on some DVD-A discs.

/Mike