What The Deal with Multichannel formates (SACD & DVD Audio) (1 Viewer)

[Corey_ Williams]

I have read various review in magazines and on the net that rave about the superior quality of SACD & DVD Audio. I am not saying that these testominals are not true, but what is the deal with the music selection that each formate offers? I have been thinking about buying one these formates, but when I saw the music selection I strayed away.

Majority of the titles were geared to an older crowd(classical, 70's & 80's Rock rock bands). I am not saying that these artist suck. Most of them are okay. My point is the fact that most music & media hardware and software is purchased by teenagers and young adults.

Consequently, Why is the music industry not releasing titles that this age group would be interested in buying?

Please Explain....:frowning:

 

[Sathyan]

The equipment is still really expensive, e.g.
Onkyo/Yamaha/Denon/Marantz universal player $800 +
5 full range speakers ($2500) or ICBM ($300) + sub/sat ($1200)

older people are more likely to be able to afford it. Take a look a Stereophile, the software they review also fits this profile. Maybe the typical audiophile buys these titles more than others.

The mass market of teenagers - who dominate redbook sales - listens on portables, and car stereos. And they seem to be dropping CD's for MP3 if anything.

[note : i am *not* trying to start a SACD vs DVD-A debate]
Personally, I (age 25) have neither format at this point but am leaning towards SACD for catalogue reasons. SACD has great classical and jazz (which together makeup 7% of redbook sales) offerings but from what I can see DVD-A is overwhelmingly 70/80 pop (only two DVD-A pop artists interest me: The Corrs & Natalie Merchant). It is also the jazz/classical/oldies genres that the vinylphiles buy.

Sathyan

 

[Philip Hamm]

Both formats sound fantastic, but they're only good if there's music that you want available. Like my impressive grasp of the obvious.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Corey,

This is actually a complicated question and can inspire fairly heated debates on both sides of the coin.

I think it would be fair to say that early on that DVDA had an edge for pop titles and SACD had an edge for jazz and classical, which may have been a reflection of Sony's catalog and the audiophile market SACD was initially solely marketed to.

Recently, the addition of several big titles including The Police, Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd have evened things out a bit. Also, Norah Jones debut album is due up in a month on Blue Note in the Super Audio format and that's certainly a current title.

On the DVDA front: Pet Sounds is rumored to be due and Santana Supernatural has been announced.

There are numerous sites to see what titles are on which format but some of my favorites are:

High Fidelity Review (both)
Acoustic Sounds (both)
Music Direct (both)
Audio Revolution for DVDA

As the formats get established, I think you will see more new titles being added.

I hope this helps.

 

[Corey_ Williams]

I see your point about teenagers listening to their music in the car and on portables, but teenager also listen to music in their home. Young adults listen to their music in homes, apartments, and dorms. Why not market some of the music titles to this age group?

We both know that every does not have the type of equipment that you have, but many young adults have hometheather set-ups. I believe that more of these individuals would consider these multichannel formates as viable options in their hometheather set-up, if the available titles were attractive to them.

I say this because I would.

 

[Al B. C]

Hey! I resemble that remark.

 

[LarryDavenport]

Pioneer is releasing a Universal player in June for under $300.

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=16781358

 

[Sathyan]

We both know that every does not have the type of equipment that you have, but many young adults have hometheather set-ups. I believe that more of these individuals would consider these multichannel formates as viable options in their hometheather set-up, if the available titles were attractive to them.

Firstly, I'm not being a snob because I don't have the kind of equipment described above either. I have a $1500 HT system on which I doubt I could hear a difference between CD and SACD/DVD-A. Lacking full-range speakers, I use receiver bass management for sat/sub speakers. Its done in the digital domain so there's an extra A/D D/A process. Would SACD/DVD-A really sound better (assuming same engineering competence) than CD on such a system?

But I do agree with you. In the end software will drive adoption of new formats. I was too young to pay attention in the early 80's What brought the rise of the CD? Did the music software industry kill off its LP production (or release new titles on CD only)? Have any albums been released on SACD/DVD-A only?

Sathyan

NP Patricia Kaas Scene de Vie

 

[LanceJ]

90% of teenagers won't hear the difference between hi-res anything and CD but all I'll bet they might hear a teensy bit of difference between stereo-anything and SURROUND. And you don't need a hi-end system for this either.

And I totally agree with Corey: the lack of new music on either hi-res format stinks. "Old" guys like me (37) that grew up with the Eagles, The Who, Gabriel or The Doors are either busy with raising kids, paying house payments,etc. and can't really afford--time or money wise--to really get into a new format. Or--as in my case--I have heard that music sooooooo many times I have basically no interest in buying it again (surround or no surround). The only music I would like to hear in surround or hi-rez stereo is: the Alan Parsons Project; maybe Led Zeppelin; and a few 1960s acts like the Fifth Dimension, Cream, Jefferson Airplane or Jimi Hendrix. That's it.

Here are some modern dvd-audio titles available right now(sorry don't keep up with sacd releases):

Insane Clown Posse "The Wraith: Shangri-La"

Megadeth "Peace Sells, But Who's Buying?" (well, 1986 is kind of new!)

Studio Voodoo (self-titled) (ravey techno music--I used to own this disc. It is a very slick disc,music, menus, etc)

Studio Voodoo "Club Voodoo" Brand new. NOTE: this is one of DTS Entertainment's "music discs". It operates just like a CD, but is encoded with a 5.1 DTS track only.

Diana Krall "Love Scenes" Another DTS 5.1 "music disc".

Emma Shaplin "Etterna" If you like Enigma and slinky women singers-this is for you. for some reason it's not listed on DTS's site, even though I physically saw it at Best Buy last month.

And of course there is Disturbed and Linkin Park on Warner dvd-audio.

LJ