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High Definition Audio for Music Listening One may think that audio CDs (CD-DA) provide the perfect sound. Yet many audiophiles would soon tell you that in comparison to high quality analog audio recordings on LPs, CD sound is relatively cold and harsh especially when it comes to handling the upper most frequencies.
Partly, the popularity of the CD-DA format arises out of its ease of use - which also explains the incredible large market that this 20-year old medium still holds today. Nevertheless, its substantial limitations such as occasional frequency clipping, limited dynamic range, spectrum limitations, and the development of new digital interconnects that are capable of supporting the transfer of high definition multi-channel audio and video in digital form among devices in the playback chain, is leading to a shift among music lovers towards DVD-Audio discs and SACDs. At the same time, one has to acknowledge the fact that though the Super Audio CD and the DVD-Audio disc have been around since 1999 and 2000 respectively, yet the shift towards these two high definition audio formats has been slow - especially in the first few years of their existence. The reason was that universal players capable of playing both formats were initially selling at around $1,000 - too expensive for these formats to gain popularity. In fact, it was not before 2003 that we started to see the first combined DVD-Audio disc/SACD players at under the $200 price tag. It was also at around this same time that DVD-Audio and SACDs were being priced at CD levels.
DVD-Audio, SACD and other High Definition FormatsDVD-Audio discs and SACDs are capable of delivering up to six full-range channels of high resolution audio. These are not the only high definition audio formats; both Dolby and DTS have a full lineup of high definition formats that are capable of delivering high resolution multi-channel sound using either lossy or lossless encoding techniques. But these Dolby and DTS formats are mainly audio-for-video formats, thus supporting full motion video in addition to the high quality audio on the same optical disc. In contrast, DVD-Audio and SACD are music-delivery formats, and though both support 'limited' visual content, yet neither is intended for movie viewing. DVD-Audio Discs and SACD - a format war?It is an undeniable fact that the main players behind DVD-Audio and SACD are in a format war with each other. Yet it is our opinion that the availability of inexpensive universal media players like the OPPO referred to above, and with optical media selling at rock bottom prices, will not only guarantee the co-existence of both formats, it will even render this format dispute between these two major players, rather transparent to the end user. This is being stated as DVD-Audio discs and Super Audio CDs are both capable of delivering practically the same level of high fidelity audio, where the end quality is mainly dependent on the playback setup rather than the audio format. And this, despite the fact that as we will soon see in this series of articles, DVD-Audio and SACD use fundamentally different processes to achieve the same end result.
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This is a rather lengthy but easy-to-follow article that takes a look at the various aspects from DVD-Audio specs to sound quality, backward compatibility, content protection, playback setup, and even DVD-Audio and DualDisc releases.
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Another detailed article - this time covering the Super Audio CD and the Hybrid SACD. Issues discussed include format specs, Direct Stream Digital, playback requirements and SACD Music releases.
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'Practical Home
Theater Guide'
Music Store:
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More on DVD-Audio Discs and SACDs will follow soon.
Last updated on: 4th March 2007
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Universal DVD Players
OPPO DV-981HD
Oppo DV-981HD Universal DVD Player
with HDMI, 1080p
Up-Converting, DivX, DVD-Audio & SACD
ONKYO DVSP504
Onkyo Single Disc Universal HDMI/RS232 player DVSP504
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