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At 08:26 PM 1/19/2007 -0500, you wrote:
>My audio world has been shattered for some time now... SACD and DVD
>Audio are dead... Monster is promoting 24/96 as HD... imagine 480P being
>called HD... ARGH.....
Well stated. I totally agree that one of the unfortunate side
effects of the "iPod generation" has been the dumbing down of audio
both in specifications and content. When I see all these songs
crammed onto these digital devices at low bit rates in order to
provide more space for more songs I cringe a bit. (I'm as guilty as
others when I place over 9000 songs on my iPod). O.K. for casual
listening via headphones but clearly (no pun intended) not meant for
serious listening. That's why I cringe even more when some people
talk about playing their iPods over quality music systems (and
accepting the quality as "good.") Content aside, whatever happened to
taste in music? <g>
Those of us who have been listening to our systems for over half a
century (literally!) have progressed from the dawn of stereo and
quality vinyl to the dawn of digital with all its good and bad
aspects. While I can appreciate the pure sound possible from analog
vinyl I can also appreciate the greater dynamic range of digital
media (when done right) even though I understand, conceptually, that
it would take infinite digital resolution to provide analog reality
in all aspects. Today's recordings (the good ones, not the popular
cram-them-in-a-digital-box ones) can be very, very well done. And
while you are proclaiming SACD and DVD-A as "dead" (and that might be
true from a commercial standpoint in today's world) I agree with the
others here who have stated that these formats still are around as a
niche market. Recently, when I added a Denon 3806 to my system (so
that I would have HDMI audio capability for my HT) one of the
pleasant by-products of this was the inclusion of DenonLink III which
interfaces directly and digitally to my Denon 2930ci DVD/SACD/DVD-A
player. I've always used the 5.1 analog audio route to play
SACD/DVD-A in the past, but this proprietary DENON system is one of
the few that actually allows the chain to remain in the digital mode
without a lot of D/A and A/D intermediary steps and the resulting
sound is even better than before.
Finally, we get to lossless audio codecs which are now available to
us thanks to the much greater real estate afforded by HD media (both
formats). When I listen to a uncompressed 5.1 track over Blu-ray or
HD-DVD delivering bit rates on the order of 6.9Mbps and compare this
with the "standard" 5.1 tracks on the same disc that come across at
about 640Kbps (or even less!) I'm astounded by how much better the
sound is at over 10 times the bit rate. To me this is the REAL
benefit offered by HD media. Some people claim that with the right
video processing that some good SD source material can look "almost
as good" as HD video, but there is no way that SD audio is going to
sound as good as lossless HD audio codecs (assuming good source
materials, of course.) With stuff like DTS HD MA (Master Audio)
tracks soon available that will literally reproduce the original
digital recordings bit for bit at extremely high bit rates the
digital resolution is finally reaching the point that even the most
discerning ear would have a hard time distinguishing the result from
analog (continuous) source material.
Yes, we live in interesting audio times. On one side of the table is
the "acceptance" of 128Kbps audio codecs as sounding "good" (like the
most common iPod tracks). But on the other side is the emergence of
multi MEGAbit/sec audio that is setting a new listening standard for
those who have the perseverance to seek it out. Yes, there is some
very nice sound at the end of the audio tunnel.
-- RAF
To unsubscribe please click: [email protected]
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At 08:26 PM 1/19/2007 -0500, you wrote:
>My audio world has been shattered for some time now... SACD and DVD
>Audio are dead... Monster is promoting 24/96 as HD... imagine 480P being
>called HD... ARGH.....
Well stated. I totally agree that one of the unfortunate side
effects of the "iPod generation" has been the dumbing down of audio
both in specifications and content. When I see all these songs
crammed onto these digital devices at low bit rates in order to
provide more space for more songs I cringe a bit. (I'm as guilty as
others when I place over 9000 songs on my iPod). O.K. for casual
listening via headphones but clearly (no pun intended) not meant for
serious listening. That's why I cringe even more when some people
talk about playing their iPods over quality music systems (and
accepting the quality as "good.") Content aside, whatever happened to
taste in music? <g>
Those of us who have been listening to our systems for over half a
century (literally!) have progressed from the dawn of stereo and
quality vinyl to the dawn of digital with all its good and bad
aspects. While I can appreciate the pure sound possible from analog
vinyl I can also appreciate the greater dynamic range of digital
media (when done right) even though I understand, conceptually, that
it would take infinite digital resolution to provide analog reality
in all aspects. Today's recordings (the good ones, not the popular
cram-them-in-a-digital-box ones) can be very, very well done. And
while you are proclaiming SACD and DVD-A as "dead" (and that might be
true from a commercial standpoint in today's world) I agree with the
others here who have stated that these formats still are around as a
niche market. Recently, when I added a Denon 3806 to my system (so
that I would have HDMI audio capability for my HT) one of the
pleasant by-products of this was the inclusion of DenonLink III which
interfaces directly and digitally to my Denon 2930ci DVD/SACD/DVD-A
player. I've always used the 5.1 analog audio route to play
SACD/DVD-A in the past, but this proprietary DENON system is one of
the few that actually allows the chain to remain in the digital mode
without a lot of D/A and A/D intermediary steps and the resulting
sound is even better than before.
Finally, we get to lossless audio codecs which are now available to
us thanks to the much greater real estate afforded by HD media (both
formats). When I listen to a uncompressed 5.1 track over Blu-ray or
HD-DVD delivering bit rates on the order of 6.9Mbps and compare this
with the "standard" 5.1 tracks on the same disc that come across at
about 640Kbps (or even less!) I'm astounded by how much better the
sound is at over 10 times the bit rate. To me this is the REAL
benefit offered by HD media. Some people claim that with the right
video processing that some good SD source material can look "almost
as good" as HD video, but there is no way that SD audio is going to
sound as good as lossless HD audio codecs (assuming good source
materials, of course.) With stuff like DTS HD MA (Master Audio)
tracks soon available that will literally reproduce the original
digital recordings bit for bit at extremely high bit rates the
digital resolution is finally reaching the point that even the most
discerning ear would have a hard time distinguishing the result from
analog (continuous) source material.
Yes, we live in interesting audio times. On one side of the table is
the "acceptance" of 128Kbps audio codecs as sounding "good" (like the
most common iPod tracks). But on the other side is the emergence of
multi MEGAbit/sec audio that is setting a new listening standard for
those who have the perseverance to seek it out. Yes, there is some
very nice sound at the end of the audio tunnel.
-- RAF
To unsubscribe please click: [email protected]
To receive the digest mode (one email a day made from all posted that same day) send an email to:
[email protected]