Page 1 of AUDIO DVD`S ????????????????

Just noticed that there are several of these now beginning to flood the market. Whats the deal with them ?? How do they play and on what and are they any cop ???

This item was edited on Monday, 30th September 2002, 22:27

also super audio cds ??? gets confusing !!!

Audio DVDs are around to provide a better listening experience than audio CD. You can play them on a standard DVD player, but just as with an audio CD the overall listening experience depends on how good the various parts of your system are.
At the moment they seem to be there for the purists, but you should find that they do sound a bit sharper than your usual audio CD. Worth buying one to see whatyou make of it...

Dazza.

Err... are we talking about DVD-Audio discs here???

You definitely can`t play them on a standard DVD player - although some newer players now support DVDA discs. As Dazza says, they offer far better sound quality than CDs - would love to get myself for that very reason, but the software`s not very widely available yet.

I have 4 DVD-A`s and play them on a normal DVD player. You just simply lose out on the DVD-A exclusive soundtrack, e.g. Hi-Def 5.1 and Hi-Def Stereo, but you can play the standard 5.1 soundtrack. Some are very good, others not so good. Really depends on your view of music in surround mode.

I agree with Steve_C... I have Metallica`s "Black" album and Stone Temple Pilot`s Core on DVD-A and when played through a "normal" dvd player sound amazing, much better than cd. I will definitely be investing in a DVD-A player as soon as I can afford it and hopefully there`ll be more titles available by then as well.

I notice there`s a lot more titles for SACD - does anyone know how the sound quality compares to DVD-A?

Apologies, I hadn`t realised that DVD-Audio discs also had a 5.1 soundtrack included as well. A good idea, for backwards compatibilty... (might have to get a disc to try myself now!).
However, a DVD-Video player will not recognize and play the ultra-high fidelity encoded audio tracks on a DVD-Audio disc.

In other words, you will get a half-decent 5.1 soundtrack when played on a DVD-Video player, but won`t get the full high-definition tracks until you upgrade to a DVD-Audio compatible player.

That`s exactly right BigAde - although I would say that the 5.1 sound quality is considerably better than "half-decent", it puts cd to shame. I`m now gagging to hear the full-blown DVD-A quality.

While we`re on the same subject, does anyone know what the sound quality is like on classical DVD-A titles like the one below:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005JJ3R/026-7810577-9836443?tag=myrev09-21

For £8.99 you can`t really go wrong, or can you? I notice that DTS is also included.

I personaly think SACD will win this one as sony music will soon no longer produce sepeate CD/SACD discs but a hybrid disc at CD prices. You will build up you SACD collection that way. Also EMI have signed up to SACD. So thats the largest back catalouge of music avalible.

There is the small matter that SACD simply sounds better.

All the best,

The 42%er

There are a few Machines out there now that support both Formats, Pioneer DV-656A for example at under £350.
That should take some of the stress out worrying which format will succeed.

Do you think Sony are devaluing SACD by putting the facility on their one box solution kits ? When SACD was launched, I`m sure Sony didn`t have this mind.

DVD-Audio also often comes with top quality Stereo mixes and also DTS mixes. Hotel California on DVD-A really is fantastic.

It will be interesting to see if either of these formats really catch on.

Neil/