Page 1 of Is DVD Audio the future of music as we know it????

Noticed a couple of titles appearing week by week of either newly released or remixed/remastered versions of old albums on DVD Audio. I understand you need a DVD Audio player with , obviously , all the surround speakers to access this new technology. Being a fan of new technology I am thinking of getting a DVD-A set-up in the near future. Some interesting titles have appeared - especially Queens `A Night At The Opera` which includes `Bohemian Rhapsody`. Imagine that blasting around in all your speakers!

Just wondering though....if or when they release other classics , like anything by the Beatles , will fans of these accept this new format or will it make them pine for the original mono and stereo CD`s , LP`s , tapes etc? Should they be tampering round with these classics? Its ok listening to the Beatles in this new format but what say has John Lennon and George Harrison got? Same goes to Elvis , Jim Morrison , Buddy Holly , Jimi Hendrix etc! If George Lucas died tomorrow and somebody else released their own version of the original Star Wars trilogy would we all flock to the cinema to watch it?

Dont get me wrong , I think this is a good step forward for new releases but as for the old classics Im not too sure.

I cant help thinking that tampering round with an old classic is like someone getting hold of the Mona Lisa and painting a beard on to it!!!!!

What does everyone else think?

The rights holders of the original music are responsible for saying yes or no to remixes in 5.1 multi-channel audio. In quite a few cases the original master tapes are used and remixed. I was listening to a 5.1 SACD of Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon) last night which was remixed at Abbey Road and supervised by PF and it sounds great compared to 2-channel stereo. Mind you, I was listening to this at the Sony Galleria on top end gear.

But there are two competing formats for multi-channel music audio. Sony`s Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio. It seems there are more labels/artists/manufacturers in the SACD camp than DVD-A at present. If you look at what`s available, there are more current/popular artists on SACD than DVD-A (because of Sony Music).

Having said that, there are loads of DVD-A titles readily available from Play, it`s cheaper than SACD and these play on regular DVD players too (obviously a DVD-Audio player will enhance the listening experience further). DVD-A also need more popular artists/albums.

The problem with SACD is that you need a player that can play SACD (unless the SACD title is a `hybrid` disc and can playback on regular CD players) and SACD titles are a few quid more than DVD-A. Plus, from what I can tell, there are lots of SACD that are purely stereo and recorded or remixed with a higher bitrate than conventional CD. Is this worth shelling out for if you don`t have equipment that will help you tell the difference?

I`m all for a new sound format, but until retail prices for true multi-channel CD product come down to more realistic prices, I refuse to buy into it. By that I mean £9 or less, not £15. Multi-channel is good, but not that good, IMO, to make me fork over more cash for the privilige. I don`t want just a higher bitrate, I want proper 5.1+ sound.

Even with lower prices, I need to be convinced that a CD album I already own, or want, will be that much better in multi-channel. Lastly, there are amps with good DSP/Dolby Pro Logic II modes that can do a pretty good job of pumping out 2-channel sound into multi-channel/speaker setups.

Will fans accept it? Change is inevitable and fans have a choice. Either buy it if they really like it, or stick to what they`ve got. The cynic in me of course says it`s just another way of handing money over for old rope. Make it cheap and offer true mutli-channel sound and then I might take an interest.

Andy, have you listened to multi-channel music at all?

Anil
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Anil K, the original rock hard Ninja, Vampire Hunter AND Karaoke Terrorist
DVD Reviewer
My YMDB Top 20

This item was edited on Friday, 17th October 2003, 08:04

The difference between a Night at the Opera on DVD-A and on CD is huge. It just sounds like you are sat in the middle of them. This however, is a well mixed DVD-A, a couple of the other`s I own (Machine Head by Deep Purple for example) are not done as well. Plus some music really does shine in this format (Hotel California really uses the extra "Hertz" to give even more feeling to the guitars). But the thing that will always stop this is the limited number of albums available. Hardware may also not help (although I believe you can get DVD-A for the car now). The good thing about DVD-A is that you can play it (at a lower resolution) on a normal DVD player. I changed my player because I wanted DTS (does a fantastic job of those music videos) and got a pioneer universal player, and not looked back. But I haven`t bought that many (but I do have a really extensive CD collection).
Anil is spot on about Dolby Prologic II (thanks to Westy I went for an amp with this) and can be used on TV broadcasts as well.