Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here SACD

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When I look at Jimmy Iovine's comments to CNN about Apple upgrading its downloads, and the HD Tracks release of ABKCO's 24-bit Rolling Stones remasters, and the increasing number of other boutique websites offering lossless downloads, it seems to me the tide is turning on digital downloads towards a high definition option becoming more widespread. HDTV ushered in the remarkable acceptance of Blu-ray, and now people are spending money on upgrading their systems. That includes an upgrade in audio playback... it seems only logical that there MUST be demand out there for high-definition digital audio. If Apple is able to successfully market 24-bit lossless downloads for their iPods, that will be the turning point.

The only real advantage a hybrid SACD offers at this point is backwards compatibility for those who don't have a Blu-ray player (and the CD layer can be easily ripped to your computer, too). But I'm pretty sure more people have Blu-ray capability in their homes than SACD players, even if they regard it as being for movies first and foremost. In my opinion, Blu-ray audio would be the best option to get high definition recordings into the most hands, but when this particular remaster was developed, SACD was the format of choice. It's a pity that it has taken so long to get past that initial production stage, and SACD support has died out in the meantime! For me, the best of all possible worlds would be a 2-disc package, with both a Blu-ray disc and a hybrid SACD containing roughly the same content, along with a download coupon for 24-bit Apple Lossless compatible with iPods.

It's kind of a false distinction at this point to distinguish between "next-generation CD" and "next-generation DVD-A"... it's all digital audio. Blu-ray discs can deliver 192 kHz sampling rate at 24-bit lossless, even in multi-channel surround. That's a remarkable leap forward for a consumer format. DSD was a great innovation, but studios now have the capability to produce PCM masters (in the so-called "DXD" standard) that can equal or surpass DSD fidelity. If you put a DSD master next to a 192 kHz, 24-bit lossess conversion of the same thing, it would probably be hard to tell any difference. Gremal is right in that most people don't know or don't care that there is a difference between downloads and CD let alone high-definition audio. But there is a market for high-def downloads, too, and the major record labels are slowly starting to explore it. If it takes off like I hope it will, Blu-ray audio stands a chance of gaining firmer acceptance as well. They are not in competition with each other, as doctorsteve rightly points out; rather, demand for high-def in any and all forms will hopefully breed more high-def releases on the market.

KubrickFan: not sure if you knew this, but The Dark Side of the Moon SACD used the original stereo mix. Only James Guthrie's multichannel 5.1 surround sound layer was remixed, and it stayed pretty faithful to the stereo version.