Blu-Ray Music

[dobyblue]

I believe that only 24/192 PCM is superior to SACD and DVD-Audio can only do that into stereo.
Blu-ray can do 24/192 PCM into 7.1

The numbers you have are innacurate.

Brothers in Arms was the 3,000th SACD - http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=17927789

Super Audio CD Exceeds 3,000 Albums With 'Brothers in Arms'
The Super Audio CD Project Team in Europe has announced the release later this month of the 3000th album on the format. With poignancy and significance, this landmark Super Audio CD album is scheduled to be ‘Brothers in Arms’ by Dire Straits. Released by Mercury Records, the album will be launched simultaneously as a CD and Super Audio CD on 23 May 2005.

In the summer of 1985 Dire Straits took the music industry by storm. With CD still in its infancy, the band made the decision to release their new studio album ‘Brothers in Arms’ on the format. The rest is legend – the album has clocked up over 20 million sales and recorded #1 status in 22 countries. It is credited above all other albums with establishing the CD format and moving it into music’s mainstream.

Now, 20 years later, Dire Straits are celebrating the anniversary of the album’s launch with the release of a new re-mixed and re-mastered hybrid surround sound version of the album on Super Audio CD. Capable of being played on any CD or DVD-Video player at stereo CD quality, it is when the album is played in all its 5.1 multi-channel splendour on a Super Audio CD player that the true extent of the band’s artistry becomes evident.

Having released his latest solo album, ‘Shangri-La, on the Super Audio CD format last September, Dire Straits’ lead vocalist and guitarist, Mark Knopfler, is experienced in the format and has personally supervised the Super Audio CD release project. Much of the remixing and re-mastering work was carried out at his studio facility in the UK.

Retailing at the same price as the CD version, the Super Audio CD contains a number of different mixes including a re-mastered stereo CD, stereo Super Audio CD and a fully featured 5.1 surround Super Audio CD mix. In order to create the two Super Audio CD mixes, Knopfler went back to the original studio master tapes and converted them to DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recordings. DSD is a revolutionary super high-resolution recording and mastering medium that lies at the heart of the Super Audio CD format. The result, according to the record label, is an entirely new listening and sensory experience: a version of this classic 1980’s album that breathes new life into tracks such as ‘Money For Nothing’, ‘Walk Of Life’ and ‘Brothers in Arms’.

Chesky had the honour of the 4,000th - http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=15587172

Super Audio CD Format Tops 4,000 Titles With Chesky SACD Release
Sony's Super Audio CD Project has announced that the SACD format has now passed the 4,000 mark when it comes to albums released. According to Sony SACD Project officials, the Super Audio CD that hit the 4,000 title mark was the album Structures by John Abercrombie and Eddie Gomez with Gene Jackson (Chesky SACD 317), one of the initial titles in the New York Sessions series of Jazz Super Audio CD releases.

The news comes just over a year after last summer's announcement that the number of Super Audio CDs had topped 3,000. In that case, the 3,000 SACD mark was reached with the release of the 5.1 Surround Sound edition of Brothers in Arms by the Dire Straits in the European market (Vertigo/Mercury Records 971498). That SACD release proved popular enough that it was not only available in Europe but it also appeared in a variety of U.S. web sites and music stores as well.

A check of the www.sa-cd.net web site that catalogs Super Audio CD releases shows that the number of SACD titles continues to grow, with the current number of titles reaching 4,048 at last look. In the last year, the format has been buoyed by Super Audio CD releases in the Classical, Jazz and Audiophile categories and by independent record labels such as Channel Classics, PentaTone, Telarc, Membran, Octavia, Delta and BIS. This is in addition to releases from SonyBMG which claims to be the largest producer of SACD albums to date - with 699 titles in their catalog according to Sony officials.

I would be quite happy for SACD to continue and I believe that the PS3 incorporating SACD shows that the format will continue to grow - if there's ever a time for it it's the next two years with more and more receivers accepting audio through HDMI.

SACD is currently the best format for multi-channel that I've heard and I'll choose the SACD everytime because I know what I'm getting. However if you do the math and see how much information you're getting you'll see where I'm coming from.

24/192 = 4,608,000 bits per second
DSD = 2,822,400 bits per second
24/96 = 2,304,000 bits per second

Personally I think DSD handles abrupt changes better and dead quiet. Most people have probably never heard DSD without being converted to PCM. Anyway I don't know if there's actually any advantage to going up to 24/192 PCM over 5.1 DSD. I will say that 6.1 and 7.1 recordings/soundtracks sound more full and if they could bring 7.1 DSD to Blu-ray, that would be great. If it's not in the specs of players already though, it's highly unlikely that this will happen.