Warner Japan Rock SACD titles set for August

So, as it turns out, hdtracks is good for something after all.

 

What was wrong with The Pretenders? That's one of the two good sounding disks they've come out with in the last couple of years. The other being the B52s.

 

What I responded to was your claim that all current Sony multichannel Blu-ray players play SACD which was false. As far as the PS3 being a down and dirty game console, I don't agree with that claim either. Do you own a PS3? I own one and I can assure you it is much more than a game console, it is in my opinion the best $300 media player I have ever seen and it does a lot in addition to games, even if all models from the last few years don't handle SACD.

 

That's interesting. I've been pleasantly surprised by many of the selections available on AF Gold CD's. As a classic rock fan, I love We're An American Band, Never a Dull Moment the Deep Purple titles and the two Bad Company titles; and was just "blown away" by Love it to Death and especially Killer, which is an album I had never really listened to before. There have been a few titles that have left me a little perplexed (Judas Priest, um . . Billy Idol?), but overall very pleased.

 

You've heard Straight Shooter ?

 

I have not read from the quoted message out to the end of thread yet, but if based on what I read already...I also am very surprised!!!

Collectively many of us have been screaming for ANY Hi-Rez titles. When it appeared that DVD-A was deader than dead- many went crying to Warners to release their titles in DSD instead. Both formats have been on life suport until recently- but most pop/rock title releases from Japan and MOFI has been Stereo only.

So now comes along many of the Warners titles that are unobtainium in DVD-A unless you want to shell out some decent cash- and we cry. For Warners to go to DSD is significant.

I have the chicago V title, but I may get the SACD. I do not have any of the others in DVD-A, and I would like Eagles and Yes.

Chris

 

Yes I have an SACD model.
Its good for blu-ray HD, game play and I agree its versatile.
But gameplaying aside, its a cheap and cheerful BD player. Nothing else. I can buy a Yamada BD player for €49 down the market thats equally as good for BD, DVD and CDs.

 

I think there's a thread on that AF title.

Suffice to say, there were issues with that gold disc, namely some missing content on one song. For lack of a better term, our host essentially disowned it.

 

Maybe we'll get lucky and MFSL will put it out on SACD.

 

Actually it's a totally different thing with a new name.

No format war, sub-$99 players that all features of all discs work on, easy single-cable connection. It's vastly different from the mess that was the SACD/DVD-A war.

 

Ironic ain't it...

 

I don't think ANY Pioneer Blu-ray players do, at least not in the North American market, whether Pioneer or Elite branded.

So with Sony (minus PS3) and Oppo you're covering what, 10% of Blu-ray players if we're being extremely generous?

Ah, so PS3 hooked up to Denon Pre/Pro is not as good as an HTiB with SACD capabilities, gotcha.

As always, bang on the money.

He only mentioned SACD in that statement, and he's correct. Blu-ray is the only high resolution physical format that could see sustainable numbers that the major labels would be interested in. SACD's not so much. Were they to release SACD's again from all major labels at the $20 price point then I'm sure the communities like ours would support it enough to equal the numbers vinyl is currently seeing, but I think Blu-ray with all that it can do and the various types of consumer it can appease stands the best chance at seeing adoption that can be measured without using a decimal place.

 

Blu-Ray = same old decimated PCM as found on CD and DVD

SA-CD = DSD - closest to analog sound http://www.sa-cd.net/faq#audio

 

At least there's hope for Van Halen on SACD...

 

That would be fine by me.

 

Got me? No. The PS3 is not a stand alone surround system. You need to buy an expensive multichannel processor to make it sound good. You can also do that with a Walmart $49 BD player with HDMI out.

 

You've got me, I'm dumbfounded.

What systems exactly are you talking about that don't require a receiver or processor?

 

Hmm, didn't realize 24/192 was found on CD.
So, SACD's are never source from anything other than DSD-direct recordings or analog>DSD masters?

 

Music on blu-ray hardly sells (blu-ray audio + concert blu-rays). Audiophiles will always prefer sacd (dsd-transfers) and vinyl.

Maybe blu-ray would work for modern popmusic?

But according to Warner's announcement for high-res audio, they don't want another format war.

The majors will choose all the same format this time. They can't afford another format war.

 

A good question to ask is: How well are SACD selling?
The fact that Warner is in out to say something.

 

The main problem for SACD compared to Blu-ray is that it will be difficult to maintain manufacturing capacities for this niche format (same problem for vinyl). Analogue Productions SACDs are now being manufactured in Austria. What if the austrian factory decides to stop making SACDs?

Blu-ray has the advantage of being a mass format. And I'm sure most audiophiles don't hear a difference between 24/192 PCM and DSD.

 

Not dumbfounded, just confused.
Do you have Blu-Ray home cinema systems in Canada?
There are hundreds out there, admittedly not all with SACD functionality.
The majority of mid to hi-end systems do.
Heres one
http://www.sony.ie/product/hch-systems-with-blu-ray-disc/bdv-e870#pageType=TechnicalSpecs

 

I've seen DSD equated with 176kHz PCM in terms of perceived sound quality.

As with many aspects of sound, the mind is a powerful thing; it's more a case of knowing something is or isn't there than actually hearing it. Knowing that PCM is decimated makes some hear it as inferior just as knowing DSD has that big spike of noise below 30kHz leads some others to say it doesn't sound right to them.

Personally I want to hear good mastering, which I believe to have a far bigger impact on sound than digital format. The fact that they went back to the UK master, transferred it using a modern A/D converter, EQed it like the original release and didn't overcompress it is what makes this release so desirable.

 

There aren't any music on Blu-ray titles, save a HANDFUL (yes, you can count them on one hand) of artist-driven titles. So your statement is completely redundant.

That's why they will choose Blu-ray. They're not stupid. There are a couple hundred million playback devices and loads of pressing houses for Blu-ray. For SACD you have to get in line to get them printed.

http://www.sa-cd.net/showthread.php?page=1

And speak for yourself, there are plenty of audiophiles that love DVD-Audio and do NOT prefer vinyl (I am not amongst them as I would be happy with either Blu-ray, SACD or DVD-Audio for 5.1 surround music, but market potential would designate Blu-ray handily as the format of choice) and I wouldn't exactly call Steven Wilson a slouch when it comes to audio and he's choosing Blu-ray for his upcoming solo project, same goes for Trent Reznor, Neil Young, Tom Petty.

There's a reason why Tom chose Blu-ray for Damn the Torpedoes, and Trent chose Blu-ray for The Social Network - because they know the market potential for pop/rock high rez releases is substantially greater where Blu-ray is concerned and also offers much more possibilities (ie - HD video, BD live for double dipping, etc., etc)

Absolutely 100% agreed.

Ah, so my original statement was correct, you believe a PS3 hooked up to a decent audio system is outperformed by an HTiB like the one you've linked.

Yes, we have HTiB's in Canada, but just like everywhere else in the world they are handily outperformed by component systems, including ones made up with PS3's.

 

Not yet, but I am pleased with AF's decision to release it.