DTS is my preferred format. :)

As someone posted earlier, the difference between formats like DTS96/24 and CD is massive. My CD player cost twice as much as my DVD player as well.

For all the doubters pop along to you local Hifi specialist and have a demo, SACD and DVD-A are a big step-up from CD. The compressed formats have thier place and I use them alot but until storage and data rates improve they will not replace extisting CD and higher quality formats.

Remember most people in the UK do not even have a PC never mind a mp3 player or ipod. I wouldn't thnk there are many houses or cars whithout a CD player. It will be many years before we loose CD IMO.

Cheers
Lee

As always the early adopters and enthsiasts have bought the players but DVD-A is being included on the lower end of the spectrum. It wont be long before the £40 Asda players are DVD-A compatible. The general public will have access to DVD-A fairly quickly IMO. The big stumbling block will be all the bedroom boom boxes and car CD players etc.

Cheers
Lee

I have been in studios for years mush- i also have a degree in this gubbins.
I know plenty of other pros- i also know technical fact.
How about instead of humble pie, you just suck my balls.

Freak- a dj who DOES play and record music himself
:rolleyes:


Somebody does make a good point that a large percentage of the public doesnt have access to a pc/digital storage- one of the main stumbling points in new formats taking over. I think existing formats will be around for a while yet

Scoobydoo555, which college do you lecture at? I think i recall it in a previous post. Studers are v. nice, although i prefer the neve to the SSL...
Drop me a pm if youd rather keep it offline.

You owe me for a new monitor - mine's now covered in coffee!!!! :D

I love Neves but due to the horrendous "Flying Faders", I prefer to use Neve outboard with the SSL/automation :) best of both worlds then :) I lecture at Herefordshire College of Technology :) No SSL - yet ;) Watch this space :)

Dan

LOL, thanks for all the comments guys. :)

As i suspected, mp3 is a conveniece tool rather than a quality option. Does that therefore mean that it *has* to be lower quality, or could they do an SACD-style mp3 format?

I was also interested to hear the comments about SACDs themselves. Having heard one, i can't say i could tell a huge difference to a regular CD, but it wasn't on my own system. As some here will know, i have what's generally regarded as a high-end set-up, and believe me, i can reproduce CDs in a way that many people don't even know is possible, so i wouldn't say CDs are shabby in relation to the original recording until you've heard what's achievable.

As to the vinyl/CD ongoing debate - jury out for me to be honest. Although you do have to throw a lot more money at CD playback to get vinyl quality, but it can be done without doubt, and then all the old arguments about surface noise, convenience and so on come into play again. Horses for courses. Sometimes i enjoy a record-playing session - it certainly focuses your attention when you have to get up every 20 minutes or so!

Personally i'd be sad if everything became hard-drive driven, regardless if the quality was as good or not. Maybe that's just me clinging on to what i'm used to... :)

The only problem with SACD is the manufacturing process - Sony (IIFC) have stipulated such high standards in the manufacturing process, that it is almost unviable to produce them - too many disc get rejected. IMHO, SACD is a bit of a white elephant.

DVDa is the way forward, especially with DTS mixes. :) There's another system using the DTS protocol combined with "Periphonics" - the problem being that at present, to enjoy a surround-sound mix, you need to be sat in the optimal position at the right height.
Without getting too technical, Periphonics utilised through phase, 2 additional platforms - the floor and ceiling. You need to use an extra AV Amp to process it, but it sounds really good. The potential for mixing/clubs is astounding - the ablity to place clubbers in a "wire-frame mix cube (the dancefloor) and through the use of a trackball, you can spin the entire mix around!!! :eek: :cool: :D

But for DVDa, you can record (in the first place) the ambience of a crowd/room/environment etc - the "live" band recordings will sound like you were really there!!! :) Hence the requirement for a medium that can hold alot of data - DVDa. :)

Roll on the future :)

Dan

My view is that there's a place for low-quality AND high-quality formats. I have a portable HDD with about 10Gb of .AAC music tracks which i listen to at work. I'm thinking of getting an iPod instead so i don't need to hook the HDD up to a PC when i want to listen at work or in the car.

I like the convenience of being able to download music and give it a try, if it sucks then it gets deleted, if it's good then i buy the CD and listen to it at home on my Cyrus CD6, Musical Fidelity headphone amp and Grado SR125 headphones.

There's a HUGE difference in audio quality between my home setup and my work/car/portable setup, but i definately have a use for both. I think in the car i'd be hard pushed to tell the difference in quality/clarity between an MP3 and a CD, not so at home. :D

Well you can always up the sampling rate or bit rate of the MP3, but in the end you still hit the hard limits of the encoding scheme no matter how much detail you have elsewhere. MP3 is lossy so you will always lose some detail, there are always tradeoffs.

So now you need to look at the codec itself. Competing lossy codecs include Dolby AAC and Microsoft WMA. Or you could look at lossless codecs such as FLAC, ALE or MS WMA Lossless.

have you ever heard a decent set up? I don't mean a DJ rig,I mean a well set up rig?

With my gear,CD beats the Rega 3 easily,Cds are just fine.But,having heard a decent TT,its obvious why analogue still has it fans.A valve/TT set up is just incredible,and unless you have heard it your opinion is worthless.

I am a two channel cd fan btw,its a cheap way to enjoy music.Getting a tt to better cd is a costly and time consuming excersise,so on balance,CD will be around ALONGSIDE vinyl for some time.

multi-channel makes no sense unless you have the room and wife to allow all those speakers,but it has the huge advantage of not being so room dependent.Two channel really does depend on room set up,a lot more than many people think (makes me laugh listening to arguements about cables,when room set up hasn't even been considered)

True dba, but don't forget, a room's "set-up" is usually dictated by living constraints more than any other factor in the hi-fi chain - a cable can be changed at the drop of a hat in most circumstances.

agreed,but moving speakers 2 inches is a drop of a hat,and will effect sound more than any cable (aimho:))

I've never heard huge differences from a re-positioning of just two inches to be honest, but you're right in general, people don't experiment nearly enough in that respect. I'm guilty too, but if i *did* find they sounded better six inches further forward, it would then be a dilemma as to whether to allow them to encroach into my living space any more than they do. So i leave them where they are - ignorance is bliss sometimes! :)

Have to agree, my floorstanders are both front and rear ported. If they are closer than six inches to the rear wall the bass is boomy, move them eighteen inches away and they start to sound thin. I have them about 14" away which gives good natural bass in my size of room.

The sub, speakers, TV and hifi rack have robbed me of 2m of living room across the entire width of the room and I've also lost one entry/exit door, not to mention the view out of one window. :)

As with nearly everything in life it's how much you enjoy it, how much you are prepared to spend, what compromises you will accept and finally, if she will let you do it. :D

Cheers
Lee

I have been hugely guilty in the past of hi-fi geekism, but no longer, in fact I now have no top end hi-fi (although a half decent "lifestyle" system in a Teac Ref 500).

I have a CD collection in excess of 2000 cd's and am totally a music lover. And therein lies the rub. I am a music lover. I realised I loved my music whether on a top end hi-fi, a crappy car stereo or a ten pound walkman.

The day I learned to listen to the music and not to the hi-fi made a big difference to my life, and I enjoy my music vastly more now.

A huge simplication of my POV but you get the idea...

:)