Is this going to be big for classical?

'Let's do an article on this new format we'll interview it's proponents but WE WON'T BOTHER TO ACTUALLY LISTEN TO IT AND TELL PEOPLE HOW WE THINK IT COMPARES TO EXISTING FORMATS'.

Idiots. Total freaking idiots.

So no, this is not going to be big with classical.

Too bad, I'd love a new physical media for classical that was actually an improvement over existing formats. Is this an improvement? Don't know, they were too busy interviewing to listen and report.

'A lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on'. -Mark Twain

RE: ridiciulous article... what I'd expect from Stereopile, posted on March 24, 2014 at 15:49:19

pbarach
Audiophile

Posts: 3306
Location: Ohio
Joined: June 22, 2008

Don't know why you're spouting so much hostility. The audio is exactly the same as what you'd get if you downloaded the audio files at the same resolution used to make the BluRay. Those files would sound exactly the same if they arrived on a data DVD or on an SACD. There is no need to test anything pertaining to the new format, although it would be nice to have some opinions as to whether these BDs have better sound than CDs made from the same remastering of the original. It's just another delivery system for high-resolution music files, with several advantages over SACD and downloads:

1. A lot more people own BluRay players now than own SACD players. This would presumably include classical music buffs. So there is a bigger market.

2. It is a lot easier to play a disc in a BD player than it is to download files and figure out how to get them from a PC into an audio system.

3. These are priced significantly less than SACD reissues of older recordings, with the exception of those RCA "Living Stereo" SACD reissues of several years back.

RE: Is this going to be big for classical?, posted on March 25, 2014 at 00:41:34
Chris from Lafayette Audiophile Posts: 26434 Location: SF Bay Area Joined: February 17, 2004 Contributor Since: February 6, 2012	It sounds to me as if UMG's 5.1 policy with these discs is screwed from the get go. They've got the 5.1 capability with blu-ray audio, but they don't plan to use it for new releases (only for reissues of previously recorded 5.1 material)? I guess I lack the marketing genius of the big record company execs!

Fine by me if Blu-ray displaced SACD multichannel, posted on March 25, 2014 at 06:49:59

Feanor
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Posts: 9858
Location: London, Ontario
Joined: June 17, 2003
Contributor
Since: March 12, 2004

Whether this will happen is at least doubtful.

Hard core classical listeners are interested in variety: choosing from 100s of thousands of works by thousands of composers, performed by 10s of thousands of artists. The classical discography on CD amounts to hundreds of thousands of discs most of which will NEVER make it to ANY multi-channel media. Hi-rez is nice but not the essence of classical listening.

Dmitri Shostakovich

RE: Is this going to be big for classical?, posted on March 25, 2014 at 14:40:07

Jim Treanor
Audiophile

Posts: 2167
Location: Pacific Northwest
Joined: June 1, 2003

I doubt that it will be big for Universal, especially if they don't expand their range of offerings beyond the oversaturated supply of warhorses already clogging the shelves of the general consumer. My bet is that (1) they'll play it two-dimensional-thinking "safe" and stick to well-worn repertoire (you don't build consumer excitement that way, especially if your inventory is fixed mostly at 24/96) and (2) find themselves catering to a niche market at best (sound familiar?). If that's how it plays out, it won't be big for classical, either.

Jim

Have received a couple Naxos Blu-ray Audio discs, posted on April 3, 2014 at 11:46:37

jeffreybehr
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Posts: 5707
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Joined: December 10, 2004
Contributor
Since: December 13, 2004

These are the two Szymanowski symphony discs. Each was recorded and edited in 88/24 and rerezed to 96/24 for the discs. Two-channel is PCM while MC is DTSHDMA. Both layers sound plenty good to me, but I'm no quick-to-hear-tiny-differences golden-eared audiofile, I'm much more a MUSIC lover and long-term-hearing audiofile.

They're plenty easy to play--insert, close, push Play. Use your RC's red button for MC or green for 2-channel.

Hi-Rez Highway

Is this going to be big for classical?

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