Audio News

Contents:

1. What is going on/What to do/How it will all pan out?

2. Audio Myths

 

 

What is going on?!?

I talk to so many people who don't really understand what is happening with all the new formats. If you don't know what is happening you can't make wise buying decisions. Here is what I understand of what is happening.

 

There are two new official high resolution formats out: DVD-A and Sony DSD (SACD). There is also another format that will play 24/96K discs (DADs from Chesky and Classic Records). Let's look at the two new formats and also DADs:

 

1. DADs are what you might call a renegade format. Classic Records and Chesky Records wanted to get their 24 bit 96K recordings/master tape sound to people and were tired of waiting for the official DVD audio format to be released so they used the audio tracks of a DVD Video disc for their format. The audio tracks on every DVD Video disc are capable of 24/96. The reason there are so few of these discs available is that most record companies were waiting for the official DVD Audio format. What is nice about DADs is they are available now, will play on every DVD player (past, present and future) and they are also capable of full motion video. The last two releases by Chesky are not only 2 channel 24/96 audio but have full video as well. You are getting a live concert video with 24/96 sound! DADs will not play on any CD player.

 

2. DVD-A is the official DVD audio format. DVD-A is capable of 5 channels of 24/96 or 2 channels of 24/192K. DVD-As will not play on any CD player.

 

3. Sony SACD (DSD) is Sony/Philips new high end audio format. It was released in Oct. 99 in its 2 channel mode and released in early 2001 in multichannel format. It is a one bit system that samples at 2.8 mhz and has a 120db dynamic range and 100K audio bandwidth. Most people who have heard it think it is the equal of 24/192 or even better. SACD will not play on any CD player. If the SACD disc is a hybrid, then the 16bit/44K layer will play on any CD player.

 

There is lots of talk in the magazines and on the net about this "format war" between SACD and DVD-A. I don't see a war. Our minds are the only things at war here. There are universal players that play all the new formats and more being released this year. If this is so, then how can there be a war!!!! If you go into your local Tower Record store or whatever and want to buy a new Sony release it would be on SACD and it would play on your universal player. If you wanted a release by Warner then it would be a DVD-A disc and would also play on your universal player. What's the problem? Some are saying that the DVD-A people are not going to want to pay Sony royalties so they won't build a universal machine. Are you kidding? If you go into your local Stereo emporium and you ask the guy what features are on these new DVD machines and he tells you this one here can play all the new formats and no other machine can, guess which machine you are going to buy. I would think the first company out with a universal machine will sell a gillion machines which would of course force all the other companies to play catch up. As of 5-1-03 we have Universal players from Pioneer, Marantz, Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon and more coming soon. Pioneer is slated to release a $279 Universal player in a couple of months. Look what has happened with DVD players (getting cheaper and cheaper with more and more features). Currently the Pioneer DV-45A can be bought mail order for $400 delivered!

 

Some are saying that the software will be scarce for the new formats. I don't think so. DVD is the fastest selling new medium ever. By mid 2004 most people that will buy a DVD machine will have a universal high resolution player in their hands. Since they got the new goodies for nothing they might as well buy a couple of these new fangled discs and guess what? Joe consumer goes gah gah over it. Yup, he will hear the difference and he will want more. The average stereo/video consumer is not as unperceptive as we think. He will read all the news articles on the new formats, see the posters in the CD stores and his buddies will tell him that it's cool. Every audiophile I know has been waiting for at least 5 years for these new audio formats. Where there is a need someone will want to make money on it. Guaranteed!

 

 

Other Facts:

NO CD player or CD transport will ever play DVDs or SACD. People ask me if I can put an upsampler into a CD player with a 96K DAC. Yes, this could be done. But at very, very high cost. These chips are not like a simple op amps. They are not plug in parts. A whole circuit board would have to be made for the upsampler, DAC chip and output stages. This is not cost effective.

 

NO current non DVD-A player will ever play all the DVD-A formats and will never play SACD. Your current DVD player (unless it is DVD-A capable and SACD capable) will never play all the new goodies. There is only a handful of very expensive transports (Theta Voyager, etc.) that could be modified to play the new formats. You cannot modify any current non DVD-A player to play the new formats.

 

Most current DACs will never play 24/192 and SACD without major modifications (except the $12,000 DCS Elgar). Most (95%) will never be able to be modified to play them at all.

 

Most first generation DVD-A machines being released and shortly thereafter will not play SACD.

 

The first generation SACD machines released by Sony and shortly thereafter will not play DVD-A.

 

The first generation DVD-A machines will not have a digital out that will pass 24/192. In fact, most won't even pass 24/96 just as is the case with current DVD machines.

 

The first generation SACD machines will not have a digital out that will pass DSD.

 

There are now universal DVD/Transport-DAC players (will play all new formats, including DVD-A and SACD) and sometime there will be universal DVD transports and DACs. The details on the digital transmission of DVD-A and Sony SACD have not been worked out but certain companies are using their own proprietary links to get all formats into their DAC.

 

2003 looks like an exciting year. We now have inexpensive SACD, SACD/DVD, DVD-A and now Universal players that can all be modified for incredible sound. These machines with our mods will play CDs great and give you great SACD or DVD-A or both as well. Also, there will be state of the art Universal separates that will give the best sound on all formats. Please stand by. Please see the EVS modified SACD players page for more info.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio Myths

 

There are some audio myths that need clarifying. You cannot make a good choice about components unless you know what is really going on. Many people form opinions and enjoy their mythological thinking as a form of protection, ego or to keep from having to spend the time to find out the truth. The high end game is one of the most complex there is and I can see how easy it would be to create categories and judgments to help eliminate some of the possibilities (that are endless). The only truth in audio (or in life) is what you experience, not what you think. The only truth in audio is what you hear, not what you believe something should be according to some scientific or other kind of thinking. I want you all to start trusting your experience, trusting your ears. Most people do not have the time to listen to all the things I have in my over 23 years of listening tests. I understand how difficult it must be to accept that every solder joint is audible and degrading. Check out some of my audio tweaks or some on audio tweaks.com and have a listen. Here is a look at some of the most prevalent myths:

 

1. The heavier the CD player or transport the better it is: Not true. I here this one all the time. Because a CD player or transport weighs 30 lbs. does not make it better sonically than a 5 lb. player. It only makes it heavier. There are hundreds of factors in a transport that make for better sound. Yes, damping vibrations helps a lot. But most heavy players have a plastic vibrating transport mechanism mounted on a heavy chassis. If the individual parts of the transport mechanism are vibrating the heavy chassis underneath cannot do much to affect it. You can dampen the individual parts of a transport mechanism, dampen where the mechanism meets the chassis and dampen the chassis underneath the transport with very inexpensive damping materials that do not weigh much at all. This would do more than making the transport weigh a ton!!! Very recently a customer said that his buddy tried about 10 different inexpensive transports and also A/Bed the best one against a very heavy Pioneer laser disc player that was "incredibly well made". The transport that was the best sonically happened to be the cheapest and the lightest. It also clobbered the Pioneer laser disc player.

 

2. Lowering electrical jitter is all you need for good sound: Not true. Electrical jitter measurements are important. Everything else being equal, the lower measuring machine will win. However, everything else is never equal, unless you are just substituting a lower jitter clock in the same player. You can use any number of digital lenses and jitter reduction devices or use the lowest jitter clock right on the DAC pins and still blacking/greening the CD, sanding the CD, Demagnetizing the CD, using Auric Illuminator, using better power cords, having the transport supported better, doing any number of mods to the power supplies in a transport, etc., etc., etc. will all change the sound.

 

3. Having a true 75 ohm digital cable and connectors is mostly what makes a good digital transmission: Not true. There are many factors that determine the "sound" of a digital cable or digital cable system (including connectors and send and receive circuits). Every 75 ohm cable in the world sounds different from every other 75 ohm cable. Every 75 ohm connector sounds different from every other 75 ohm connector. If you terminate the input of a DAC with 90 ohms but use a better quality resistor for termination the better sounding resistor will make more difference than the impedance. I am not against true transmission line theory. I just listen as well. Everything else being equal, making everything the same impedance will be better. Many people are gah gah over 75 ohm BNC connectors. Have these people actually a/bed quality OFC RCAs against these "true 75 ohm connectors"? BNCs might be better connectors. Probably not because they are 75 ohm. Very simple pure digital wires can be made that are not 75 ohm at all and cream all other cables. Check out our cable tweak page for details.

 

4. The belief that any one factor makes a machine better. NOT TRUE. Examples:

A class A amp does not necessarily make it better sonically than a class A/B amp. If you took the same amp and biased it further into class A then it would sound better.

24 bit DAC chips in a DAC does not make it a better DAC than one that has 16 bit DACs. It is the execution of every part of a DAC that makes the sound.

I2S is not necessarily better than coax for digital transmission. All I2S cables have different sound and all I2S send and receive buffers will have different sound.

 

 

As you can see most audio myths come from oversimplification. Audio is one of the most complex games there is. We would all like to think we know what is right and that what we buy/bought is the best we could have.

 

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