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SACD vs. DVD-A


Rudy81

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Foxman,

I have In Absentia too and my dvd audio plyer defaults to the MLP 5.1 tracks. In fact I think most of mine do come to think of it. I rarely ever turn on my screen to check the menu, I just look at the display on my DVD player. By the way, isn't In Absentia a great disc! Porcupine Tree hase a new one coming out at the end of February called Darkwing. It is also going to be realesed in the DVD Audio format. If you go to there web site you can be redirected to the new Disc site.

here is the site for the trailer for there new disc.

http://www.porcupinetree.com/media/DW_trailer1_3medium.mov

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On 1/8/2005 4:35:18 PM RickB wrote:

I don't know about the 2910, but on my 3910 you have to go into the etc. part of the setup menu and set player mode to audio.

If it's set on video your playing the digital setup.

To my ears, of the SACDs and DVD Audio discs I own I think DVD Audio sounds better.

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Aha! I know the setting you are talking about and I am sure it is set to Video. I am new to both that DVD player and DVD-A, so it is likely I have made a setup error. Do you have to switch back and forth between video and audio just to listen or view either source? If so, that is not very convenient for someone like me who does quite a bit of both.

I look forward to checking this out as soon as I get back home. The more I think about it, the more it has to be a setup error on my part and not the DVD-A. The way it is now, it sounds like a really poor mix, unlike my video DVD's or my SACD's. Thanks for the tip.

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By the numbers DVD-Audio is ruling SACD, both 2 channel and multi from what I have read online.

I have both setups, and prefer DVD-Audio for multi, but love 2 channel SACD on my Khorns, didn't care much for multi SACD.

Reminds me of the ole VCR WAR, BETA vs VHS, BETA was far superior, but SONY never pushed it, VHS came in and kicked their *** so to speak, wellllllll...10.gif

also agreed on the disc quality, I have 38 Special live in Sturgis on DVD Audio and it's the worst sounding piece of..DON'T BUY IT...10.gif

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Well, back to square one. I am now back home and re-read the Denon manual. All the settings were correct.

I am using the analog outputs and have used the "pure direct" function to ensure the denon has the digital output turned off.

I played with the "Video" and "Audio" settings. The Video setting allows me to get Dolby Digital in 5.1 via the digital output. The audio setting (for those that have a Denon) gives me analog 5.1 multichannel. Of course, I can select two channel PCM.

I have not, until now heard DVD-A and so was surprised to hear that at least on these two disks, there is very little sound from the center channel, particularly in the first three tracks of "Shaman".

Not to confuse this issue, but it sounds great overall, and the Khorns image so well that I have to have my ear up against the center to know that not much information is coming from that speaker. I am just surprised to "hear" that the mix did not make better use of a 5.1 system in terms of creating a bigger and more precise sound stage. I have some SACD's that do that very well with some excellent channel steering.

I will get some other DVD-A's in the next few days.

I guess my whole problem stems from the fact that I expected more steering, say with voices, to the center channel rather than relying on the mains imaging ability to create that aspect of the performance.

I will give the DVD-A a chance. It does sound very good, not quite as good as my SACD's, but I guess it is what you are used to.

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On 1/8/2005 8:02:52 AM sivadselim wrote:

what do you mean by this, exactly? is the player set up as having a sub? do you bass manage your processors external inputs at all?

are you sending a 5.0 signal instead of a 5.1 signal from the player? many (if not all) players will NOT reroute the LFE channel the way that pre/pro/receivers will; instead they drop it altogether when configured with no sub. perhaps your sacd mixes are 5.0 but your dvda is 5.1.

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I do not the Denon's speaker or sub settings, I let my Parasound processor do all that. However, I will check that side of the equation as well. My Denon has symbols that indicate what channels are being sent out and it indicates that it is sending out 5.1

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If I don't turn on my TV and change the menu setup, typically, the DVD-A will default to playing at 5.1.

Personally, I have enjoyed the DVD-A format. However, I love the 2 channel better than multichannel. I don't like sounds coming from behind me. If it were a concert, I can understanding the "cheering" and "clapping". But Studio recording?

5.1 for movies, I understand. It is ok to have gorilla sounds coming from behind me "Congo"

One other thing. I like to have the 2 channel mode because more of my quality of components are invested into the front end. The center and surrounds sound fine if I listen to surround in movies. However, if I'm jammin "Korn" (like right now), I'd rather hear it in front of me coming from my La Scalas and my McIntosh MC250.

jc

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Well, I am now convinced that I have everything set up correctly after checking and double checking my settings, comparing with CD, SACD and DVD-A. I now have to stand by my original thought that, for me anyway, these two Santana recordings, on DVD-A are not up to par. For those of you that own Shaman in several formats, try this.

Listen to track 7 "Victory is Won" in two channel and you can easily hear Carlos at center stage playing the intro guitar work. My Khorns do a magnificent job of imaging and soundtaging this track. Then, go to the same track in DVD-A 5.1 and you will see that you can't precisely locate his guitar. It is as though the recording is out of phase! At least on my system this is clearly audible. During the DVD-A portion of this track, there is virtually no center channel information. Track number 4, by contrast has more music in the center channel. However, most tracks on that DVD-A use the center very little if at all.

By contrast, my Michael McDonald "Motown" SACD does a great job of using the 5.1 to steer a much better soundstage.

I will have to pick up a few more DVD-A's and see how other groups have done their recordings. For now, I much prefer my CD, or the DVD-Video of Santana's recordings. Anyone want to buy two barely used DVD-A's?

1.gif

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On 1/9/2005 9:31:08 PM Rudy81 wrote:

I do not the Denon's speaker or sub settings, I let my Parasound processor do all that. However, I will check that side of the equation as well. My Denon has symbols that indicate what channels are being sent out and it indicates that it is sending out 5.1

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I don't know about your set up but my pre/pro does NO processing,its strictly a volume knob.The 5.1 dvd-a is sent ready to go into analog and bypasses my processor,to knob and to amp.

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On 1/9/2005 10:12:34 PM Fish wrote:

I don't know about your set up but my pre/pro does NO processing,its strictly a volume knob.The 5.1 dvd-a is sent ready to go into analog and bypasses my processor,to knob and to amp.

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I have asked that question to the Parasound tech guys and they indicated that in the case of the 7.1 analog inputs, the HALO C2 applies the individual speaker trims, volume and distance, and then sends that information to the speaker. So in a way, it does not "process" the information, it just properly sets each channel to match my system and room acoustics. Otherwise, the signal is not processed or modified.

The Denon allows me to send the "raw" signal to my C2 if I choose, as opposed to using the Denon's processing for muli-channel sound.

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My understanding is to do anything other than amp the dvd-a signal is to alter it.I would think the 5.1 analog in would have to be converted back to digital to be processed(trim,distance,etc)thus causing processing in the HALO.

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Hi, kinda' new guy here but my thoughts are...

I like sacd better. It acts more like a cd than dvd-a does. I don't need the video aspect of dvd-a, and I hate having to push the play button twice. Other than that, I am more than pleased with the sound of both formats. I run an Integra dpc8.5 and an Outlaw 950 and both formats sound great, almost rivaling vinyl.

One other plus for sacd is some of them will play in the car (the hybrids) and they seem to sound better than a normal cd, but I'm not sure why. 24 bit recording maybe?

Anyway, put my vote to sacd.

Noloft

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try one of these dvdas, rudy:

steely dan - 2 against nature

steely dan - everything must go

steely dan - gaucho

donald ***an - nightfly

donald ***an - kamakiriad

omg, i can't even write donald FA Gan

regarding the center channel in the mix, that's something that's entirely up to the engineer. many discs have little to no center channel info while others have a lot. and sometimes, like dsotm, for example, it'll be mixed both ways; sometimes used very sparingly, sometimes in-your-face.

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On 1/10/2005 12:58:26 PM Rudy81 wrote:

I'm going out a little later to get some others. I will look for Gaucho, since I have the SACD and CD version and can compare.
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i have gaucho in both formats, dvda and sacd. my original intention WAS to compare them, but someone convinced me not to even try. i'm glad that i took their advice.

besides the fact that the mix may be different (probably isn't with gaucho, though), there are too many other variables to try and control for to make a valid comparison between the formats. even if you could come to some conclusion about which you thought sounded better on your system, you wouldn't be able to definitively ascribe that to the format alone. get 2 vs Nature or Everything Must Go.

forget comparing, just enjoy!

(btw, overall and in general, even though i have many more sacds, i think i actually prefer the sound of dvda. sacd is very sterile sounding, to me; almost too perfect.)

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Wow, now I feel better. Just got The Doors' LA Woman and Yes Fragile. Both very good recordings with the type of mixing that both surrounds you with music, but steers sounds well.

I also have DSOTM in SACD and use that to demo the multichannel format.

Turns out things were set correctly from the start, but I picked two DVD-A's, that in my opinion are poorly mixed.

Riders on the Storm in LA woman is extremely good in that DVD-A.

Thanks for all the help guys and gals. I appeciate everyone chiming in.

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