How do dvd audio's line up against other mediums?

[Mike Mcsweeney]

If CD is 1 and SACD is 10, where would dvd audio be?

would it be

 

a negative number (worse quality than cd)

1 (about same quality as cd)

3 (just a little better than cd)

5 (about in the middle of cd and sacd)

8 (pretty close to sacd)

10 (as good as sacd)

11 (better than sacd)

[Solstice380]

I have a few DVD-A discs and I have to say that they are all good. The ones that I have are 24 bit, which makes a big improvement over CD. From what I can find they have all been remastered from good sources whereas, at this time, there are many so-so SACD transfers and only a few recordings in DSD. I would have to give the DVD-A discs a 7.

 

Particularly the Steely Dan - Two Against Nature and Grateful Dead- Workingman's Dead and American Beauty are really good.

[Mike Mcsweeney]

I have a few DVD-A discs and I have to say that they are all good. The ones that I have are 24 bit, which makes a big improvement over CD. From what I can find they have all been remastered from good sources whereas, at this time, there are many so-so SACD transfers and only a few recordings in DSD. I would have to give the DVD-A discs a 7.

 

Particularly the Steely Dan - Two Against Nature and Grateful Dead- Workingman's Dead and American Beauty are really good.

 

thanks for your input....just curious....do dvd-a all have video also or most just have audio and no video? and do you listen to your dvd-a in stereo or multi-chan?

[Audio_ELF]

Depending on the disc... Somewhere along the spectrum from 0*-11. With most somewhere between 6 and 11.

 

DVD-A support 2 channel from 24/48 (a little above CD) and 24/192.

 

(0 being an option I added which is "worse than CD)

[ted_b]

The DVD-Audio spec includes a proprietary PPCM (packed PCM aka MLP or Meridian Lossless Packaging) that can be as high as 24/192 for 2 channels, and 24/96 for 6 channels (5.1). The sound quality is potentially as good as anything that is 24/192 (like downloads), but since a majority of DVD-A discs are heard via DVD-A players (or universal players) their sound quality is limited to the capability of the player (which ranges from poor to very good). If you rip the Audio_TS hirez layers of a DVD-Audio disc (many threads and articles here on how to do that) and send them to your 24/192-capable DAC then that changes the chances of hearing the true quality of the disc content (same for multichannel).

 

DVD-Audio often carries a video folder (for standard DVD compatibility and video extras, and therefore limited to 24/96 audio, but usually 24/48) which can be accidentally accessed thinking one is listening to the higher rez audio folder. DVD-Audio (2 channel) also showed up on special discs called DAD and HDAD. On HDAD the disc was two sided with higher rez DVD-A on one side and DVD-V on the other.

 

Summary: sq depends on content, DAC quality and which layer you are accessing.

[Jud]

I have a few DVD-A discs and I have to say that they are all good. The ones that I have are 24 bit, which makes a big improvement over CD. From what I can find they have all been remastered from good sources whereas, at this time, there are many so-so SACD transfers and only a few recordings in DSD. I would have to give the DVD-A discs a 7.

 

Particularly the Steely Dan - Two Against Nature and Grateful Dead- Workingman's Dead and American Beauty are really good.

 

My experience is that the Dead discs are excellent; Lennon's Imagine is OK; Steely Dan's Gaucho and The Who's Tommy are bad.

 

So a crapshoot, unfortunately.

[ted_b]

Other good ones: Donald Fagen's Nightfly and Kamakiriad are excellent, Morph the Cat is good. Beck's Sea Change is great. David Crosby's If I Could Remember My Name, Diana Krall's Girl In The Other Room, to name two more. Talking Heads box set, Doors boxset.

[sandyk]

Diana Krall's "Girl In The Other Room-Temptation" (24-96)appears to be limited mainly by your system. It sounds fabulous when played from an SSD powered by a good low noise power supply.

[ted_b]

Yes, as I noted above, it is a great transfer.

[bobbmd]

Agree especially The Dead