HiFI Blu-Ray coming september to UK in France now.

[Radioham]

Hi All,

Wonder if you have seen this..

http://www.whathifi.com/news/ultra-high-quality-audio-from-blu-ray-enters-the-mainstream

High Fidelity Pure Audio releases are, fundamentally, high-resolution recordings mastered to Blu-ray discs and intended for playback on any Blu-ray disc player.

Created from studio master recordings at a minimum of 24bit/96kHz standard, the discs are encoded in three ultra high-quality lossless formats: uncompressed PCM, DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD.

Seems quite a few labels have signed up. I will certainly give it a try , and good bit of luck I bought a NOS Marantz UD5005 yesterday from e-bay.

Alan

 

[meninblack]

Audio blu-rays already exist, but IME there are just no hi-fi bluray players.

 

[cjr]

I have a few BD Audio discs and they sound pretty good to these ears. Try Stevie Wonder : Live at the O2 Arena. if that is not hiz rez then I'll eat my hat. Good to see SITKOL there .... have to try that.

Oh another the Audio on Blade Runner is stunning to these ears.

 

[Cable Monkey]

CD is uncompressed PCM. Some idea of bit rates would be useful.

DSD is already specced for SACD. Is this just an attempt to create a rival format by some who don't wish to have to pay Sony (again) for the privilege of using blu-ray?

 

[gjm]

DSD is already specced for SACD. Is this just an attempt to create a rival format by some who don't wish to have to pay Sony (again) for the privilege of using blu-ray?

Henry! So cynical... ;-)

Oppo may argue that they have produced BDPs capable of hifi quality audio output. From their own blurb: "The OPPO BDP-105 is designed from the ground up with components optimized for enhanced analog audio performance."

OK, so we're not talking Kondo territory, but it'll likely be better than a Tesco's value brand BDP.

 

[Guest]

Another dead-end format. Brilliant.

 

[Muddy Funster]

Another dead-end format. Brilliant.

Well, not necessarily. The format (AFAIK) works on Blu-ray and doesn't need any supplementary software or hardware. A dead-end format would imply you end up owning something that is incompatible with everything else (as in, if you bought a HD-DVD player and some discs... when that format tanked, you were left high and dry). If there are only 10 titles on this 'format' ever produced, you can still play everything you currently play on that Blu-ray player.

That people are moving away from Blu-ray and toward things like Apple TV and their Sky boxes to get their cinematic jollies doesn't make it a shoe-in for mainstream success, but this isn't a mainstream concept anyway. I think it's trying to make a DVD-Audio format for this decade; a high-grade format that works in existing players. That's fine if the people behind this don't anticipate huge sales, and view the numbers attached to DVD-A/SACD discs as a kind of maximum possible target market. Although even this might be ambitious; when DVD-A and SACD battled it out, there was no download market to speak of, whereas now this will have to compete with hi-res downloads and the surviving and established classical SACD sales (for the audiophile buyer) and iTunes, Spotify and CD (for everyone else). So were DVD-A and SACD sales at their peak topped about 2m per year worldwide, the chances of this format getting anywhere near that figure is (IMO) extremely unlikely. If the company behind this recognises that and can turn a profit from a few thousand sales of a recording across its lifetime, it could be interesting. If not... nice knowing you!

But hey... I need another version of that Kleiber/Beethoven 5th. I've only got it in about five different formats. Sixth time lucky.

 

[will777888]

So, if I put a BD Pure Audio disc into my Oppo 93, will I be able to output the 24/192 pcm stereo track to my DAC via the digital phono out ? If not, then it (Pure Audio) is a non-starter as far as I am concerned.

 

[mmar]

Might be wrong but Sure stockfisch records already produce audiophile recordings in this format

 

[avole]

I bought a few of these at FNAC a couple of months ago. First impressions are that the Naxos new classical recordings are very good indeed, and that the older ones (Stones etc) sound a touch warmer. The Bob Marley disc is probably the best sounding version I have - was never a great production.

 

[pgarrish]

Given how badly many bd players are when replaying cd, why will a better source disc improve things much when they can't match a mid-fi cd spinner? Spend the money making a decent recording in the first place please

 

[cjr]

Where can I buy SITKOL?

 

[Beyond you]

Nah they are a dead format already, some titles been released for a year on blu-ray audio disc's already, Led Zeppelin - Celebration Day, The Rolling Stones - Grrr.

I was very excited about 10 years ago with DTS CD's and DVD Audio disc, but soon realised you just can't beat good old stereo studio recordings. But i do enjoy watching blu ray music concerts.

DTS CD's i have:

Alan Parsons - On Air

Sting - Ten Summoners Tales

Sting - Brand New Day

DVD Audio:

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Fleetwood Mac - Say You Will

The Doobie Brothers - The Captain and Me

Deep Purple - Stormbringer

various Porcupine Tree and No Man albums.

Never liked SCAD.

My Pioneer SCAD/DVD AUDIO player has been in the loft for over a year now, it's stereo all the way now!!

 

[RichardG]

Well it's a better selection than Toto and Billy Joel who are usually the first to be wheeled out when a new format comes a-knockin.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24441979

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

I'd prefer to have everything simply available for download, but this is definitely not a bad thing.

Have to say that I've been impressed by the concert BDs that I have, so looking forward to a bigger set of options.

 

[pluto]

A dead-end format would imply you end up owning something that is incompatible with everything else...

This incompatibility is pretty much the case, as the nature of the Blu-Ray protection means that buyers of Pure Audio™ will be unable to re-task this data for use on the myriad of devices that we now consider essential to our well-being, other than via the analogue loop.

I give it two years.

- - - Updated - - -

But hey... I need another version of that Kleiber/Beethoven 5th. I've only got it in about five different formats...

And do any of them sound any different from the others?

 

[Diapason]

I firmly believe the source isn't the bottleneck in most systems, and I for one am perfectly happy with CDs (yes, the humble 16bit 44.1kHz version) when they're properly recorded and mastered. I assume as a hifi nerd I'm meant to be the target market here, but I certainly won't be biting unless these are VERY keenly priced. Any chance the record companies could actually sort out the loudness war issues with new releases first, and make us believe they're serious about the sound of the underlying recording? I might believe in a new higher-fi format then.

 

[telecat]

The BD Players have had the capability from the start. I doubt that pressing the Discs is onerous either and will not be as expensive as SACD and DVD-Audio. It's worth a shot.

 

[Paul55]

So, if I put a BD Pure Audio disc into my Oppo 93, will I be able to output the 24/192 pcm stereo track to my DAC via the digital phono out ?

I think that your BD player never produces more than 48k at its S/PDIF output. You need to go via HDMI.

OTOH it's often possible to rip the audio using tools like 'DVD Audio Extractor'.

The whole idea is daft. The industry needs to move towards good value HD downloads and accept there will be piracy, but the more sensible the price the more inclined the interested would be to pay it. Most present prices for 'Studio Quality' downloads are ridiculous.

Paul