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Audiophile Quality 2 Channel DVD Audio?

The next step on my higher end audio journey is to explore DVD audio. Mostly classical, historic, and acoustic concert performances. To see Monteaux conduct the Chicago Symphony, or a Bayreuth production of the Ring, Segovia or Eric Clapton play in an intimate setting would add a huge dimension to the aural experience. So my question is: Does audiophile quality 2 Channel Audio exist? Multi-channel formats seem to dominate, and "Oh yeah, DVDs play 2 channel too." Just how good is it? Rather than replace my very satisfactory modded Sony sacd player, I plan to add a used DVD player through A-gon. Much DVD programing that I'm interested in won't have high definition video, and enough has already been said about the consumer being held hostage in the HDCD and Blue Ray format war. So for my needs, Audio quality trumps Video quality. Life is compromise. What's affordable that has great sound, or can be modded? And what's your opinion on the future of DVD audio? Thank you in advance for your insight. A-goners are simply the best.
jeffkonicek
johnss
569 posts
 
DVD-A can sound much better than SACD or CD, problem is the source material is mastered poorly, and no attention to detail is really made on the commercial side. The exception being the sound mirror Living Stereo releases on SACD which sound really good.

I do live to 2 track recording and burn my own DVD-A discs.
Comparing those to the same material on 16 CD really shows the difference the higher sampling rate and longer word lentgh makes.
dbld
297 posts
 
I agree with Johnss - both SACD and DVD-A offer a dramatic improvement over Redbook CD. I think it depends a lot on your system though. For me, since installing Theta Enterprises, the difference is just huge. And FWIW, I find Multi-channel not worth much of my time. I do almost all of my listening in 2-channel in spite of being close to ideally set up for multi-channel.

Regarding a player, it is very much dependant on your budget. Right now I am using an Upgrade Company modded Denon 5910. It was an improvement over my Upgrade Company Esoteric DV-50 that was noticeably better than the venerable EMM Labs CDSA-SE. I would wholeheartedly recommend the very same player since it is so good on all formats.

And as far as being a niche product...so is vinyl. Once you begin to find companies such as High-Res and outlets that specialize in DVD-A and SACD (Elusive Disc, Acoustic Sounds, AIX, CD Universe, Music DirectÂ…), the number of titles does increase somewhat. Still, don't expect to find much locally. All of my SACD/DVD-A discs are bought via internet/mail-order...the same way most people get their vinyl.
chimeguy1
8 posts
 
I am finally getting around to taking some of the vinyl recordings off

My Polaroid DVD DVR hard drive and DVD recorder.
The DVR hard drive records the vinyl as LPCM or MPEG2.
This is Hi Res sound!! When I play vinyl and file from hard drive of DVR
on my high end system the two sources are indistinguishable from each other

I have program that rips the DVD AUDIO mpeg 2 out of the DVD I make
I can rip it out in original format .mpa or the other formats lossless mp3
etc
I am outputting to both formats mpa and mp3

I have a fairy high end turntable and am using XLO interconnects
I record with subwoofer off as to minimize vibrations also

there is strange sound at 15 to 16 minutes don't know what causes it
I will play the vinyl again to see if it is on the record

the vinyl has not been processed in any way and is not broken into
tracks. I need a vpi record cleaner but have not afforded one yet.

the first disc i am making available for download is
Urania Stars Singing Opera Arias 1950s
unfortunately after making this transfer a week or two ago
I seem to have misfiled the vinyl itself and this prevents
me from giving you more info about the record itself.
I must have misfiled it!! I will look some more to tell you who
the artists are!!!

urania_stars_1950s_vinyl.mp3

http://www.mediafire.com/?1sfsx9jx6zf
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