CD vs DVD audio??

so, what is your understanding of which format is compressed (or something like that)? and what do you mean by "music quality"? are you referring, that is, to the quality of performance or the sonic quality of the "pressing"? do you have any particular dvd-a's versus redbook cd's in mind re: "specifics"? -cfb

Well since I bought a new Panasonic DVD player that also plays DVD-Audio I too was curious about the sound quality and ordered ERIC JOHNSON - AH VIA MUSICOM on DVD-A and found out for myself what the difference was in sound . I took the cd version and put it in the Mark Levinson NO. 37 cd transport and then put in DVD-A in the Panasonic and listened to it back to back . Everything I read is true the DVD-AUDIO sound is better with more details coming from your surround speakers which is kinda odd at first but you get used to it . And then when you switch back to cd then it sounds kinda flat in comparison . Another interesting thing is that the volume level of the DVD-Audio when compared to cd is a lot higher. When switching back and forth between the No. 37 and the Panasonic the volume of the DVD-A is a lot louder . One other interesting thing is that the DVD-A menu has three different modes 1. DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 2. DOLBY DIGITAL 2 channel 3 . Advanced Resolution My advice is to skip the Advanced Resolution mode because it sounds like crap!
Well my understanding is that with the DVD format they can pack more information than on a cd therefore the sound will have more detail . Well it is kinda funny that my cd player which costs 10 times as much as my DVD player has better sound with the DVD-A but when I placed the same disc I had in the Levinson in the Panasonic then the truth was revealed that the cd sound from the Panasonic was that of a cheap cd player ! Judging from what I have heard the future looks bright for DVD-Audio . Just hope all the discs are not so expensive in the future! JB

First, neither CD nor DVD/A is compressed. CD has a fixed word length and sampling rate: 16/44.1. DVD/A 's offer much higher resolution (although keep in mind that they don't have to--a recording could use all that storage space to increase playing time or the number of channels, rather than the resolution).

On a technical level, the benefits of higher resolution are debatable. Also, direct comparisons are tricky, because you don't know whether the CD and DVD versions of any recording were identically mastered. It wouldn't take much EQ to swamp any perceivable difference in resolution.

Finally, louder almost always sounds better. I wonder what JB's impression would be if he tried a comparison after level-matching his CD and DVD machines. I'd bet the differences would be a lot more subtle.