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What is the story with 24 bit masters 24/96 .

I received some new (old) re-mastered classical CDs that have "Mastered with 24/96 Technology" splatter all over the front cover and liner notes. My DAC still lights up that the CD is standard 44.1 redbook (MSB). Does this mean that the second letter in ADD is all that is 24/96 and the final product is sampled back to 44? Is there something else wrong? Are there really any standard CDs out there that play at 96 Mhz ???
sugarbrie
rcprince
3,073 posts
 
I don't believe the true 24/96 discs from Chesky can be read by a CD player; my Classic DADs can't be read by a CD player, only a DVD player. There's a difference between a 24/96 RECORDING, which can be downsampled to 16/44 redbook CD standard, and a 24 bit/96khz DISC, which needs a DVD laser and 24 bit DAC to be decoded.
lake513
123 posts
 
I am still in the dark with all this 24/96 bit stuff. I had My cal alpha upgraded to be 24 bit 96 khz do I need a dvd with a digital output to take advantage of this or what? I would also like to know who makes a dvd or other player that has a digital output to use with My alpha d/a any help would be nice thanks
rcprince
3,073 posts
 
Lake513: This whole thing is pretty confusing, so don't feel alone. As I understand it, you need a transport that can read a 24/96 disc (a DVD player will do that; there are also some high-end transports out there, but probably not worth getting unless they can read the new DVD-Audio discs) and that will output a 24/96 digital signal from its digital output (not all DVD players will do that--check past threads on this--most early Pioneer players can do this, as does my Marantz DV-18 and some of the new Sonys, I believe) and 24/96 DADs, which I think have only been made available by Classic Records and Chesky so far. These are NOT DVD-A (Audio) discs I'm talking about, which are just starting to be released but are not currently able to have a 24/96 signal output in the digital domain (for those you'll need a DVD-A player, and right now you couldn't use your CAL to decode the 24/96 digital signal, you'd have to use the player's own internal DAC to get a 24/96 signal). Eventually, if the marketplace demands it and the recording companies break down and allow DVD-A discs to have their 24/96 signal output in the digital domain, you could use your CAL to decode those signals. For now, it can decode the few DADs out there and, if you have an upsampler, the CAL can help you get what some of us believe is better sound out of regular CDs. I think I've got this right, but feel free to correct me.
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