SACD/DVD-A and 2-channel recordings

I know of no companies doing SACD multichannel without including a 2 channel SACD mix, but Tacet's DVD-A recordings are generally multichannel without the corresponding 2-ch high rez mix. It's certainly not an industry trend at this point.

The CD mix, if it becomes a reality with DVD-A, will be on the flip side of the disk. The hybrid idea didn't work out well technically, and was dropped by the dvd forum earlier this year.

Bomarc: What I think I correctly understood from my friend, is that Sony mandated that every SACD recording or remaster have a dedicated 2-channel SACD version, not just a regular redbook version.

If I understood that correctly, and if that is true, I feel hopeful because that would mean that the 2-channel verson of recordings will not be mere downmixing from a multi-channel recording, but will be a dedicated 2-channel mixing effort.

Other perspectives?

Pard, you're right. When you said "layer," I thought of hybrids, but yes, a multichannel SACD includes a 2-channel version on the SACD layer, whether or not it's a hybrid disk.

It's on the DVD-A side that you get a mixdown if you've only got a two-channel set-up.

There's still the question of the quality of the mastering on the 2-channel version. See the recent storm over Dark Side of the Moon.

Bomarc, I thought the DSOTM storm was about dynamic compression on the CD layer, not about the 2 channel SACD layer...?

Quite true, Cal, in this particular case, but I think it's symptomatic of a larger danger. When the primary product is a multichannel recording (as the DSOTM SACD release certainly was), any included 2-channel version may be just an afterthought. And when there are SACD boomboxes and SACD Walkmen, will 2-channel SACD mixes be as awful as most pop mixes are nowadays?