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I'm totally confused about Hi Rez formats

I was hoping that somebody out there could help this two-channel audiophile make some sense out of the DVD-A and SACD formats. I was interested in exploring these hi resolutiuon formats, but was told by a salesman that the benefits of these formats are only achieved when used in multichannel setups. I went to the dealer under the impression that if one wished to, he or she could simply use such players as two channel digital front ends, and still obtain the benefit of the higher sampling rate and bit rate. I know of one high end player like the Marantz SA-11 that only has two channel analog outputs.

I was interested in testing the waters with a universal player, but I don't want to go nuts and spend thousands of dollars until I have a chance to experiment with the possibilities. Certainly, I have no use for the so-called high resolution formats unless I can truly obtain higher resolution in a two channel system. I am not interested in multichannel audio at the moment. Can somebody please explain things to me.

Thanks!!
mstram
arafel
32 posts
 
Last week I bought Miles' Kind of Blue on 200g vinyl, Free Live and Fire and Water on 180g, Simon and Garfunkel on 180g, the Allman Brothers on 180g, and Zep 2 on 200g. Every 4 months or so I will go out and buy a bunch of new vinyl. With the exception of one dud (Who's Next, which is horribly noisy no matter how many times I clean it), I've been really happy with all the new vinyl I've gotten. In several cases, the vinyl is the only medium I have the relase on. And it always sounds better on my Scoutmaster than it does on either my McInstosh 205 or Denon 2900, even when I've compared it to SACD (as I did with the Stones and Miles).
czbbcl's avatar
czbbcl
1,752 posts
 
There is really no reason why one format has to win out over the other. After all look at vinyl it is still around long after it was supposed to be dead. If albeit on a substantially smaller scale. And one may miss out on some truly beautiful music waiting for this format thing to shake out if, as I mentioned above, it ever does.

So I would say to mstram if you feel the need/desire to experiment try it you may be suprised. Leting other people make your decisions for you is not in your best interest.

Chuck
711smilin
513 posts
 
If SACD were dead, whay all the multi format high end machines being released. In fact Sony just released a new 11k Flagship 2 Channel SACD player. BTW All of my 36 DVD-A are recorded in 2 channel and multi channel. I believe we will see these formats for a long long time. With the right machines, these formats are WONDERUL.JMO
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