All CDs that are recorded are compressed to a degree, hell the Beatles were among the first to do it to make their music sound 'bigger' and hype up the sound more than it really was. Its being going on for years, you can't escape it so at least embrace a quality recording of a live concert using great technology.

we're talking radically different things here....

dvd's are compressed audio - just like mp3 etc.. (albeit better quality - but same concept) whereas "compressed guitar"... different pages.

like i've said before, it has all the right things on paper - 24bits. 96khz. heaps of storage space etc etc... but it sounds like crap!

a cd (played on a CD player) will sound better than a dvd. a well set-up turntable will sound better than a cd! fact! sure the hell freezes over dvd is one of the better music dvd's out there - (i know - i've sold more surround systems with it than i care to remember heheh) but i'm a purist. i'll have my sound out of 2 channels only thanks very much.

d

Agreed; to an extent. I have to say that it's different with vinyls, purely because each individual record has its own unique sound which seperates it from the conformitism of DVDs and CDs.

Its all software at the end of the day, although for my favourite CD, Untouchables by Korn is pretty damn well produced. It was recorded digitally and they found that it sounded too clean, so dirtied it up a bit. No wonder it was so damn expensive to make.

dude, practically everything has been recorded digitally since like the early 90s.

having said that, the processes between an original HD or DAT recording and what you get on your dvd is huge! dvd is a pretty terrible format for audio. DVD-A is an improvement, but dvd is just not designed for music. its compressed and it sounds like crap . i know this. i work with the damned thigns for a living.

its no good comparing my vinyl setup to a cd player, let alone dvd cos theres no comparison - and even then my setup is really quite basic "entry level!" gear. crikey you can spend millions on a turntable.. only thousands on a cd player....

hmm... sorry i always get a little fired-up on this topic i could've slit the throat of the salesman at my competition this afternoon... it drives me insane...



d

turntables give a diffrent sound to CD's. However if your going to take the 100%puerist approach LP's have a distinct dissadvantage to new media storage. They have a limited life. With every play they loose quality and fidelity, even if you have the best stylist and turntable, the simple fact is physical contcat = ware = loss in origional recording dynamics.

Many people prefer the LP sound but i just get so annoyed at the background hiss/crackel/noise through extremly quiet passages. I have heard some briliant recordings on nice vynal setups, yet although their sound has another element to it, the inherent lack of muting during quiet passages just gets on my nervs.

well yeah. fair call. the positives of vinyl, however, in my eyes far outweighs the negs. background snap crackle and pop doesnt worry me...

but yeah, anyway lets compare apples with apples. i wouldn't actaully ever have a tt in my car anyway.

cd is superior in fidelity to dvd. thats the case i bring forward your honour.

d

how are new formats developing such as SACD and HDCD?

well, hdcd isnt a new format... its been around for many years now. its essentially a waste of time because there is such limited hdcd material...

and there are only a handful of car setups capable of hdcd. the clarion hx-d1 is and the pxa-h900 will decode hdcd... but yeah.... thats all i can think of off the top of my head.

SACD - well. thats another ballgame altogether. SA is growing strongly. the software is getting wider etc.

SA is a great technology. the players are limited, basically, to the upper midrange and higher-level home units. you won't get into SA cheaper than a grand, and even then, i'd spend nothing less than 2k on a player (marantz sa-8260 if it matters).

SACD is the only digital format i've heard that approached vinyl in dynamic range and general "un-digital" sound. thumb up!

.... not much use to car audio buffs tho... cos nobody makes a car SA... (yet). my money is on sony doing it first (seing as they invented the format). i'd imagine sony jumping back into making decent equipment for car (like their old flagship mobileES stuff) if it were to happen...

sorry for the long post.

d

i just want to hear how my Pink Floyd dark side of the moon cd really sounds when played through SACD

is it the SACD release???

not much use playing a regular cd on a sacd player and expecting to be bowled over lol...

d

all true and fair dj hatton, but you got to remember that we are talking about sources that really should be used in a car environment ...

and we have all forgotten something, car audio is meant to be enjoyed, i personally have every single focal cd, both versions of highway one (one was redone a few years back) and the f#1 cd ... biggest problem, i simply dont enjoy em ...

i mean, we are talking about the difference between listening to a recording on lp, cd dvd etc ... but it dont matter if you hate what your listening to

i enjoy all my vinyl...

and all my sacd's (even tho i don't have a sacd deck at home) are superb.

so meh...

anyway i'm over this thread. i just read over it and i sound like one of those "audiophile w@nkers" that i speak to every day. *shudder*

d

Where can i get an Alpine F#1 status disc?
Ive looked everywhere.. and i want to buy it rather than dl it.?