Digital Formats Preferences - Redbook/XRCD/K2HD/LPCD45/SACD/etc

[HedgeHog]

Hi all,

Just wondering if there's a consensus to which one is preferable if there are multiple formats to a recording. I know some redo the mastering, which makes a huge difference. But in general, is there a preferable format?

Redbook CD
SHM-CD
LPCD45
Blu-Spec CD
XRCD
HDCD
K2HD
SACD
SHM-SACD
Others...

Comments?

Cheers.
-H

[Chris D]

No concensus. I actually would prefer music on BD, in DTS-MA, Dolby TruHD, or LPCM.

Short of that, I'll take DVD-A or SACD.

After that, it's HDCD, then XRCD, Redbook.

[Johnloudb]

No concensus. I actually would prefer music on BD, in DTS-MA, Dolby TruHD, or LPCM.

Short of that, I'll take DVD-A or SACD.

After that, it's HDCD, then XRCD, Redbook.

I second that!

[btf1980]

High bitrate FLAC for me.

[HedgeHog]

Shame BD-Audio is slow in comin g on line...I've got a couple of the NL stuff, AIX, and am eagerly awaiting Rush's Moving Pictures. But I'm not seeing much else.

And DVD-A is really dead...shame, since the car has a DVD-A player too.

So given the same record, SACD should sound better then? K...thx.

I'd consider FLAC but I don't have a player that I like so far. Not really into a laptop on the system and the ATV2's ALAC definitely does not sound as good as the CD it was ripped from...weird. I chalk that up to the resampling from 44KHz to 48KHz. I'm still considering the other players (Sonos, Sooloos, SBT, Olive) but I'm gun shy about it letting me down like the ATV2 did.

Thx for the inputs!

-H

[madmac]

DVD-A and SACD are essentially dead. I would certainly like to see all CD's mastered in HDCD format. There is a very noticeable improvement in sound quality. I too would love to see more music on BD. Something like DVD-A but in this case it would be BD-A

But as I have said many times in this forum, the way the recording was done, mastered and the care that went into making it will trump the medium it is pressed on every time!!

[Ovation]

My preference is for discrete MCH mixes, so DVD-A/SACD/BD would tie for formats (they can each deliver a hi-res MCH mix). I'm equipped for each, so I'm format "neutral".