[keysersoze123]

Hi guys,

I don't actually have a SACD player, but am considering getting one. Because of the lack of SACDs available, it would have to double up as a very good CD player as well.

One thing I've come across in my research, is that SACD only uses 1 bit DSD (no idea what that really means), but apparently it would have been pretty easy to make it a higher bit rate DSD, like 2 bit or 4 bit instead, and would have made the sound quality considerably better.

I'm just wondering, is it possible that they might update the format to 2 bit or higher DSD?

If they did this, would the new discs work on existing SACD players?

Thanks

Keyser

[surayne]

As I understand it, the reason for DSD being implemented in 1-bit was to try to approximate the "warmth" of vinyl. The single bit being sampled at a much higher frequency (2822 vs 44.1kHz) gives a more analogue-type waveform - or so it is claimed!
I think that it's highly unlikely that we'll see an update of the existing SACD standard - it's a niche market as it is, and splitting the format further would probably kill it off for good. Besides, Blu-Ray audio is on the horizon and is likely to be the next step in audio format evolution, apart from high-resolution studio master quality downloads.

[Timbo21]

DSD works in a different way to PCM. IIRC it looks at the previous sample and only needs to use 1 bit to make the next change because it is doing it 2.8 million times per second. The 1 bit isn't like PCM where the amount of bits reflect the dynamic range.

[keysersoze123]

Originally Posted by surayne

As I understand it, the reason for DSD being implemented in 1-bit was to try to approximate the "warmth" of vinyl. The single bit being sampled at a much higher frequency (2822 vs 44.1kHz) gives a more analogue-type waveform - or so it is claimed!
I think that it's highly unlikely that we'll see an update of the existing SACD standard - it's a niche market as it is, and splitting the format further would probably kill it off for good. Besides, Blu-Ray audio is on the horizon and is likely to be the next step in audio format evolution, apart from high-resolution studio master quality downloads.

Really?!! Blu-Ray audio is on the horizon? Would you be able to elabourate?

I said in another post just yesterday (think it was on this forum) that I couldn't understand why they didn't make Blu-Ray the next medium for audio!! 50GB of space, and it's already a (almost) household name, unlike SACD, which basically nobody has heard of...

And the discs could work on existing Blu-Ray video players, presumably...?

That would be the best format by far is my guess (of course I know very little about these things). It's just you've got more than enough space on a Blu-Ray disc for super hi-rez audio files etc... and you've got increasingly more blu-ray video sales...

So, is this Blu-ay audio a real possibility? Is there talk of it actually happening? Are there already blu-ray audio discs out there even? And if so, how do they sound compared to regular redbook CD and SACD? And compared to vinyl for that matter?

Peace,

Keyser