I just bought Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique. It came with two discs and three or more versions.
A BluRay audio disc and an SACD / CD hybrid. So, the hybrid disc will necessarily have different layers for the SACD and CD. The next complication is that both the SACD and the BluRay offer 5.1 and 2.0 versions.
Is it possible / likely that the 5.1 and 2.0 version are different tracks on the discs or is it more likely that there are just the 5.1 tracks and the player will downmix them to get the 2.0 versions?
I expect that the SACD and BluRay versions were mastered differently than the CD as they are both high definition formats but maybe the same master was used for the SACD and the BluRay.
So, I might have as few as two significantly different versions or as many as five. It is going to be tough to figure out which is best and I am inclined to skip the 2.0 SACD and BluRay versions as I like the extra channels and it seems unlikely that they are better than the 5.1 in the same format.
A BluRay audio disc and an SACD / CD hybrid. So, the hybrid disc will necessarily have different layers for the SACD and CD. The next complication is that both the SACD and the BluRay offer 5.1 and 2.0 versions.
Is it possible / likely that the 5.1 and 2.0 version are different tracks on the discs or is it more likely that there are just the 5.1 tracks and the player will downmix them to get the 2.0 versions?
I expect that the SACD and BluRay versions were mastered differently than the CD as they are both high definition formats but maybe the same master was used for the SACD and the BluRay.
So, I might have as few as two significantly different versions or as many as five. It is going to be tough to figure out which is best and I am inclined to skip the 2.0 SACD and BluRay versions as I like the extra channels and it seems unlikely that they are better than the 5.1 in the same format.