SACD - Any 5.1ch recordings of AIDA?

myunhen

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Hi there!

I was wondering, if any complete 5.1ch SACD-recordings of Aida exist. I checked on various internet sites, some SACD specific, yet all I could find were SACDs with extracts of Aida only, not a whole recording from start to finish.

Well, if currently there are none, then that's not the end of the world, but at least I could save myself the hassle and stop looking for it.

Thanks in advance for any answers.
 
Have you searched on SA-CD.net? I think the site lists all SACDs ever made and adds new ones as they're released. If it isn't listed there, it ain't released yet.
 
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As windhoek rightly points out, it's well worth looking on sa-cd.net. This is the most complete website forum for all things SACD. Some "holes" have begun to appear lately, i.e. not all SACDs ever released are now listed, unfortunately, but you certainly wouldn't find a more complete list anywhere else.

Unless you're against signing up to more website forums, I'd recommend joining SA-CD.net, as there are some very knowledgable people using that forum, at least with regard to classical/orchestral type music - of which I'm not really one! There are two quite dominant labels, those being Pentatone and BIS, both owners regularly post there - and I think I'm correct to say all their releases are 5.0, rather than 5.1.

Good luck in your search.
 
Could only find the excerpts disc on SA-CD.net. There is a blu ray of the whole performance, but I cannot find out if this is in 5.1.
 
Have you searched on SA-CD.net? I think the site lists all SACDs ever made and adds new ones as they're released. If it isn't listed there, it ain't released yet.

Thanks. I had checked SA-CD.net before, but just double-checked again. No luck there. It seems that are only excerpts available, but no whole recordings of Aida.
 
As windhoek rightly points out, it's well worth looking on sa-cd.net. This is the most complete website forum for all things SACD. Some "holes" have begun to appear lately, i.e. not all SACDs ever released are now listed, unfortunately, but you certainly wouldn't find a more complete list anywhere else.

Unless you're against signing up to more website forums, I'd recommend joining SA-CD.net, as there are some very knowledgable people using that forum, at least with regard to classical/orchestral type music - of which I'm not really one! There are two quite dominant labels, those being Pentatone and BIS, both owners regularly post there - and I think I'm correct to say all their releases are 5.0, rather than 5.1.

Good luck in your search.

Thanks. Checked SA-CD, but no mentioning of a complete recording of Aida.
I knew of Pentatone, but not of BIS.
No Aida luck with either of them, however I am looking forward to Pentatone's complete new Wagner Ring-cycle recordings on SACD, which are scheduled to be finished and the final one to be released by the end of next year.
 
Could only find the excerpts disc on SA-CD.net. There is a blu ray of the whole performance, but I cannot find out if this is in 5.1.

Thanks for looking anyway.
Found an Arthouse Musik blu-ray release of a 2011 live Florence recording of Aida.
It seems to have an DTS-HD MA 5.1 track to it.
Indeed, this might be the next best possible alternative to a 5.1 SACD, when looking for a multichannel surround experience of it... I could simply switch of the telly, and just let my surround system do all the work.
 
Thanks for looking anyway.
Found an Arthouse Musik blu-ray release of a 2011 live Florence recording of Aida.
It seems to have an DTS-HD MA 5.1 track to it.
Indeed, this might be the next best possible alternative to a 5.1 SACD, when looking for a multichannel surround experience of it... I could simply switch of the telly, and just let my surround system do all the work.

I haven't yet adopted Blu-ray as a disc format (although I reckon I'm bound to at some time), but I see no reason why you can't swich off your TV (or not even have it on), and listen through your AV amplifier. That is indeed exactly what I do with my DVD-As - I hardly ever switch on my display when listening to music. About the only time I might, is with one of the few DVD-As or DVD-Vs that have an "odd" (i.e. tricky to navigate) menu. Off the top of my head, Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells 2003" and Jean-Michel Jarre "Aero" - and then I'll promptly switch off as the music starts.
 
I haven't yet adopted Blu-ray as a disc format (although I reckon I'm bound to at some time), but I see no reason why you can't swich off your TV (or not even have it on), and listen through your AV amplifier. That is indeed exactly what I do with my DVD-As - I hardly ever switch on my display when listening to music. About the only time I might, is with one of the few DVD-As or DVD-Vs that have an "odd" (i.e. tricky to navigate) menu. Off the top of my head, Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells 2003" and Jean-Michel Jarre "Aero" - and then I'll promptly switch off as the music starts.

I have to admit, I never listened to any DVD-As or-Vs before, but from what I gathered from various forum discussions and from some background reading on w-pedia, that only for trained ears a difference between SACDs and DVD-As/-Vs can perhaps be heard.
As my blu-ray/SACD-player for the past few years has been the PS3, and my current AV-system is the Sony BDV-E280 ( ←a fine little 5.1 all-in-one blu-ray system indeed with SACD support), and as Sony solely support SACDs (...didn't they actually co-develop the format...?), I forcibly had to jump on the SACD-waggon.

But I shall try to simply “listen” to my other half’s La Traviata blu-ray, switching to the 7.1 LPCM track, then turn off the telly. Watched it the other day, and even with an only 5.1 surround set-up, the 7.1 LPCM track was amazing.
 
Tbh I wouldn't go mad for the hi-res Audio formats. There simply isn't (in Europe and the USA) the support for them by the majors. SACD is the flavour of the month (because Sony are pushing it) but that only means in reality that it's moved from 'not interested' to 'on the the margins' of the producers interest level.

DVD-A is all but dead with only a small number of artists realising new discs, while SACD has a strong niche market in Japan with Stereo only SHM discs but why bother with stereo discs at a higher price than you would bother with otherwise? If they were 5.1 as well I might bother, but.........

Blu-Ray looks like the future for high resolution audio.

As for DVD-A vs DVD-V vs SACD you can tell the difference between them largely because of the decoding systems. I find DSD (SACD) a less enjoyable listen than PCM (DVD-A), and DVD-V is just a 5.1 track encoded into the soundtrack area of a normal DVD. The latter, no matter what cack you hear, is NOT Hi-res.

If you go over to the Hoffman forums you can enjoy some almighty ding dongs over which is better PCM or DSD, however, it's really down to personal preference.

The best way to judge is to listen to the same disc with the same master on both formats. The only chance I've had to do that is the Who 'Tommy' and the DVD-A won hands down.

Hardly conclusive I know, but there you go. :D
 
I have to admit, I never listened to any DVD-As or-Vs before, but from what I gathered from various forum discussions and from some background reading on w-pedia, that only for trained ears a difference between SACDs and DVD-As/-Vs can perhaps be heard.
As my blu-ray/SACD-player for the past few years has been the PS3, and my current AV-system is the Sony BDV-E280 ( ←a fine little 5.1 all-in-one blu-ray system indeed with SACD support), and as Sony solely support SACDs (...didn't they actually co-develop the format...?), I forcibly had to jump on the SACD-waggon.

But I shall try to simply “listen” to my other half’s La Traviata blu-ray, switching to the 7.1 LPCM track, then turn off the telly. Watched it the other day, and even with an only 5.1 surround set-up, the 7.1 LPCM track was amazing.

And in the end, that's all that matters - that you enjoy what you listen to. Everything is relative, and on many of my hi-res (DVD-A and SACD) albums, I have been unable to make a side-by-side comparison for various reasons. Sometimes, I've never owned the music on a different format, or I've long since got rid of the LP, but I have to say (without exaggeration), multi-channel music - particularly hi-res - has transformed the way I listen to music. I have what by many is rated as a high-end player and amplifier - although poorly matched with the speakers I own, but the whole set-up gives me so much pleasure. If my pockets were deeper, I'd get shot of my speakers and upgrade immediately. Unfortnately, my finances are limited at the moment, and the "hobby" we share can be expensive. It's fairly rare nowadays, that I do any comparisons on a hi-res album. I tend to just listen to the hi-res side/layer and enjoy it. The other week, though, my wife suggested we test out one of my Alan Parsons Project DVD-As. Fisrt we listened to the DVD-V side (48 kHx LPCM) and then the DVD-A (192 kHz MLP) side. It wasn't terribly difficult to detect the difference. My ears are 52 years old, my wife's 12 years younger. I felt pleased!:smashin:
 
Judging from the postings above, perhaps I actually do kind overrate hi-res audio a little bit.

I don't really know whether I ever get the chance to compare SACDs to DVD-As.
I guess, for now I do indeed rather go for the blu-ray option with multichannel audio, especially when looking for classical music. There are more and more blu-ray music recordings of operas and concerts put on the market, so the choice naturally seems to be alot greater, too.

Thanks guys for all the advice!:)
 
By the way, the multichannel PCM track of the La Traviata blu-ray "sounded" great, when the telly was switched off and only my Sony surround system gave out the music.

Very recommendable!:thumbsup:
 
Judging from the postings above, perhaps I actually do kind overrate hi-res audio a little bit.

I don't really know whether I ever get the chance to compare SACDs to DVD-As.

Please take it something positively meant, but I suspect if anything, you underate hi-res audio.

I agree and disagree with overkill, but where I agree 100%, is that it's all down to personal preference. This "hobby" of ours is probably not very different from many others where people take it (sometimes too) seriously. I have been guilty of it - and perhaps still am - and we can tend towards splitting the millimetre into micro parts to define something. Perhaps this sort of thing is inevitable. Musically, I'm illiterate, but I still find it hard to imagine that some people manage to get by life without listening regularly (i.e. actively) to music. I would be lost without the chance to listen to recorded music. It can sound very elitist (snobbish even?), but one only needs to spend a relatively small amount on a hi-fi system (let's say £1000 on speakers alone) - and one has already separated oneself from the average.

Getting back to DVD-As and Blu-ray, you might be interested to keep your eyes on AIX Records. This label has always (until relatively recently) championed the DVD-A cause, but now produces Blu-ray discs. I'm not sure if they still produce DVD-As, but they certainly still sell them. I have several of their DVD-As, and they are first-class productions. You might like to look at the Blu-ray discs they produce - perhaps an Aida might be planned? Mark Waldrep runs the company, and he's very communicative.
 
As Theo says (and where we disagree) he is a big fan of surround music, something I, having been long exposed too it, am not wowed by.

That said, there are some great hi-resolution discs out there, and as he says, some specialist labels and sites well worth a visit if you want to dip in.

Be aware though, the hires issue deeply divides the hifi/audio community. Many argue there is no gain whatsoever over redbook CD.

I disagree.

But, the issues isn't really over that, it's availability, and here CD scores heavily. Hires is a niche market and growing smaller all the time.........
 
Getting back to DVD-As and Blu-ray, you might be interested to keep your eyes on AIX Records. This label has always (until relatively recently) championed the DVD-A cause, but now produces Blu-ray discs. I'm not sure if they still produce DVD-As, but they certainly still sell them. I have several of their DVD-As, and they are first-class productions. You might like to look at the Blu-ray discs they produce - perhaps an Aida might be planned? Mark Waldrep runs the company, and he's very communicative.

AIX Records... ? Never heard of them before, but will certainly look them up. Thanks for the suggestion!:)
 
But, the issues isn't really over that, it's availability, and here CD scores heavily. Hires is a niche market and growing smaller all the time.........
This is very true. The other day I went to a fairly huge electronics store which also a reasonably sized record/CD/DVD/blu-ray section, however, absolutely no luck there. They didn't have any hi-res audio section at all.
Another store, only dealing in jazz & classic, had a small selection, but most of them at astronomical prices (well, at least for me).:(

I guess, various internet sites are more or less the only options really to get one's hands on reasonably priced SACDs.
 
This is very true. The other day I went to a fairly huge electronics store which also a reasonably sized record/CD/DVD/blu-ray section, however, absolutely no luck there. They didn't have any hi-res audio section at all.
Another store, only dealing in jazz & classic, had a small selection, but most of them at astronomical prices (well, at least for me).:(

I guess, various internet sites are more or less the only options really to get one's hands on reasonably priced SACDs.

I gave up trying to buy DVD-As and SACDs in high street retailers years ago. I began to feel a bit self-conscious in the end, always asking for something nobody in the shop knew anything about. It was a big surprise to me back then - but somehow not anymore. I mean, the average person isn't overly bothered about actively listening to recorded music, let alone in high quality. There's a belief about amongst a large proportion of people, that if it's digital, it's all the same anyway. I haven't found this situation any different in two other countries I regularly visit, Germany and Hungary.

Consequently, practically 100% of my hi-res music has been bought online. It was easy to find the music, convenient to make my purchases - and generally (for me) friendly prices. Most of my purchases have been from various Amazons (UK, USA, Germany, Japan), eBay, Elusive Disc, Accoustic Sounds, MDT and so on.
 
I gave up trying to buy DVD-As and SACDs in high street retailers years ago. I began to feel a bit self-conscious in the end, always asking for something nobody in the shop knew anything about. It was a big surprise to me back then - but somehow not anymore. I mean, the average person isn't overly bothered about actively listening to recorded music, let alone in high quality. There's a belief about amongst a large proportion of people, that if it's digital, it's all the same anyway. I haven't found this situation any different in two other countries I regularly visit, Germany and Hungary.

Consequently, practically 100% of my hi-res music has been bought online. It was easy to find the music, convenient to make my purchases - and generally (for me) friendly prices. Most of my purchases have been from various Amazons (UK, USA, Germany, Japan), eBay, Elusive Disc, Accoustic Sounds, MDT and so on.
Sadly the USA purchases have become much less frequent as the US govt has (to cut exports) massively increased postage charges to anywhere outside the Americas. I used to buy discs from the US all the time, but now it's the odd treat! Unfortunately, I've found that Postage from the EU has recently increased, LPs from Holland and Germany cost me £10 for each LP, whereas three years ago it was just a fiver! :eek: My last SACD from the US cost $7.75, whereas it was as low as $1.50 for CDs/Hires back in the mid noughties. Elusive have gone up to nearly $10.
 

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