DVD-A the high resolution music format that's confusing consumers
Aug 06 '01
The Bottom Line Before buying a DVD player, check out prices on DVD-A capable players
Time and technology seem to march on whether we want it to or not. Nothing can remain as it was forever, the 8-track and the LP are two good examples. While the LP has retained a small hard-core following, thankfully the 8-track has departed this earth. So sometime in the early to mid 90’s it seems that major manufacturers were looking to change things again. When the dust settled it seems there were two camps (doesn’t it always end up that way?) like DVD & DIVX, beta and VHS. Hell even quadraphonic LP had two standards, QS and SQ?
The two formats that emerged before the public even knew anything were DVD-A and Super Audio CD. And of course they both have their origins and stories to tell. When DVD made its initial splash in 1997, the consortium of manufacturers that helped develop the standards for DVD-V saw the potential of this shiny new disc. Because DVD discs could hold so much data, the medium had the potential for two things. For starters, the ability to hold multi-channel sound vs. the two channel sound that comprises CDs of today. The second ability, the option of carrying a higher resolution (higher quality) sound to all of those channels was also possible.
Before I go any further
This opinion runs long as it is. I must begin by saying that I will not attempt to cover every aspect of DVD Audio I’m not going to list all the sampling rates, discuss MLP or meridian lossless packing, a data reduction technique, and all the nooks and crannies of PCM based audio. Not only is all of this complex, but it’s not necessary for a music lover to know and understand all of the technical details. Where possible I will try to be non-technical and use plain English. But technology being what it is, I can’t dumb things down too far without washing away all of the useful information. To discuss every aspect of DVD-Audio or Super Audio CD, would result in a opinion clocking in at 15 to 20 thousand words. I don’t think epinions is the proper venue for this level of detail.
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DVD-A also known as DVD-Audio
When it comes to explaining new technologies, analogies are indispensable. So I’ll throw one out there that has been repeated to death because it helps make sense of it all and gives people a good place to start. I’m sure that most of you not living in some kind of cave know what DVDs are, or you know of them. On a typical DVD disc, most of the data (usually around 90%) is devoted to the picture information. It seems that video is much more complex than audio, as a result it’s a data hog. The other 10% makes up the soundtracks, usually a Dolby surround, a Dolby Digital and sometimes a DTS one. Sometimes the studio’s even cram in alternate languages and director actor commentary in there as well.
To get right to it, there are some serious data reduction tricks going on to fit all of that information onto a disc. But what if you wanted to devote virtually all of that data to the sound? That sound being music, more like a reversal if you will. 90% audio info and 10% for lyrics, still photos and navigation data. Add to that, unlike the CD with a fixed data rate (PCM 16 bit 44.1 kHz) it could vary from 16 bit word lengths on up to 24 bits. And a sampling frequency as high as 192 kHz. If you understand any of that techno-babble your mouth is watering, if not you’re utterly confused. To the lay person it simply means much better sound and the option for music in surround sound.
DVD-A pros and cons
Pros
DVD-A has incredible flexibility, unlike SACD for example, DVD-A can contain a six channel mix and not have to use extra space for the two channel stereo mix. Producers have the option of giving the player “instructions” on how to “fold down” into a two channel mix. Why fold down? For those that don’t like surround sound, or have yet to upgrade to the six speaker set-up and want to enjoy the better sound now. This is also useful for headphone use, and though the studios don’t want to hear it, it makes good sense when making your own 16 bit copy for the car or PC.
DVD-A players are now in the price range of mortals, $250 is common now, and the bonus, it’s still a DVD video player. Unlike SACD players, all DVD-A players can send the bonus material to your TV right out of the box, such as artist info, still photos and lyrics. A DVD-A disc can contain six discrete channels (speakers) of information, and in six channel mode run as high as 24 bits with a 96 kHz sampling rate.
DVD-A cons
Like SACD, the DVD-A discs are expensive, I see them run from $19.99 to $24.99 ouch! But being an early adopter comes with a price. It all boils down to one thing, you can either eat hamburger or steak. Some people are happy with hamburgers, others are not.
The biggest gripe I have with DVD-A is the flexibility of the data rate. While producers and artists like Neil Young are goo-goo over this, I’m not. You see I never have trusted studios and producers. They do things that are usually better for them not you. Examples: DVD movies not running at the maximum data rate for a superior picture because single layer DVDs are cheaper. Not including better sounding DTS soundtracks for music DVDs, because of money or politics.
The truth is, a DVD-audio disc could run at the low resolution CD data rates of 16bit/44.1kHz for all six channels, and technically its still a DVD-A disc. I don’t like that. The producers could run all three front channels at 20 bits and the rear at 16bits. Bottom line here, they can do any number of things to cram in more music or whatever reason they want, that I cannot foresee.
Another little glitch with early units, is now solved with next generation of DVD-A players hitting the shelves. DVD-A and SACD in most cases connect to home audio video receivers that are incredibly common now. Because of copyright issues, these high resolution signals do not output from the digital connection. Instead these new players connect through analog 5.1 inputs that are common in audio video gear. These connections almost always bypass all the sound manipulation capabilities that the receiver has. Going straight to the amplifier section, this promoted the purest, cleanest sound quality regardless of the price of the gear.
DVD-A discs are mixed with full range speakers in mind. With no bass management built into early DVD-A players, this can overwhelm those mini cube speakers that are so popular with home theater buffs. This is only a problem for those that buy the first generation of DVD-A players to get a good deal. If you have a home theater system with speakers that are no smaller than book shelf speakers (from 12” to 18” high for example) you don’t really have anything to worry about.
More cons? The highest resolution that DVD-A runs at is 24 bits with a sampling rate of 192 kHz. But it can only run at that rate for two channels. So anyone touting that figure needs to understand that running at the highest quality will only yield stereo sound, just like the good old CD.
I sit down with DVD-A
So everyone wants to know what this sounds like right? Well I only have two experiences with DVD-A and neither is optimal. Many times I have played with DVD-A systems at various electronics stores, but some kid or guy with a plastic name tag that knows about as much as any wal-mart employee ends up bothering me. Can I help you with anything sir? Help me with what? Help me turn the knobs? If you have any questions let me know I love that one. Yeah I’ll ask, so that you can tell me you don’t know, then you make a beeline for the manager.
The other time spent with DVD-A comes by way of my ex-roommate. I reviewed his Denon receiver like a million years ago (summer 2000?). Like me he had the audio bug, albeit not as bad a case as I. So a few months ago he called with a few questions. He wanted to get a DVD player, I told him to get a DVD audio player in the event he wanted to hear some high resolution music at a later time. He found the Panasonic DVD-A7 at The Good Guys! for the low low price of 249 smackers. I also told him to avoid the micro speakers for his center and rear channels (he already has Klipsch tower speakers) I even suggested he go with the same brand and line.
Fast forward to about three weeks ago, to my dismay he did not follow all of my advice. Not only did he not go with the same brand, he purchased two different brands. For the center speaker he purchased a Yamaha NS-AC40X. It runs about $149 at Best Buy, it has two aluminum mid-woofers and an aluminum dome tweeter and is sounds like crap. The new Sony center speaker at $99 sounds much better. Yes the rich audiophiles are laughing but we are talking regular folks paychecks here okay?
To make matters worse, he purchased micro KLH cubes for the rear. For those of you not familiar with KLH, they are the speakers that even the flea market speakers laugh at. Their full size fare gets the job done, I’ll give them that, but the micro stuff sounds horrible. This is exactly what you don’t want for rear speakers when it comes to either new music format. After chewing him out (in the way that friends do) I proceeded to hook this together.
The system a Denon AVR-1600 receiver, main left and right speakers Klipsch AF-3 and the aforementioned Yamaha center speaker, and those mini injustices of audio at the rear. Budget Monster Cable speaker wire was used for all the speakers, and all of the interconnect cable used were the cables that came in the box with the DVD-A player. I can see the audiophiles cringe in unison.
Time to sit down
I had only two DVD-A discs to use, first Natalie Merchant Tigerlily that just so happens to be my property. The other was the black cover demo disc that Panasonic so generously included. My Super Audio CD player came with no disc, I guess Sony is poor these days. Even though I only had two discs I did have a little over an hour to play and listen. For the purpose of this test I disconnected the rear speakers they sounded that bad.
So with this first generation DVD-A player and no bass management the front left, right and center speaker seemed to handle everything I sent to them. Unlike Super Audio CD you need to have the TV on to use the menu and access everything. The display on the front of the player will not do the job. Natalie was first up and she sounded wonderful. The first thing I did was to listen for vocals from the center channel.
I was surprised to hear that the mix was not very aggressive in that manner. The vocals were not very localized in the center. Her vocals were more present in the left and right than I expected. I turned the sound up to as loud as I could comfortably handle for short periods. I wanted to listen for any flaw, or sign of harshness. To my surprise (in spite of that Yamaha center) Natalie’s vocals were wonderfully open, smooth and detailed. The Klipsch speakers seemed to be putting out most of the sweet sounds.
Natalie never sounded so good on Beloved Wife, and Carnival sounded busy and complex as it should. For the life of me, I could not access the two channel version. Had more time been available I would have figured it out but I was on a time limit.
The next disc was the sampler thrown in by Panasonic, with the Technics name on it. This disc had a mix of classical, gospel and pop. But all of the titles were generic and made no mention of any artists. These tracks also showed the various data rates that DVD-A is capable of. Some tracks were 24 bit 96kHz surround sound. Others were 16 and 20 bit surround sound. And a couple ran at the max rate of 24 bit 192 kHz two channel. Of course all of these tracks are what I call “show off” tracks. They were created to show the capability of the format. One in particular called dancing cymbals floored me. Running at the max resolution two channel mode, it’s exactly what is says, a guy going crazy on the cymbals. Sometimes going at them gently with the brushes and other times going wild and fast. No longer was it a close facsimile, it was so close to being those cymbals.
The Klipsch with it’s horn loaded tweeter was designed to do this stuff. The sound was crisp and clean, and I could not detect any harshness. Now, that sound had texture, it had a middle and an outer edge. I have this strange habit of creating pictures in my head for the sounds that I hear. Now those sounds at the high end had a center (the initial strike) and an outer edge (the decay). You could almost count the bristles, and feel the size of the room it was recorded in. There was a great sense of texture, and the presence of space was a little eerie.
So does DVD audio sound that good? Well to these ears it sounds much more analog, smooth and more open than CD. My friends often ask me “but how does it sound to most regular people?” or something along those lines. I’m not sure what that means. Does it mean people that are not as fanatical about sound as I am? Are they speaking of the masses, the common consumer? Well I don’t know what “regular” people hear when they listen to a CD on a cheap Aiwa mini stereo, or what they hear if they were to stand in front of some really great sounding gear. So I can’t answer that question, but I will say this; in spite of the things I don’t like about it, DVD-A sounds fantastic. And the beauty of the new formats is that high end expensive gear is not required to hear that fantastic sound.
Of course the person with five or ten grand to blow on audio equipment will squeeze more from the disc, however the common cheap stuff in the mass market will sound great. If the consumer does just a little homework on what gear sounds better, and where to get the best price, fantastic sound can be had for well under one thousand dollars. And when I say that I mean a DVD Video/Audio player, a receiver and the whole surround sound speaker package, cables, wires and all.
Where to buy
DVD-Video/Audio players can be found at virtually every electronics store you can walk into across the United States. Why haven’t I seen them before? You probably have, they look exactly like every other DVD player out there. You can tell the difference by looking at the DVD logo that every single DVD player must display. Most DVD players have the standard DVD-Video logo. But the players with the ability to play DVD-A discs will have a logo that looks like this DVD-Video/Audio. The word “audio” will never appear together in the standard logo, unless it can in fact play DVD-A discs.
Cost
First generation DVD-A players are usually being closed out, as of this writing I have seen them go for as little as $199. 2nd gen units start at $300 and go up past one thousand.I don’t see anything wrong with these first gen units. If you have yet to build an audio video system, it’s a cheap way to get in, just avoid those micro cube speakers. Without any bass management on those early units, using those tiny speakers is ill advised.
If you already own a home theater system with those mini cubes speakers/sub-woofer combo, skip the first gen DVD-A players. Get a DVD-A player with bass management, just check the manufactures website or ask a sales person if bass management is included in any unit you look at. A second option is for current owners of those mini audio abominations (like bose) sell them or throw them in the river where they belong. Get real speakers, by real I don’t mean expensive. Great stuff is really cheap these days, I suggest full range speakers for music lovers. My advice is nothing smaller than a book shelf size speakers for the rear, and traditional home box style or tower speakers up front.
Why I believe DVD-A is confusing consumers
I have to be honest and admit that most consumers are most likely unaware of DVD-A. But the way that DVD-A is being marketed isn’t helping matters. Perception and preconceived notions are powerful things. The general pubic is now comfortable buying budget DVD for as low as ten dollars and new releases for 20 to 25 dollars. For the consumer DVD means movies, and to offer a consumer a DVD-A music disc for the same price isn’t necessarily appealing. Without telling a consumer about the better sound and the multi-channel ability of the format, it doesn’t seem like a good value at first mention.
To make matters worse, selection is thin, but that is to be expected with a new format. I can forgive that, what I can’t forgive is the confusion stores are having. They don’t know where in the hell to put DVD-A discs. Some stores mix them in with CDs, bad idea in my view. But with space at a premium, the industry pushing DVD-A isn’t going to start complaining just yet. Other stores mix them in with the music DVD videos, like concerts, MTV video collections and the like. Most consumers will flip through them and never even notice them.
In those instances, DVD-A discs are in regular CD jewel cases, protected by a giant clear plastic removable security box. If you’ve ever been in the DVD video music section and wondered what those CD looking things were, well now you know. With DVD audio rarely getting its own space, and no effort to inform consumers by the hardware/software people, DVD-A has a long and slow journey ahead.
Theory
Audiophiles and industry types are notorious for changing the course of history when it comes to electronics. To make an analogy CD is to VHS as DVD-A is to Super VHS. PCM or pulse code modulation is the method to record music. The now ancient CD was stuck at 16 bits and a low sampling rate of 44.1kHz. DVD-A is still PCM, but at higher bit rates and sampling frequencies.
Many audiophiles and sound engineers admit DVD-A sounds spectacular and much better than CD BUT they feel there is something better. Super Audio CD moves away from a PCM multi-bit system. Employing DSD or direct stream digital, SACD uses a one bit system with an almost unimaginable high sampling rate of 2.8Mhz, yes 2.8 million hertz. What the magazines, bulletin boards and people that install audio equipment say, can have a large impact. Everything I'm hearing and reading by the audiophile camp is that SACD edges out DVD-A by a slim margin in sound quality.
Where to I stand
I have chosen Super Audio CD as my format of choice. But I must admit that without hearing the two formats through some really high end gear for any length of time, it's a close call between the two.
Bottom line
If you are ready to join the DVD frenzy, keep in mind that great brand name units run from $139 on the cheap to $250 with extras. A DVD-Video/Audio player might only be $50 to $75 more than the regular flavor you were looking at. Music lovers pay attention, no matter what price you see for a DVD audio player always remember that you are still getting a DVD video player. So even if you don’t have the desire to pony up 19 to 25 clams for DVD-A music discs, you can watch movies and enjoy it as a normal DVD player and see how things shake out on the DVD-A side. Does that make sense? I think it does.
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