Have you heard DVD Audio yet?
 

I was in Sound Advice the other day with a friend of mine, forget why, and we got treated to a lengthy demo of DVD Audio.
Lenghthy in a good way . Man that stuff sounds fantastic, granted we were listening to it on 4 $1277 speakers, a $700 center
channel speaker, and a $1200 sub.....Except for the sub, they were all B&W, the sub was Pioneer Elite. Anyhow, the clarity and
depth is just amazing, and best of all, DVD Audio players are pretty cheap, about $700, but they also play regular DVD's, CD's,
VCD's, all the regular stuff. DVD Audio is 5.1 sound, but at a higher bit rate than what you get on a DVD movie. Plus it displays
lyrics, pictures, song info, on a TV screen, or in this case a ceiling mounted projector.

Even thought the sound was fantasic, it still could have been better, it was running through very long wires (so they could switch
between different inputs and outputs) and the speakers were not placed perfectly. The player was run through a regular 5.1
Pioneer Elite Receiver, none of the components were really exorbatently expensive, save the speakers.

Anyhow, then the guy took us into the REALLY expensive listening room. In there they had a Sony Super Audio CD player, priced
at $4999, what a deal. Unfortunately it was only connected to two speakers, but what an experience. It was running through all
top notch components, it had a dedicated amplifier and monster sound cables that were about 2" in diameter....I can't remember
what kind of speakers the setup was using.......damn....

Anyhow, the Super Audio CD sounded even better, if you take into consideration that it was running off of only 2 speakers,
awesome ones at that. The sound was crisp and it sounded like you were listening to a live performance, all the instriments are
clear, and singing was incredibly lifelike. But at that price, I'd invest in DVD Audio with some good wiring and components.

Anyhow, DVD Audio is cheaper and more broadly supported, where as Super Audio CD is only supported by Sony's record company
it seems. There probably will be some DVD Audio car decks soon, just as there are DVD players for the car that suppport 5.1
sound right now.

Ok, long post, but very interesting stuff, go down to Sound Advice or you local home audio store during the middle of the week,
when the people who work there are bored, and they'll show you anything in the store....for an hour

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"So Lone Starr, now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb." --President Skroob

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