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Another Stereophile Poll....

Submitted by Stereophile Staff, Mar 14 2004

Its future as a format may also be debatable, but does DVD-Audio have the sonic goods? Have you been able to spend much time with DVD-Audio? If so, what do you think about the way it sounds?

It's wonderful: 20%
Pretty good: 11%
Okay: 5%
What's the big deal?: 8%
Don't care for it: 7%
Have not listened enough to have an opinion: 47%

DVD-Audio exhibits a much more analog-like coherence than SACD. Too bad that there are so few recordings available that were recorded at equal or greater resolution; we may never know just how good it may be.
—Mullard EL34

Resolution, air, timbre and not dark sounding like SACD. These are the reasons why I like DVD-A.
—there is life above 10 kHz

DVD-A is a fine format for portable applications in that it delivers "good" sound in an accessible manner. In my experience of casual, as well as critical, listening to DVD-A when hooked up to my home system, I find shortcomings, such as upper octive rolloff and somewhat muddy bass when compared to my analog reference rig. I do a good deal of recording on both a personal level (in my home) and on a professional scale. DVD-A has been my second choice behind pure analog as a viable playback source; however, it falls short of anything that may be considered absolute analog.
—DAB, Pacific Palisades, CA

The Meridian Lossless Packing format is every bit as good as SACD. Both offer the precision and detail unavailable before. I'm going to use this format to make dubs of favorite LPs for everyday listening.
—Victor Davis

There are no players in my area and I have never seen more than a single disc in a store. I was told it had been ordered by mistake and would be sent back to the distributor. I've never heard one!
—A. Clark

I have to say, what's the big deal? The big numbers (24/192) got my attention when buying a DVD player (Denon DVM 4800). I bought a couple of DVD-As that seemed to sound better than CDs but didn't really think much of it for about a year. Then my wife bought a copy of The Beach Boys Pet Sounds on DVD-A. Now we could hear a clear differance and became very interested in "high-resolution" audio. Looking over the DVD-As available, (few) we bought a turntable and for the first time, have been able to buy recordings we love in the 10s and 20s instead of ones and twos.
—Craig & Chris Ewing in San Jos

Who cares ! Until they get serious, why should we?
—jeff in cinci

I own SACD and DVD-Audio players, and, the way I hear it, the key with both formats, is two-fold. It depends on how tight the recording is/was, and the Mastering is critical. The ES player is awesome, I own a JVC DVD-Audio player that is equally awesome. The big suprise was that the Benchmark DAC1 makes both players Red Book CDs sound almost equal to both new formats!
—Brian G.B.

I find the format's attempt at video inclusion so irritating that I won't buy DVD-As.
—James Schrimpf

The digital dream format for the future has been with us for years. Slap a CD on the other side, call it dual-disc and everyone wins. No matter which way I look at it I just can't see a downside. I love my DVD-Audios.
—Paul Cordingley

I've been listening to both DVD-A and SACD in my Denon 2900. All SACDs have been disappointments but DVD-As have been okay or wonderful.
—Esa Harma


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Topic - Another Stereophile Poll.... - millen 10:13:38 03/23/04 (0)


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