There seems to be some confusion about what equipment the SA-CD 5.1
mix will play on with some of the fans thinking that they need a whole
new 5.1 decoder to hear the surround sound mix other than the one they
have already.
To clarify, the new hybrid SA-CD version of TWOTW will play the following mixes in the following players:
UNIT MIX THAT WILL PLAY
Standard CD players CD stereo mix
SA-CD players CD stereo mix SA-CD hi
resolution stereo mix and SA-CD 5.1 multi-channel surround sound mix
SA-CD Compatible players SA-CD hi resolution stereo mix and
SA-CD 5.1 multi-channel surround sound mix
To check if your DVD player is SA-CD compatible check for the SA-CD
logo on the unit or the instructions. Nearly every Sony DVD player
released in the last couple of years is SA-CD compatible and the
majority of Phillips and other major manufacturers DVD units also have
SA-CD playback capabilities.
To hear the SA-CD 5.1 surround sound mix you will need a 5.1 decoder,
amp and speaker system. For many people they will have these as part
of their DVD home theatre units which. provided the DVD player is
SA-CD compatible, will playback the 5.1 surround sound mix perfectly.
SA-CD is very much a growing hi-definition audio format with major
support from the majority of hardware manufacturers and the major
record companies including Sony BMG, Universal and EMI all of who
regularly release SA-CD titles. The estimated number of installed
SA-CD players and compatible DVD systems is now at over 10 million
worldwide. Furthermore, it has recently been announced that the new
Playstation 3 console which will be released in 2006 will be fully
SA-CD compatible which, provided it performs as well as previous
playstations, will broaden the market for SA-CD recordings even
further.
It’s true that SA-CD is a Sony/Phillips developed format. However, all
bias aside, it is a superior format to DVD-Audio and offers a higher
quality, true reproduction of the 5.1 mix because it is encoded using
the DSD system rather than the PCM system used for CDs and DVD Audio.
Hi-fi hardware magazines are constantly comparing the two formats and
on nearly every occasion SA-CD comes out on top in terms of sound
quality and reproduction.
Obviously for TWOTW we all wanted to achieve the best, highest quality
audio mix possible and pass this onto the consumer which is why SA-CD
was chosen. Furthermore, of the high-definition audio formats SA-CD
has wider support from the major record companies and has more titles
available in the market. If you look at some of the biggest
high-definition audio releases of the last few years i.e. The Rolling
Stones (22 albums), Bob Dylan (15 albums), Pink Floyd – Darkside Of
The Moon all have been released on SA-CD, not DVD-Audio.
Finally, if any fans want more info about SA-CD, what DVD players are
compatible and how much they will cost please visit
www.superaudio-cd.com which is a great site and contains everything
you need to know about the format
With much thanks to SonyBMG for the above information
Horsell_Common
