dvd Audio and Blueray disks for highres music

Claus.....there certainly appears to be some decent stuff on DVD-A but expensive, not seen much on Blueray. I get the feeling from other forums that there's a definite increase of interest in SACD. Apparently Audio Fidelity are going to issue new releases on hybrid SACD.....killing two birds with one stone I guess. 

I'm definitely more interested now in finding material that's been mastered really well as opposed to whether it's released as high res, of course if you get both then great

If only we had something simple to rip SACD and playback DSD files

I think downloading will become the dominant means of distributing hi-res music files. I really can't see any proprietary audio standard on discs making a comeback.

SA CD would be the worst option, since it is almost impossible to rip the audio from the disks, of course you can by a sa cd player but I would rather rip the files and just use the streaming setup I already have.

I understand that the ps3 work around is almost impossible to get working if the firmware is too new, and I have absolutely no need for a ps3 for any other reason!! When I lived with my Naim cd players dvd in any forms were out of the question but with a pc and cheap software it is nice to have access to whatever is available.

It will be interesting to see how it pans out......I thought SACD had died long ago but maybe not. A few of the DAC vendors now including capability to play native DSD and downloads also available. Might end up just a very small niche.

Yes you need the right PlayStation to rip SACDs as DSD ... I wish you could buy a universal drive for a Mac to do this. Mind you a Naim DAC can't play them ... yet.

click here for a decent DVD-Audio catalogue  

Agreed. Which from my POV is a pity because although I will rip them I like to have the original media if I can. A few of my favourites have been released on DVD-A and I'm glad to have them. DVD-A and SACD seem to now be mainly the province of the remastered, special edition.

The download world is all over the place at present. HDTracks are hobbled my regional copyright issues - a misnomer which should read "regional price fixing" by the labels. And their download manager is an amateur lash up - totally ruins the buying experience. Elsewhere, a couple of weeks ago I bought a Rush remaster comprising presentation cardboard case, booklet, CD and DVD including 5.1 and stereo mixes in 24/96. Sounds great BTW. I paid the going rate - £14. Meanwhile, Linn will sell you the stereo 24/96 as a download for £20. Want artwork? That'll be extra.

Long way to go.

Very true Harry. I notice an increasing number of remasters becoming available in the CD plus DVD-A package, the latter with both 2-channel HD and multichannel surround formats. The last few Steven Wilson-remastered albums I've bought, including ELP's "Tarkus" and King Crimson's "Lizard", are examples. I'm not too smitten with the surround sound but the ripped HD two-channel's considerably better than the CD version.

Far preferable in my book to have a tangible item.

Incidentally, I didn't realise that DVD Audio Extractor would now do the business on bluRay disks. Excellent news, I'll check it out.

Having just updated my copy of DVD Audio Extractor (I was about three releases behind) I've been having a play at ripping the audio from BluRay discs.

I pulled an internal DVD/BluRay reader out of a PC I had kicking about & mounted it in an enclosure (an Icybox. Very flash, with blue illumination). Plugged into my iMac this works a treat and, interestingly, the Mac sees a bluRay disc as data only.

DVD Audio Extractor reads it OK though, and pulls off the audio in much the same way as with DVD. I've only one "Pure Audio" BluRay - Sara K, 'Made in the Shade" - which has 24/96 LPCM, 5.1 LPCM and 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio tracks but when I go to rip the stereo track for some reason DVD AE reports this as being mono.

I tried using DVD AE with my laptop PC I've which has also got AnyDVD HD installed but the result is the same. Playing the disc through my Oppo BD83SE reveals a stereo mix & the sound quality's very good indeed (shame the music's a bit naff...) but the rip is definitely coming out as mono; a bit of a puzzle. I've another Pure Audio BluRay on the way (Patricia Barber) & it'll be interesting to see if that's the same.

I've ripped the stereo LPCM tracks from a three BluRay music discs - Procol Harum Live at the Union Chapel, Moody Blues Lovely to See You and ZZ Top Live in Texas. I've the former on DVD & the rip's 24/48 on both the Procol discs. the Moodies & ZZ Top are the same so I guess that's the way the discs have been mastered and not in 24/96. It's a shame they don't mention the sample rates on the covers.

Isn't this the same issue raised by the original post?...which suggests the problem is with DVD AE rather than the discs?

It has been reported that dvdAE cannot rip 96 khz streams even though they are on a blue ray disk. Acording to a thread on the net this will probably be fixed in an update in the  future.

Not quite. Ripping the 24/96 disc works, i.e. the rip's in 24/96 but it's only in mono.

Ok so Claus cannot rip 24/96 with AE but Tony can but only in mono! Not sure where this leaves us.

I would love to rip my 24/96 PF immersion blu ray audio discs to my NDS but do not wish to invest in a blu ray drive and AE software unless I know it actually works.

Thanks for the reminder John! I forgot all about the Immersion DSOTM copy I've got (senility approaches...) Anyway, just tried ripping it, and it's done so perfectly! It plays as I type and sounds excellent - detailed and smooth. I'll report on the rip of the Patricia Barber BD when it finally arrives.

That's excellent news Tony!

I have all the immersions - DSOTM and WYWH have 24/96 but oddly the Wall does not. Anyway, I'm off to order a blu ray drive for my PC as I am very keen to try ripping these.

An update - I've now received the Patricia Barber "Modern Cool" Pure audio BluRay. I tried ripping it on my iMac but DVD Audio Extractor reported it was a BD+ protected disc. However, using my PC laptop with AnyDVD HD installed removed the protection and I successfully ripped  the stereo 24/192 tracks using DVD Audio Extractor. I had to buy another copy of the latter 'cos the license won't transfer to a PC copy unfortunately.

Alas, I can't listen to it properly because the Hi-fi's off whilst some building work's being carried out. It plays through the 'puter's speakers though.

Is there any particular thing to look out for in an external BRP/R ? There are plenty on E-Bay from £15 (no name).

Is it worth getting a named version ?

I have purchased a blu ray drive in recent days and have been trying out DVD AE.

So far I have ripped successfully Neil Young Massey Hall & Fillmore DVD audio discs in 24/96. Playing back on my NDS, first impressions are that they are very close to the CD rips. Also ripped DSOTM and WYWH from the Immersion blu ray discs in 24/96. Again, from a brief initial comparison, not much of an advance over the CD rips.

I need a longer term comparison but maybe it just shows how good the CD masters were in the first place.

i've found that too John. The 24/96 DSOTM rip sounds very good, but TBH the rip of my original old, un-messed-about-with harvest CD sounds better. And my original 1973 vinyl sounds better still...

It's nice to be able to rip the BluRay stereo tracks from the concert films I've got, they all sound very good & I haven't got the CDs (if they exist) to compare.

Howard, I don't know much about BluRay drives but my inclination is not to go too cheap. The LG internal drive I'm using seems very good & I've got an old LG CD external drive that's always worked very well, reading some discs that other drives wouldn't touch.

Just ripped 24 bit Bluray of Supertramp Live In Paris '79.  Sounds very good....

George.

It's nice to be able to rip the BluRay stereo tracks from the concert films I've got, they all sound very good & I haven't got the CDs (if they exist) to compare.

Tony, just checking I'm not missing something here. Last time I viewed the concert screen films I am sure the audio was simply the original album audio rather than anything new and therefore not worth ripping (If you have already ripped the CD or at 24/96). Or have i got this wrong?

Hi John, I've only got the BluRays of certain concerts, e.g. ZZ Top Live in Texas, Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scott's, so it's nice to be able to lift the stereo soundtracks from these to play through the hi-fi.

Ah, my mistake, thought we were talking about DSOTM concert films!