Interview with John Atkinson

[E-Stat]

I'm not disputing that lots of unit that can handle 24 bit input can't exploit it since, e.g. noice floors are too high to permit it.

In the DSD world of SACD, everything is single bit anyway - just in a very fast stream.

rw

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I don't think I asked anyone to leave anything behind. Has anyone ever heard of the concept of ADDING it to what you already have? Well, maybe you can't when you are stuck with just two channels.

[E-Stat]

I don't think I asked anyone to leave anything behind. Has anyone ever heard of the concept of ADDING it to what you already have?

Really sorry dude there are those who choose to not compromise two channel quality to get cool "immersion" effects for 1-2% of our musical library. It would be nice sometimes if I had a pickup truck, but I enjoy exploiting the higher performance of my car far more frequently. Perhaps it has been a curse for me to have been exposed to the realism that the finest audio equipment can do (two channel and MC alike). It's that preference thing when it comes to the trade offs one must necessarily make with anything less than a multi-hundred thousand dollar budget for their system - which I do not have! I confess that I don't understand why you have difficulty comprehending that fact.

You mentioned the Bryston 28B amp earlier. I have a reviewer friend who gave it a great review. When I asked him whether I should replace my VTLs with a pair of them to gain some headroom or replace the GamuT CD-1 with an EMM Labs CDSA, the answer to him (and me) was obvious. It would be a quantity vs quality question where I choose quality. Similarly, I most certainly would not use your choice of DAC and linestage unless it were for the lesser HT duties for which it was intended. We most likely differ on cabling choices. But then you get your panties all in a wad when asked about your preferences there.

rw

[Ajani]

I don't think I asked anyone to leave anything behind. Has anyone ever heard of the concept of ADDING it to what you already have? Well, maybe you can't when you are stuck with just two channels.

Adding is fine (in theory), but consider this: Many Stereo lovers already maxed their budget for speakers and bought the best quality speakers they could afford... So to complete a 5.1 (worse yet a 7.1) setup would require more money than they spent on their mains... Also, if they are truly serious about MC, then they'd want 5 (or 7) of the same speakers, making the investment even more extreme... Plus they'd need to add extra amplification, a HT processor and source... So probably about triple what they already spent.... Even assuming they have that money, it's a lot to spend for the very limited selection of MC recordings available (assuming any of those fit their musical tastes)...

[Feanor]

In the DSD world of SACD, everything is single bit anyway - just in a very fast stream.

rw

Yes of course. DSC is 1 bit x 2822.4 kHz = 2,822.4 kbps (per channel). By way of crude comparison PCM is up to 24 bits x 192 kHz = 4608 kbps. Note that DVD-A allows for 24 x 192 for stereo but only 24 x 96 (2304 kbps) for 2.1 channels or more.

Personally I'm convinced that anything above 16 x 44.1 is wasted on me. I have no means to confirm or refute that other than listening to the RBCD and stereo DSD layers of SACDs in which case I personally hear no difference.

[Feanor]

Adding is fine (in theory), but consider this: Many Stereo lovers already maxed their budget for speakers and bought the best quality speakers they could afford... So to complete a 5.1 (worse yet a 7.1) setup would require more money than they spent on their mains... Also, if they are truly serious about MC, then they'd want 5 (or 7) of the same speakers, making the investment even more extreme... Plus they'd need to add extra amplification, a HT processor and source... So probably about triple what they already spent.... Even assuming they have that money, it's a lot to spend for the very limited selection of MC recordings available (assuming any of those fit their musical tastes)...

Bingo!! my brother.

Out of the question for the < 3% of my current collection which is currently MC, or the 10-15% of new purchases.that might be SACDs.

Another issue is room setup which is far more problematic for MC than for stereo.