Anybody know if there is a head unit out there...

Jstas

...that will do SACD or DVD-Audio?


That might be a good thing for Polk Audio to get in to making. I don't know how much of a market is there but as far as I know, most SACD players will play normal CDs too. So it's not the much of a stretch. Might make the head unit pretty expensive but cost doesn't seem to be much of an issue for people that buy the top of the line head units. I mean, even if most people can't afford to just plunk down cash, they will usually save up or find a way to get the money to get it.

I have 3 head units that were the TOTL models in their respective times. So the market for high end car audio is there but it seems that the options are lagging very far behind home audio.

MacLeod

Sony apparantly is coming out with a SACD capable head unit.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55730

ivansfo

I had the Alpine DVA-9861 in my car. That HU supposed to support DVD Audio playback. Though I have never tried it because I don't have any DVD-A discs.


http://vault.alpine-usa.com/products/documents/DVA-9861%20OM.PDF

Jstas

MacLeod wrote: »

Sony apparantly is coming out with a SACD capable head unit.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55730

Whoop! Aww geez! Lookit that! I should pay more attention, huh?





I'd like to see Kenwood come out with something. Pioneer too.

MacLeod

As popular as 5.1 systems are becoming in car audio - I figure its not too far down the road. Ya gotta figure all the major brands will be coming out with something eventually.

Jstas

I think I'd prefer SACD though because 5.1 in the car just seems like such a waste.

MacLeod

Why do you think that?

I think a car is a great place for a 5.1 system. That way, everybody has a proper stage regardless what seat youre sitting in. Of course this is assuming you actually have 4 speakers and a center channel installed.

Jstas

Because I can't watch a movie while I'm driving down the road. I don't see a need for multi-channel sound without needing the depth that 5.1 channel tracks give you.

Besides, I've never liked 5.1 for music. It sounds contrived and like its trying too hard. My home stereo images so well that I can listen to a recording and pick out on stage where the instruments are. Sometimes, the lead singer and lead instrument are not dead center but off to the left or something.

The whole point of audio reproduction is to reproduce the live performance either from the studio or on a stage. Forcing the whole thing in to 5.1 and then making the lead singer come from the center and a background vocal from the left channel doesn't sound natural.

Want to see what I mean? Pick up Counting Crows "August and Everything After". the regular CD is fine but I'll bet the higher fidelity recordings that are available illustrate the point even better. Get your butt in front of a setup that images very well and listen to the whole CD. You can pick out when Adam Duritz is sitting at the piano and playing off to one side and you can pick out when he's standing somewhere and singing. The effect is especially pronounced on Rain King and you can hear the harmony guitar from the right speaker, Duritz is singing just off to the left speaker, the drum kit is dead center and the lead guitar is some where near or behind Duritz. There's a Hammond B-3 just off center to the right but it's amplified and booming across the soundstage. In a 5.1 channel setup, they likely would plug Duritz's vocal dead center and then have to filter it out of the other channels where the multi-channel microphone picked up Duritz's singing in the background so it would skew the soundstage in weird ways. It ends up being dead and lifeless IMO. Give me the stereo setup and just let it flow. The recordings are way more interesting, especially live. Orchestra recordings are way better in stereo too. When you have that many instruments playing at once, their placement plays as much of a factor in how the performance sounds as the notes being played on the instruments.


That kind of stuff I don't always hear in the 5.1 channel recordings.

MacLeod

Not at all.

Im with ya on the movies thing. Thats just for showing off in high school parking lots but audio is different.

Now its quite true that a lot of 5.1 recordings Ive heard do stupid things like have one instrument per channel so youve got guitarists BEHIND you. Or they do stupid things like make the singer start circling you or fading front to back.

I wish more of them (and I havent listened to a ton) would use 5.1 for what its ideal for - precise imaging and ambience. Use the rear speakers for atmosphere and ambience and use the front 3 for staging and imaging.

And true theyd have to use both center and right speakers to put the singer just right of center - but thats how they do it with 2 channel as well. They fade the vocals between 2 different speakers.

The beauty of 5.1 is that you would have an ideal stage for ALL passengers as its impossible to get proper staging from both seats with only 2 channel.