Music On Blu-ray

[Dave2002]

(Part of the problem with SACD is how many of the physical disc issues are converted from 24/48/96 etc pcm originals, sometimes explicitly so on the disc inlay.....)

On the face of it such conversions might not be helpful, but given that some people don't believe that DSD sounds any better anyway, does it really make much difference. Another issue is whether surround sound issues are "genuine" - made with some form of ambient recorder - soundfield mike etc., or whether some smart recording engineer has figured out ways to fake it. Way back in the early days of stereo there were stereo discs that were faked up, and often the recordings were spotted and panned by the critics, but with surround sound and fairly acceptable masters, it might be possible to do a passable job of making a recording which sounds "real".

[jayne lee wilson]

It is important that, given the devoted praise for SACD by some listeners as a high-res medium, it is just as well to know exactly what you are listening to - both how the recording was made, and what the dac geometry of the player is doing with it; especially since there are relatively few "Pure DSD" recordings available, though that has increased to some extent, with the appearance of more DACs offering the facility to process them...

It is a shame DVD-A was a victim of the format war, as I think it offered a potentially better high-res physical disc, and was at least more "honest" in its provenance and, potentially, replay processing...

[cloughie]

I’m more concerned about downloads and streaming, with record companies and other third parties acting as gatekeepers to what I want to, or am able, to listen to. I doubt that Blu-Ray is going to replace CD in the short term, but it’s certainly possible that streaming and/or downloads may be the only option for some releases in the not too distant future. I think this has already happened for some music, forcing one to resort to used items from eBay.

Of course some may see this as a financial opportunity - buy up cheap box sets - more than needed, then sell on eBay at higher prices when and if the demand goes up.

At least downloads can be captured as CDRs!

[cloughie]

Is it worth listening to, or pursuing, blu-ray audio as a stereo-only medium...?

Unlikely that the industry would be interested but a good blu-ray audio player linked to a good hi-fi audio amp or receiver would be my choice - simple to use, delivering good sound.

[Bryn]

At least downloads can be captured as CDRs!

Or, with the right software, to DVD. I have yet to find a pocket-friendly way of saving audio the Blu-ray though.

[Dave2002]

Or, with the right software, to DVD. I have yet to find a pocket-friendly way of saving audio to Blu-ray though.

Is the issue here that the Blu-Ray discs ideally have to be audio or video compatible? Blank BD-R discs are available, but may only be readable/writable in computer drives. I looked into this maybe a decade ago, when a colleague bought a Blu-Ray drive for his computer. Since then the cost of hard drives and SSDs has fallen, so I never followed that route. I can make CDs which play in CD players, and I have used DVDs for backup. I hardly ever made DVDs of video to play in DVD players, though I have done it. It was quite a faff and really rather time consuming.

[Bryn]

Is the issue here that the Blu-Ray discs ideally have to be audio or video compatible? Blank BD-R discs are available, but may only be readable/writable in computer drives. I looked into this maybe a decade ago, when a colleague bought a Blu-Ray drive for his computer. Since then the cost of hard drives and SSDs has fallen, so I never followed that route. I can make CDs which play in CD players, and I have used DVDs for backup. I hardly ever made DVDs of video to play in DVD players, though I have done it. It was quite a faff and really rather time consuming.

I have not delved far into how one burns audio to Blu-ray. For DVD recordable, I have a program called Audio DVD Creator which I got in the days of Windows 98SE. It was not happy with XP but last year I found that it could be run under Windows 10 in compatibility mode. There have been no updates for years and the ownership has changed hands to a Chinese company which specialises in Blu-ray ripping software (which I have avoided since I have doubts about its legality). Perhaps I should write to then to enquire whether they offer Blu-ray Audio burning software.

[richardfinegold]

With blu-ray discs being on the increase the worrying thought is that before too long blu-ray will be replacing CDs as the main form of issue - whilst that may be fine for many, do I really want to go through yet another transition on my hi fi system?

At the risk of being redundant, I will repeat that (unfortunately, in my view) Blu Ray or any other silver disc, are being crowded out of the market by streaming. Dave is apparently searching for Blu Rays—many thanks for that-and not exactly coming up with a tsunami of them. And to specifically answer your question, the record companies now seem to be including CDs or dual layer SACDs in one package, so you may play the CDs and use the Blu Ray as a tea coaster if you prefer

[richardfinegold]

It is important that, given the devoted praise for SACD by some listeners as a high-res medium, it is just as well to know exactly what you are listening to - both how the recording was made, and what the dac geometry of the player is doing with it; especially since there are relatively few "Pure DSD" recordings available, though that has increased to some extent, with the appearance of more DACs offering the facility to process them...

It is a shame DVD-A was a victim of the format war, as I think it offered a potentially better high-res physical disc, and was at least more "honest" in its provenance and, potentially, replay processing...

Each format can have issues. High Resolution downloads can frequently be downsampled to standard resolution by many DACs, or in other DACs May only be available in high Resolution through one input, such as usb. Many on line forums contain mea culpable from listeners criticizing high resolution as no different than red book, who later have discovered that they were listening to Redbook all the time. This also applies to High Rez streaming from Qobuz or Tidal. It helps if you have a media player or DAC that shows the resolution, or else to know what each the capabilities of each input of the DAC are

[Dave2002]

I have not delved far into how one audio to Blu-ray. For DVD recordable, I have a program called Audio DVD Creator which I got in the days of Windows 98SE. It was not happy with XP but last year I found that it could be run under Windows 10 in compatibility mode. There have been no updates for years and the ownership has changed hands to a Chinese company which specialises in Blu-ray ripping software (which I have avoided since I have doubts about its legality). Perhaps I should write to then to enquire whether they offer Blu-ray Audio burning software.

I use Apple Macs mostly, and when I last burned a video DVD I think I used Toast.
However, searching for DVD and even Blu-Ray burning software for audio seems harder, and I found this curious interchange - https://forums.support.roxio.com/topic/66314-dvd-audio/ It seems that there have been some audio only DVD devices for use in cars - or that's how I read it. There is disagreement in the thread in the article about whether Roxio Toast actually does burn DVD audio discs, or simply video DVDs with no video. Indeed I'm not sure if there is a difference in specification between DVD audio discs and DVD video discs as often differences are due to the different codecs used within the software containers. There may be differences designed to deter/prevent copying, while definitive specifications might simply permit different configurations on the media, or within containers.

Blu-Ray - haven't a clue - other than for storing data. The media companies probably don't want people to do that at all. I doubt that there are many (if any) audio Blu-Ray players for use in cars, though sadly cars don't seem to come with CD players now. I still play CDs in our cars.

[Sir Velo]

Or, with the right software, to DVD. I have yet to find a pocket-friendly way of saving audio the Blu-ray though.

I've not tried this (not having any blu ray discs with which to experiment) but this site offers a blu ray to FLAC conversion process.

[Dave2002]

I've not tried this (not having any blu ray discs with which to experiment) but this site offers a blu ray to FLAC conversion process.

Technically illegal for many Blu-Rays as it subverts the copy protection etc., and in the UK that would definitely be considered inappropriate. Doesn't mean that some people won't use it, though.

[Sir Velo]

There is also this Blu-Ray ripper software.

[Dave2002]

List of some currently available Blu Ray audio discs

Some more - collected together for convenience. Most are from DG. There are some more - such as operas, again mostly from DG. If I have more time I may put a list of those that I find together.

Beethoven, String quartets, Amadeus Quartet, 7 CDs + Blu Ray audio

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-String-Quartets-Amadeus-Quartet/dp/B07FT6DRKR/ref=pd_sim_15_3/260-8896666-9902513?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07FT6DRKR&pd_rd_r=e5528d9e-7147-11e9-8f40-8dc8a8cfcdf9&pd_rd_w=JNZtS&pd_rd_wg=7Ldwc&pf_rd_p=1b8636ae-4f21-4403-a813-e8849dd46de4&pf_rd_r=XVDVAYJAYTRQ0S7VQFVN&psc=1&refRID=XVDVAYJAYTRQ0S7VQFVN

Mozart, Complete Symponies, Karl Bohm, BPO, 9 CDs + Blu Ray audio, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mozart-Comp...s=music&sr=1-1
One Amazon reviewer claims that there are two versions some played by the VPO – and that the Blu Ray performances are not necessarily the same as the CDs.

Schubert, piano music, Wilhelm Kempff, 9 CDs + Blu Ray audio - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FSN6H...73b221f823f8_S

Paganini, violin concertos, Savlatore Accardo, 6 CDs + Blu Ray audio

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Accardo-Plays-Paganini-Complete-Recordings/dp/B077VC9XKC/ref=pd_sim_15_1/260-8896666-9902513?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B077VC9XKC&pd_rd_r=99f2c9de-7148-11e9-9c07-456f1e30d3e2&pd_rd_w=ZUhFX&pd_rd_wg=wlZ9L&pf_rd_p=1b8636ae-4f21-4403-a813-e8849dd46de4&pf_rd_r=EVV1SVB6E4AGKQ78BHJ3&psc=1&refRID=EVV1SVB6E4AGKQ78BHJ3

Beethoven Symphonies, Leanard Bernstein, VPO – 5 CDs + Blu Ray audio

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-9-Symphonies-Wiener-Philharmoniker/dp/B073VFGBFX/ref=pd_sbs_15_3/260-8896666-9902513?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B073VFGBFX&pd_rd_r=0e859f75-7149-11e9-bdb0-97a1e83b9d87&pd_rd_w=KWWrP&pd_rd_wg=nMYJM&pf_rd_p=18edf98b-139a-41ee-bb40-d725dd59d1d3&pf_rd_r=12RJ1P476XZ59DZ8AHWZ&psc=1&refRID=12RJ1P476XZ59DZ8AHWZ

Mahler, Sympbonies, Kubelick, Bavarian RSO, 10 CDs + Blu Ray audio

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mahler-Symphonieorchester-Bayerischen-Rundfunks-Kubelik/dp/B07G2PK4RH/ref=pd_sim_15_1/260-8896666-9902513?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07G2PK4RH&pd_rd_r=5b029dda-7149-11e9-bdb0-97a1e83b9d87&pd_rd_w=yYWfN&pd_rd_wg=9hI60&pf_rd_p=1b8636ae-4f21-4403-a813-e8849dd46de4&pf_rd_r=P2D2SBTV6ZM3WH9JSF4D&psc=1&refRID=P2D2SBTV6ZM3WH9JSF4D

Dvorak, 9th Symphony plus Smetana Vltva, Ferenc Fricsay, BPO Blu Ray audio (only)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DVORAK-Symphonie-SMETANA-FRICSAY-Fidelity/dp/B00AFOS9FY/ref=sr_1_12?keywords=pure+audio+blu+ray&qid=1557290195&s=music&sr=1-12

Debussy, Pelleas and Melisande, Rattle, LSO + Chorus, 3 Hybrid SACDs + Blu Ray Audio

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Debussy-Pelleas-Melisande-Rattle-Blu-ray/dp/B01N0RNH4N/ref=sr_1_14?keywords=pure+audio+blu+ray&qid=1557290038&s=music&sr=1-14

[Bryn]

There is also this Blu-Ray ripper software.

To clarify, my aim is to burn audio files to Blu-Ray, not to rip Blu-Ray discs. Noting from the discussion Dave linked to, that Roxio can burn audio DVDs, I wonder if its Windows equivalent, Nero Burning ROM, can do the same? I will delve further.