[HPiper]

I have recently found a couple albums I wanted to get and found that they were in a format I am not real familiar with, called 'Blu-Ray Audio'. What I am wanting to know is what do I need in terms of playback equipment to listen to those and where do they stand in the overall fidelity ladder. I am assuming this is the newest idea to replace the more or less failed SACD format, and thereby thought to be the 'best' new format available? I have an SACD player that will play DVD's but it doesn't do blu-ray. I did a quick check on Amazon and the only thing I saw that specifically mentioned dvd-audio were a couple Oppo units one of which was almost $1500 dollars. Does it really take a player costing that much to listen to these? If true it seems those companies that release stuff in this format are seriously restricting their sales possibilities but oh well.. Anyway just hoping to get some input to see if there is some way I can listen to those or if I just need to stick to SACD and CD's.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Format is irrelevant. If you convert any high-res file to lossless 16-bit / 44.1 kHz, it will sound exactly the same. You may not even be able to distinguish between 256 kbps AAC and lossless. The only thing that matters is the recording, mix, and master. Some DVD and Blu-ray audio mixes are surround sound, but most are not. You'll need a player that can play Blu-ray in order to listen to your Blu-ray. (This should go without saying.) You can also rip Blu-ray discs to digital file formats with the right equipment and software. Just Google it.