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http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/printer_2L-Founder-blu-ray-audio-future-1652.shtml
2L Founder Declares Blu-ray the Future of High Quality Music Reproduction
By Brandon A. DuHamel
2008-07-29 12:53:31
A Conversation with 2L Record Label Founder Morten Lindberg
Audiophiles are and have always been on a perpetual quest for perfection; a never-ending pursuit for aural bliss. Since the introduction of the CD (Compact Disc) in 1984 debates have raged within the audiophile community over whether or not digital recording was superior to the analogue technologies it was trying to supersede. It seems one thing that a majority of audiophiles were eventually able to reach an uneasy consensus about is this: the CD, with its combination of a low sampling rate and low bit depth needed to be improved upon as a musical carrier.
Hope would eventually arrive in the form of Super Audio CD (SACD or SA-CD) and, shortly thereafter DVD-Audio (DVD-A). Both formats use much higher sampling rates than CD, with SACD using a completely new paradigm in the form of Direct Stream Digital (DSD) a 2.88Mhz 1-bit bitstream, and DVD-A reaching as high as 192Khz/24-bit in stereo or 96Khz/24-bit in 5.1-channel flavors. Both formats offered multichannel capabilities, and both were capable of much higher resolution than the CD's 44.1Khz/16-bit "Redbook" standard.
But, alas, hopes that either one of these formats would replace the CD in the marketplace were soon dashed. Both would stumble out of the gates and neither would attain the dominance in the market place that the Compact Disc was able to achieve. There were a multitude of reasons for this, not the least of which was the format war between the two as well as constant debates amongst audiophiles over which digital format was superior. SACDs new DSD technology, developed by Sony and Philips, was claimed by its proponents and many audiophiles to sound more "true" to the source, or more "analogue" while DVD-A's PCM (Pulse-code modulation) had the advantage in dynamic range, and the much stronger foothold in both professional and consumer markets, as well as being easier to work with in terms of signal processing.
There was also the changing marketplace, which was focused much more on low-quality, lossy compressed downloadable files driven by the huge success of Apple's iPod and free (read: illegal) file sharing services. Record labels also offered only half-hearted support to either format, often times reissuing nothing but the same old "classic" titles or one or two new releases and then simply letting these titles go out of print.
Still, SACD came out somewhat victorious. It has claimed the audiophile niche market, with a strong presence in both the Classical and Jazz arenas, and the occasional reissued Pop/Rock title from boutique labels such as Mobile Fidelity Soundlabs or major-artist catalogue reissues, such as the recently completed Depeche Mode SACD+DVD catalogue reissues from Mute in the UK and the Genesis SACD+DVD catalog reissue series -- also in the UK -- which should see its completion at the end of this year. This trickle of titles is certainly not what audiophiles had hoped for.
Now with the advent of Blu-ray Disc, audiophiles are once again holding out hope that there will be a high-resolution audio format to replace the CD, capable of multichannel sound and so much more. Industrial band Nine Inch Nails have been amongst the first to take advantage of this new format, releasing their instrumental album Ghosts Volume 1 - IV via the Internet, and including in two editions a Blu-ray audio-only disc of the full album in 96KHz/24-bit stereo. But, as with SACD, it is the Classical labels once again at the forefront of this new technology as a viable audio medium.
Surround Records has released two titles as Blu-ray audio-only discs with 7.1 high-resolution sound, and recently the Norwegian label 2L (Lindberg Lyd) entered the Blu-ray market with their first release, Divertimenti, a 2-disc hybrid SACD+Blu-ray audio-only disc set.
A relatively new label on the scene, in terms of the Classical industry, 2L puts a strong focus on the contemporary music of their native Norway and their multichannel SACD releases buck the trend in the classical market by offering aggressive mixes that fully utilize all the channels discretely instead of using the surrounds merely for ambience. 2L's young founder Morten Lindberg recently granted Big Picture Big Sound the privilege of an interview, so that we could gain more insight into this label and their future plans for releasing on Blu-ray. What you'll find is a man passionate about sound, the future of high-resolution music, and cautiously optimistic about the viability of Blu-ray Disc as an audio format. Below is the interview that I conducted with Mr. Lindberg:
[for the interview, see the link above]
2L Founder Declares Blu-ray the Future of High Quality Music Reproduction
By Brandon A. DuHamel
2008-07-29 12:53:31
A Conversation with 2L Record Label Founder Morten Lindberg
Audiophiles are and have always been on a perpetual quest for perfection; a never-ending pursuit for aural bliss. Since the introduction of the CD (Compact Disc) in 1984 debates have raged within the audiophile community over whether or not digital recording was superior to the analogue technologies it was trying to supersede. It seems one thing that a majority of audiophiles were eventually able to reach an uneasy consensus about is this: the CD, with its combination of a low sampling rate and low bit depth needed to be improved upon as a musical carrier.
Hope would eventually arrive in the form of Super Audio CD (SACD or SA-CD) and, shortly thereafter DVD-Audio (DVD-A). Both formats use much higher sampling rates than CD, with SACD using a completely new paradigm in the form of Direct Stream Digital (DSD) a 2.88Mhz 1-bit bitstream, and DVD-A reaching as high as 192Khz/24-bit in stereo or 96Khz/24-bit in 5.1-channel flavors. Both formats offered multichannel capabilities, and both were capable of much higher resolution than the CD's 44.1Khz/16-bit "Redbook" standard.
But, alas, hopes that either one of these formats would replace the CD in the marketplace were soon dashed. Both would stumble out of the gates and neither would attain the dominance in the market place that the Compact Disc was able to achieve. There were a multitude of reasons for this, not the least of which was the format war between the two as well as constant debates amongst audiophiles over which digital format was superior. SACDs new DSD technology, developed by Sony and Philips, was claimed by its proponents and many audiophiles to sound more "true" to the source, or more "analogue" while DVD-A's PCM (Pulse-code modulation) had the advantage in dynamic range, and the much stronger foothold in both professional and consumer markets, as well as being easier to work with in terms of signal processing.
There was also the changing marketplace, which was focused much more on low-quality, lossy compressed downloadable files driven by the huge success of Apple's iPod and free (read: illegal) file sharing services. Record labels also offered only half-hearted support to either format, often times reissuing nothing but the same old "classic" titles or one or two new releases and then simply letting these titles go out of print.
Still, SACD came out somewhat victorious. It has claimed the audiophile niche market, with a strong presence in both the Classical and Jazz arenas, and the occasional reissued Pop/Rock title from boutique labels such as Mobile Fidelity Soundlabs or major-artist catalogue reissues, such as the recently completed Depeche Mode SACD+DVD catalogue reissues from Mute in the UK and the Genesis SACD+DVD catalog reissue series -- also in the UK -- which should see its completion at the end of this year. This trickle of titles is certainly not what audiophiles had hoped for.
Now with the advent of Blu-ray Disc, audiophiles are once again holding out hope that there will be a high-resolution audio format to replace the CD, capable of multichannel sound and so much more. Industrial band Nine Inch Nails have been amongst the first to take advantage of this new format, releasing their instrumental album Ghosts Volume 1 - IV via the Internet, and including in two editions a Blu-ray audio-only disc of the full album in 96KHz/24-bit stereo. But, as with SACD, it is the Classical labels once again at the forefront of this new technology as a viable audio medium.
Surround Records has released two titles as Blu-ray audio-only discs with 7.1 high-resolution sound, and recently the Norwegian label 2L (Lindberg Lyd) entered the Blu-ray market with their first release, Divertimenti, a 2-disc hybrid SACD+Blu-ray audio-only disc set.
A relatively new label on the scene, in terms of the Classical industry, 2L puts a strong focus on the contemporary music of their native Norway and their multichannel SACD releases buck the trend in the classical market by offering aggressive mixes that fully utilize all the channels discretely instead of using the surrounds merely for ambience. 2L's young founder Morten Lindberg recently granted Big Picture Big Sound the privilege of an interview, so that we could gain more insight into this label and their future plans for releasing on Blu-ray. What you'll find is a man passionate about sound, the future of high-resolution music, and cautiously optimistic about the viability of Blu-ray Disc as an audio format. Below is the interview that I conducted with Mr. Lindberg:
[for the interview, see the link above]
