Blu Ray for music

[RogerF]

Apologies if this has been covered in another thread but as a relatively technophobic listener I am really mystified as to why there seems to be a tendency to include Blu Ray and even DVD audio discs in eg box sets such as various King Crimson (mainly) CD albums and I just noticed the forthcoming Zappa WakaWazoo box. I can only play Blu Ray and DVD on the gear I use to watch movies so it's not hi fi, per se. Why do they do this? Do people own separate Blu Ray/DVD audio equipment or are there integrated audio systems? I am genuinely perplexed and would love to bear some explanations.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

It is done mainly for 5.1 (surround) audio but it is also considered "high resolution" as they can encode the audio uncompressed at 24 bit/192 kHz. If done right, it can sound really good. I've been buying some rock releases that include a BlueRay audio disc, like John Lennon's "Imagine", Pink Floyd's "Animals 2018 Remix" and The Beatles "Abbey Road", and they sound really good, particularly in my surround system. Your mileage may vary.

[RogerF]

5 hours ago, bresna said:

It is done mainly for 5.1 (surround) audio but it is also considered "high resolution" as they can encode the audio uncompressed at 24 bit/192 kHz. If done right, it can sound really good. I've been buying some rock releases that include a BlueRay audio disc, like John Lennon's "Imagine", Pink Floyd's "Animals 2018 Remix" and The Beatles "Abbey Road", and they sound really good, particularly in my surround system. Your mileage may vary.

Ah, 5.1 yes, that’s interesting and yet a other technology too sophisticated for me unless I move to a bigger house - my stereo is primitive - thanks. 

[jazzbo]

You can (they don't always do so) hold a lot of high resolution music on a blu-ray disc. I have a few dozen two dozen music only blu-rays that can sound phenomenal on a great system.

[Teasing the Korean]

I have Bernard Herrmann's Obsession on Blu-Ray.  I can't really tell a difference between it and the standard CD.

[jazzbo]

Sounds like a personal problem.  Check the resolution on that blu-ray track. Sometimes they are just Redbook or 16 bit.

Edited November 5, 2022 by jazzbo

[CJ Shearn]

I love Blu Ray Audio for music, I wish more albums would be issued in the format.  I have the capacity to play both SACD and Blu Ray  both with my system's Sony Universal player.  I only have 2 of the Blu Ray Audio, The Alan Parsons' Project's Tales of Mystery and Imagination and Ammonia Avenue.  Tales of Mystery and Imagination sounds STUNNING! Only way to relatively easily get the original 1976 mix which is what I grew up on, and it has the 87 remix which I don't like, but it's rich and dynamic.  The MoFi CD is so expensive.  Also the Tales blu ray is not compressed to shit like the Deluxe Edition from the 00's.  To me, SACD and Blu Ray Audio sound very different, neither one is worse than the other, I'm happy to have both, and can hear the benefits of both.

[unitstructures]

I am really curious about getting some 5.1 speakers for my late 90s Onkyo (usually my backup amp), the idea of getting to hear some of the new Anthony Braxton albums in 5.1 is very appealing... Bitches Brew in quad seems very appealing too, along with Santana, Zappa, Floyd, all that stuff.