[witchdoctor]

Before you blame the witchdoctor I am not the one saying stereo is dead, it was the general feeling of the recoding engineers in attendance at the Audio Engineering Society show October 19th in NYC according to Walt Zerbe of CEDIA. On his show recap on this CEDIA podcast Walt was saying that the studios are remixing their back catalogs in immersive audio (NOT surround). The two leading formats at this time are Dolby Atmos and Sony 360. They also discussed why nobody talked about delivery via disc or blueray, only streaming. Apparently you can standardize the loudness of a stream using limiters where discs have issues with different loudness factors.
He talked about an immersive mix demo of miles davis where you could walk around the listening space as if you were on stage and standing next to Miles, or the bass player, etc. You MUST listen to this CEDIA podcast, it will change how you think about your next equipment purchase by a factor of a lot. For all you two channel fans don't worry, every immersive mix will be backward compatible with stereo so it won't actually be dead, just a fossil:

https://www.cedia.net/insights/cedia-blog-detail/blog/2019/10/25/the-cedia-podcast-episode-147-the-latest-in-audio-engineering

[WGH]

Even the Beatles Abbey Road has been remixed (yes, yet again) in 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos   



https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/hear-the-beatles-abbey-road-in-hi-res-and-dolby-atmos

[S Clark]

Does this mean I have to quit listening to my  3K+ collection of vinyl? 
Pardon me if I doubt that "stereo is dead".

[Nick77]

Not this again. 

[hdspeakerman]

i agree! 

[Phil A]

CEDIA is this "CEDIA is the brand of custom-installed home lifestyle experiences that define a pathway to prosperity for members and ultimate contentment for clients. This is achieved by engaging all integrators and manufacturers, regardless of level of development and geography, with forward-looking insight and the education, tools, relationships, and support necessary to provide clients with best-in-life experiences at home."  While I'm sure it does have some members who do home integration for 2-channel (and it has manufacturer members that do make 2-channel products), it is largely made up of custom installers who do things like home theater installations.  One would expect a trade organization to try to branch out to different markets and increase their membership.  So I don't see a big deal about trying to get much of their membership installing home theaters trying to get more people interested in music.

[Phil A]

There's some state about CEDIA members and what their markets are here (e.g lighting, security, climate control, entertainment, etc.):
https://tedg10.smugmug.com/frame/slideshow?key=wdFFcj&autoStart=1&captions=0&navigation=0&playButton=0&randomize=0&speed=3&transition=fade&transitionSpeed=2&clickable=1

While multi-channel music is not of interest to me (I have a secondary system where I extracted about 50 multi-channel DSD files and perhaps once every couple of years I might do some listening and my current vehicle can read FLAC and WAV files up to 192kHz and play them back at 24/48 and while I don't spend tons of time in the car, the surround sound doesn't sound bad at all), as I noted, it is not a bad thing if more people get interested in music and more hardware and software sales result.  Some of the same manufacturers who are CEDIA members make products used by audiophiles.  It is also not a bad thing given the decline in B&M audio stores that some installers are carrying better brands in some cases.

[mresseguie]

Does this mean I have to quit listening to my  3K+ collection of vinyl? 
Pardon me if I doubt that "stereo is dead".

Would you consider either adopting me, or adding me to your will? 

[Phil A]

Does this mean I have to quit listening to my  3K+ collection of vinyl? 
Pardon me if I doubt that "stereo is dead".

No - not at all.  Just send all that obsolete stuff to me and start over on this - https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/recording/the-unlikely-return-of-quadraphonic-vinyl

By doing that you might be able to get into an eventual movie when they do a future remake of the Mod Squad and call it the Quad Squad.  Rumor has it that the fourth member of the group will be in charge of interrogations and get audiophile criminals to talk by making them listen to quadraphonic recordings.

[twitch54]

Does this mean I have to quit listening to my  3K+ collection of vinyl? 
Pardon me if I doubt that "stereo is dead".

LOL and my vinyl library is only half of yours !

[S Clark]

Would you consider either adopting me, or adding me to your will? 

Just wait til I'm out of town.  My wife will load up your truck for you.   

[witchdoctor]

What I got out of that podcast was this is pretty much a done deal and the engineers don't want the ship to sail without them. They discussed that this is really about the ability of the artist to express themselves however they want. Look at how changes in technology has impacted musicians. You went from acoustic to electronic instruments= big change in music. They you went from tube to transistors, another huge change. Next we saw a transition from analog tape to protools. Look how music changed as electronic synthesizers and computer based electronic dance music gave musicians more ways to express themselves. Now you are giving musicians and their team "object based" technology in addition to "channel based". With an object based technology you can place each instruments or vocal wherever you want in the listening space. If you listen to the podcast you will see that artists really like the additional freedom to express themselves. The other surprise is that this is really focused on streaming because of the advantages it has over physical media, specifically in regards to overly loud mixes. Check out this link re: dolby atmos music:

https://music.dolby.com

[witchdoctor]

Even the Beatles Abbey Road has been remixed (yes, yet again) in 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos   



https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/hear-the-beatles-abbey-road-in-hi-res-and-dolby-atmos

The new mix is so clear, you can hear layers into the vocals that are so lifelike it is like they are singing right in front of you. If you have Amazon music you can check out the hirez flac version which is also very good.

[witchdoctor]

There's some state about CEDIA members and what their markets are here (e.g lighting, security, climate control, entertainment, etc.):
https://tedg10.smugmug.com/frame/slideshow?key=wdFFcj&autoStart=1&captions=0&navigation=0&playButton=0&randomize=0&speed=3&transition=fade&transitionSpeed=2&clickable=1

While multi-channel music is not of interest to me (I have a secondary system where I extracted about 50 multi-channel DSD files and perhaps once every couple of years I might do some listening and my current vehicle can read FLAC and WAV files up to 192kHz and play them back at 24/48 and while I don't spend tons of time in the car, the surround sound doesn't sound bad at all), as I noted, it is not a bad thing if more people get interested in music and more hardware and software sales result.  Some of the same manufacturers who are CEDIA members make products used by audiophiles.  It is also not a bad thing given the decline in B&M audio stores that some installers are carrying better brands in some cases.

On the podcast they say this trend toward immersive has really energized custom installers because of the potential new market presnts to both upgrade current customers and it adds more value to a custom installation project. I agree as I would much rather have someone else come in and do the install and calibration for me.

[witchdoctor]

Does this mean I have to quit listening to my  3K+ collection of vinyl? 
Pardon me if I doubt that "stereo is dead".

Rock on, can you post a pic of that? BTW almost all immersive processor include a phone stage and an upmixer.

[witchdoctor]

Not this again. 

This is actually a fresh take, checkout 8:30 to about 11:00 into the podcast on how the engineers used the additional channels to recreate a room:

https://www.cedia.net/insights/cedia-blog-detail/blog/2019/10/25/the-cedia-podcast-episode-147-the-latest-in-audio-engineering

[Freo-1]

The new mix is so clear, you can hear layers into the vocals that are so lifelike it is like they are singing right in front of you. If you have Amazon music you can check out the hirez flac version which is also very good.

The Amazon HD FLAC is only CD quality.  Their hi-res is labeled "Ultra HD". 


See the following link:


http://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=6645


Besides, the original Abbey Road master tapes are NOT HD to begin with.  (Marketing hype).

[toocool4]

The new mix is so clear, you can hear layers into the vocals that are so lifelike it is like they are singing right in front of you.

You can hear this on a good 2-channel system without having all the extra speakers, if people can’t hear this in the first place they need a better well setup 2-channel system.

Yes stereo is dying because a lot of people choose to listen to music on there mobile phones, now the industry is trying to sell you something new so they can sell you everything you already have all over again.
What was the last thing they tried to sell us? 3D TV, where is that now? oh dead as the dodo.

I say leave multichannel sound to watching films.

 

[witchdoctor]

I like two channel systems for near field listening in MQA to really try and replicate what the engineer heard in the final mix. I use JBL Studio 230 speakers which are based on their M2 Studio Monitor and love it in the nearfield.

On the other hand if I want to try and replicate a concert in a live space I like to use a live recording using an immersive upmixer like auromatic or DTS Neo X if the track is two channel stereo. If it was mixed in atmos like Abbey Road I'll just use the native mix.

I am not a headphone user but apparently Sony 360 is touting both a headphone and speaker application.

https://www.sony.com/electronics/360-reality-audio

Apparently anyone can just get a pair of headphones and stream immersive 360 tracks through Tidal, Deezer or nugs.net.

[Digi-G]

The Amazon HD FLAC is only CD quality.  Their hi-res is labeled "Ultra HD". 


See the following link:


http://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=6645


Besides, the original Abbey Road master tapes are NOT HD to begin with.  (Marketing hype).

The master tapes aren't HD?  Then what are they?  I think they are as HD as any other master tape.