Blu-ray is the first domestic format in history that unites theatre movies and music sound in equally high quality. The musical advantage of Blu-ray is the high resolution for audio, and the convenience for the audience as one single player will handle music, films, their DVD-collection and their old library of traditional CD.

Our only hesitation is the replication costs, that currently are at a "Hollywood-level". The music business does not bring the same revenues as the movie industry. A mandatory copyright protection, one that we actually don't want, is another obstacle in the astronomic fees charged by AACS. But my hopes are high for the Blu-ray format, and very soon the fabrication costs should be at the present level of DVD, making it possible even for small record labels to make Blu-ray a standard carrier for music. Somewhere down the line we might see Blu-ray supplemented with download services, integrated in the live profile 2. Today we offer both stereo and multichannel FLAC in 24BIT/96kHz as independent download services.

I personally prefer extremely high resolution PCM over the DSD. All resolutions found in the DIVERTIMENTI (2L50SABD) are sample rate converted from the same DXD source files. Comparing them in our studio we find only subtle differences from DXD (24BIT/352.8kHz)  down to 192kHz and 96kHz. The obvious degeneration is from 96kHz down to 48kHz. I find DSD, as used in the SACD format, somewhat different in colour from DXD and 192kHz PCM; in some mysterious way DSD is softer and more beautiful but slightly less detailed. In DXD I find the shimmering brilliance from the original analogue source as directly from the microphones.  The most obvious reduction in sound signature is of course the 48kHz core extracted from the DTS - and the Dolby Digital 48kHz just sounds terrible, compared to anything. In addition to linear PCM in 24/192, DTS Master Audio and DD True HD is offered on DIVERTIMENTI with the purpose of convincing audiophiles of their true lossless qualities. The stereo layer of the SACD and the LPCM 2.0-stream on the Blu-ray is a full resolution mix from the original microphones. Mostly we find that the microphone placements used for the surround make a fine stereo. Occasionally we put up extra microphones dedicated for the stereo stream.

Our DIVERTIMENTI is 100% according to the official Blu-ray specifications. Unfortunately all players are not. Due to the 192 kHz rate in MCH, not all 1st generation players has the processing power required for decoding, and therefore “cut corners” and down-sample or down-mix to stereo. PlayStation3 is one of the machines equipped with sufficient power to handle all formats. I believe all future models of Blu-ray players will prove compatible with the standards. New models will be matched by a new range of receivers, with HDMI v1.3 making decoding a lot more easy and compatible than today.