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sosumi

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 29, 2003
55
0
Gothenburg, Sweden
A lot of Bob Dylan albums are now being released in SACD (Super Audio CD) with 5.1 sound. I would love to buy these but I don't want to buy a SACD-player as I now use my iPod for everything (connected to my home stereo). I don't care much about the higher sampling rate of SACD, but the 5.1 sound would be amazing. Any guess if a new version of iPod (and iTMS) will support this in the future? I think I've heard somewhere that it's already supported in AAC.
 

WinterMute

Moderator emeritus
Jan 19, 2003
4,776
5
London, England
Apple would need to put a digital output on the iPods, which I seriously doubt they will ever do, mainly because of the copyright implications, but also because it's primarily a portable unit and there aren't any "surround" headphones:p

AAC was developed by Dolby, who are responsible for the AC3 codec, which is one of the surround formats used on DVDv discs, and was primarily designed for broadcast systems, but has been adopted as a more efficient coder for audio.

Having sp/dif digital outputs on the G5 is a great start, and you'll probably be able to play 5.1 out of iTunes under AC3 or DTS at some point, but probably not the iPod.

Incidentally, some SACD coded discs will play stereo in existing CD players I believe, so getting the discs now and the player later might be an idea, however, I don't think SACD is going to be around long, it's a good system, but it migh go the way of Betamax video.
 
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