Audiophile Labels Cautious Over DVD-AudioBy John Courtmanche

The forthcoming launch of DVD-Audio is inducing markedly different responses from the heads of three American audiophile labels, whose reactions range from perplexed to excited to disinterested. Take, for example, the reaction from Classic Records, which since last year has been issuing music discs that take advantage of DVD-Video's audio spec but which play in only in two-channel stereo. Hollywood, CA-based Classic is planning a DVD-Audio sampler disc to start, but label president Mike Hobson said he's ""perplexed"" over how to approach the format, specifically with regard to its surround sound options. Classic will continue to release audio product for DVD-Video players.Classic's 30-title Digital Audio Disc series, featuring recordings from such artists as John Lee Hooker and Sam Phillips, boasts 96 kHz/24-bit audio quality. ""These releases are not so risky,"" Hobson said. ""Everyone has two speakers."" Multichannel issues couldn't be further from the mind of Chesky Records president David Chesky, who has no current plans to release DVD-Audio titles. Instead, Chesky is focusing on a new line of DVD-Video titles featuring 96 kHz/24-bit audio and full-motion video, among the first DVD titles to combine these features. The new series, launched in April with Chuck Mangione's The Feeling's Back, is to be followed by Sara K.'s No Cover on June 22. ""We're doing everything with video,"" Chesky said. ""People want to watch the artists."" Over the past year, New York-based Chesky Records released 10 of what it calls ""Super Audio DVDs,"" which don't feature full-motion video but offered two-channel 96/24 audio. David Chesky said the titles are selling okay ""but not great,"" due mainly to the small number of DVD players in households. ""Hardware manufacturers should subsidize software manufacturers at this early stage,"" Chesky said. ""This stuff is expensive."" Like Chesky, executives at Mobile Fidelity are planning to take advantage of the multimedia capabilities of the DVD format, and they're considering a limited number of DVD-Audio, DVD-Video or even DVD-ROM releases later this year. For audio-only releases though, the label prefers the sound quality of the competing Super Audio CD format from Sony and Philips, incorporating Direct Stream Digital (DSD) technology. Mobile Fidelity is moving toward releasing both DVD and SACD titles in 1999, from such artists as Duke Ellington and Art Garfunkel. ""These projects are in their infancy,"" Mobile Fidelity president Lori Beaudoin said. ""We have limited resources, so we need to see that a new format is established before we get in there with product."" Either way, Beaudoin said she expects developments in the DVD and SACD formats to create growth opportunities for the company. ""These new formats give us back the opportunity to offer consumers multiple products,"" she said, explaining that the company used to release product in several formats, such as CD and vinyl, but is currently releasing titles only as gold-plated CDs. John Wood, Mobile Fidelity's director of new technology, added that audiophiles have complained about the sound quality of CDs since the format's introduction, and that developments with DVD-Audio and SACD are cause for excitement in the industry. Classic's Hobson agrees, crediting the audiophile labels with motivating consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers to promote the sound quality of DVD-Video players. As is characteristic, the audiophile labels, in releasing high quality audio products for DVD players, have distinguished themselves from major labels, which have focused more on video-centric DVD releases aimed at a mass market. Hobson believes the major labels will not follow the lead of the audiophile community in releasing audio-only DVD-Video titles, but rather will wait for DVD-Audio players to come to market. ""The music industry isn't asking for another format,"" Hobson said. ""Everyone loves CDs, except audiophiles. But we're just a pimple on the landscape."" Source: Replication News