As far as a dvd-audio disc: there's still a lot of dvd-audio-capable or universal players out there, many bought by customers who didn't know what dvd-audio/sacd was i.e. those formats just happened to come along for the ride along with the hi-end video chip sets and musical analog output section for their CDs that they read about on an internet review site.
So what happens when one of these people drops their new 4.0 dvd-audio disc in that player, which I can pretty much guarantee has never been configured properly (remember, except for the latest players with HDMI [which debuted when dvd-audio was disappearing], all those older ones required you to use its analog multichannel output & most receiver's multichannel inputs never included bass management)? Since the customer probably uses a set of small decor-friendly satellites with a sub, he will not hear any low bass because his sub will not have a signal being sent to it i.e. all the speakers settings are still set to their factory defaults of "large" and "yes subwoofer".
Oh btw, the above scenario assumes that the player
includes bass management for the hi-res tracks in the first place...........and not all players do in my experience.
So....Rhino starts receiving irate calls and emails about malfunctioning discs, and how could they sell such a lousy product for that much money, yada yada yada.
Sure the customer service rep could gently remind them they should be able to switch their player over to its dvd-video playback mode - and unlike my Pioneer DV-656A
hope it STAYS in that mode once the disc drawer is opened - and play the DTS track that way, unless Rhino's authoring people included a DTS link on the disc's main menu....which would have to be accessed via a TV every time the disc was played. Whatever the scenario, these kinds of answers are not condusive towards creating a heightened interest in buying more such discs and I'll guarantee most people will blow off the format based on such a lousy experience.
But a DTS disc? DTS, like Dolby Digital, is a fully standardized format and when such a disc is dropped into a player, it works. Period. And with the millions of DTS-capable players & A/V receivers out there.
