I'd love both Tusk and the white album in 5.1. I have the Rumours DVD-Audio disc.
I saw a post somewhere that quoted a spokesman from HDtracks as saying they were close to starting to offer high resolution 5.1 albums. The usual delivery medium would be as FLAC files. The post was early fall. I've not heard a whisper since then.
FLAC would be my choice of delivery for the following reasons.
1. More titles will be released as downloads, than on physical media, regardless of channel format. Releasing a download of an album is less expensive for music companies than creating a disc with the same digital audio on it. Low cost, and subsequent higher potential profit, incentivizes companies to release more titles. Want proof of this? See -->
http://www.audiostream.com/content/hd-music-download-sites
This website didn't exist a year ago. The list is only a few months old. And it's growing like gangbusters.
2. Universality. Regardless of the file format, a high resolution digital audio file can be converted to just about any other file format. There is much (even free) software available to convert FLACs to other formats. Even if your audio file server doesn't support one format, simply load it into your conversion software and output the file format you require. Also, there is free audio file server software that will play back these files on a computer.
If you need a different file format to create a physical disc because you don't have a file server or don't want to play back from a computer, convert the file to a file type your disc creation software requires. Once converted from FLAC to (for example) WAV, software packages are available to create DVD-Audio and Blu Ray discs. While the disc creating software isn't inexpensive, if you want to play, you have to pay.
By the way, the converse is also true. If you release an album on physical media, it is in a single format that is not easily converted to another format.
3. My Oppo BDP-93 plays multichannel lossless FLACs, so if and when HDtracks starts to release 5.1 titles, I'll be on board.
I love the convenience of the file server built into this player. Album track, artist and even art is displayed. I've converted all of my 200 or so DVD-Audio discs to .ISO files, so I never have to grab a disc, open the player, push play and wait for it to load. I simply navigate to the .iso file and push play. The file loads much more quickly than it does from a physical disc. Overall I get to sit at my listening seat and play discs much more quickly and conveniently.
I know I've gone off topic somewhat here, and I apologize for doing so.
Now I really feal I must go way off topic. Earlier in this thread Cupboy said:
SACD is an audiophile format. Blu-ray is not. How many audiophile quality Blu-ray players are there? One left (OPPO)?
I really am annoyed by these types of arguments. It's bad enough that corporations and some press pundits push one format over another.
The fact is that high resolution digital audio is
high resolution. SACD, DVD-Audio, PCM, DTS-MA, Dolby True HD, FLAC, WAV; if recorded well all of these can sound fantastic.
Can an individual tell the difference between these formats with the same music? Possibly. I won't (nor can anyone reasonably) say the definitive answer is "no"!
I have the Blu Ray disc and SACD of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. I am willing to pay anyone $10 to tell me which disc they are listening to at better than statistical average in a blind fold test on my "audiophile" playback system.
I know that I personally can't tell that there is any significant difference. At most, I'm willing to say that sometimes I
think I hear a difference.
I learned audio recording under Dr. Floyd Toole, in Ottawa at Marc Sound. I own a project recording studio, so I've made digital audio recordings. I've heard what digital audio is capable of at 24 bit / 192 Khz resolution. More significantly, I have heard what audio sounds like in a commercial studio with a Neve mixing desk feeding an Ampeg 440-C mastering analog recorder from a Scully 24 track recorder. This experience has always been my benchmark.
Today's high resolution formats, regardless of format, are as close as I've ever gotten to what I heard at Marc Sound.