[CES 07] High End Adopts New Term to Get Audience: HD Audio
January 10th, 2007 — By Robert HarleyHigh-End Audio Comes in From the Cold
Jan 9 - High-end audio has always been the orphan in the consumer electronics universe, at least in the eyes of the industry’s massive trade group, the Consumer Electronics Association, sponsor of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Despite heroic efforts to raise the profile of high-performance audio (“specialty audio,� in the CEA’s language) by Thiel Audio’s Kathy Gornick and Kimber Kable’s Ray Kimber (and others), the high-end has largely been left out in the cold.
The beginning of the end of that era just might have been marked by an unprecedented press conference held on the Saturday before this CES’ official opening. Led by Gornick and Kimber, the CEA held an event promoting the idea that sound quality matters. The room was gratifyingly packed to capacity with the mainstream press.
Joined by legendary record producer and studio owner Elliot Mazer (Neil Young, Janis Joplin, Linda Ronstadt, The Band, and many others), the CEA presented the message that there’s a world of sound quality far beyond MP3 that consumers are simply unaware of. The event included listening comparisons between tracks downloaded from Apple’s iTunes site (128kbps) and high-resolution (88.2kHz/24-bit or 96kHz/24-bit) files downloaded from the Music Giants service (Mazer is a consultant to Music Giants, who announced at the show the availability of full-length albums at 96kHz/24-bit; full story to follow). Even under the challenging listening conditions of the venue, the difference was staggering. The press, many of whom were standing in the jam-packed room, seemed to get the idea—there’s an alternative to low-resolution files, and the improvement offered by high-resolution audio is important and worthwhile. Whether they communicate that idea to their tens of millions of collective readers is another question.
The CEA needed a catchword for high-end sound and high-resolution digital audio, and the chose the term “HD Audio,� presumably because mainstream consumers will equate the improvement offered by HDTV to the improvement possible with HD Audio.
Perhaps not coincidentally, this CES marked another turning point for the relationship between high-end audio and the CEA; the high-end exhibits are now integrated into the show at their new home at the Venetian hotel and adjoining Sands Expo Center. Previously, high-end audio was relegated to an off-site venue that was far from ideal for showcasing high-performance audio. The off-site location created a schism, literally and figuratively, between high-end audio and mainstream consumer electronics. With the high-end exhibits now readily accessible by mainstream press (virtually every magazine and newspaper in the country, and many throughout the world, send reporters), the high-end industry might finally get the recognition it so richly deserves.
Return to CES 2007 Report
Damn!!! I missed this announcement. I attended CES, but forgot to check out MusicGiants. I knew they were planning to offer 24 bit audio, but only from second hang reports from a guy at Microsoft.
I still can’t find anything on the MusicGiant website regarding 24/96 audio. I wonder how much of the catalog will be available in these high res formats.
BTW, the high-end audio use to be showcased at the Alexis Park resort, which was right next door to the St. Tropez, where they had T.H.E. Show. I think most of the people really interested in high-end audio were pretty happy with this arrangement. I’m not sure moving it to the Venetian was a good thing. Now they have more distance to travel between venues. Anyhow, it’s probably better when you consider accessibilty by the mainstream press. Maybe T.H.E. Show will be able to move a little closer in the future.
Comment by Gregg Plummer January 19th, 2007 @ 7:12 pmGregg:
The number of titles available from Music Giants at 96kHz/24-bit will be limited initially. Watch for a full report.
Exhibitors had mixed reactions to the change in venue from the Alexis Park to the Venetian, as well as to the change in show days from Thursday through Sunday to Monday through Thursday. The Venetian is a much more appropriate place to showcase high-performance audio, but is more expensive for exhibitors. The manufacturers in the lower level of the Venetian/Sands Expo reported low traffic, but the exhibits in the hotel tower were packed.
Robert Harley
Robert Harley
Comment by Robert Harley January 22nd, 2007 @ 10:59 amI was at the press event in Las Vegas and even had lunch with Elliot Mazer before the presentation to discuss the world of high-resolution or high definition audio and what he intended to play. It seems to me that there is a great lack of specifics when it comes to the definition of “HD Audio” and it is the job of the press to assist in clarifying the confusion not additing to it. According to the information distributed at the event and to members of the CEA prior to the event, HD Audio is anything “that is better than Red Book” or standard CDs. This leaves open the possibility of older analog tracks or even LPs being digitized at 88.2 or 96 and 24-bits and being portrayed as HD! What about upsampling a standard CD?
Is an 8mm movie from 1958 of my family Christmas that has been telecined to 1920×1080 a true HD master? I don’t think so…then why is a 40 year analog track [that has been transferred and dynamically processed] that has been digitized at 88.2 and 24-bit [a container that vastly exceeds the quantity of theflu id that is placed inside it] representative of “HD AUdio”?
It is clear that the public needs to know that audio of higher fidelity can be downloaded through companies like MusicGiants.com or the coming iTrax.com, but it is equally important to accurately define the terminology and present audio that actually exceeds the fidelity of CDs! The Rolling Stones and Beach Boys from 1968 and 1966 respectively are wonderful recordings but are not really HD. The best analog tapes can muster is about 72 dB in dynamic range. What if 24-bit digital equipment had been there at the time…we would have true HD.
My goal as a label owner and producer of HD SUrround Music has always been to move the art of capture and reproducion forward. The CEA [of which I’m a member] missed an opportunity to assist in that process. A chance was missed and the press left rather uninspired.
Comment by Mark Waldrep January 28th, 2007 @ 2:14 pm[…] Read about the HD Audio announcement from this year’s CES […]
Comment by Avguide News and Blog » Archives » INTERVIEW with Scott Bahneman of Music Giants - AVguide.com July 3rd, 2007 @ 4:12 pm