Sound quality

From a purely technical standpoint, the audio resolution of a DVD-Audio disc can be substantially higher than standard red book CD audio. DVD-Audio supports bit depths up to 24-bit and sample rates up to 192 kHz, while CD audio is 16-bit, 44.1 kHz. In both cases, the source recording may have been made at a much higher bit and sample rate, and down-converted for commercial release.

Many DVD-Audio releases are older, standard definition audio recordings that have been remixed in 5.1 and upsampled to DVD-Audio's higher resolution. However, the fidelity of the upsampled audio will be limited by the source material quality and may not exceed the quality of existing CD releases of the same albums. Recordings that are made using high-resolution PCM encoding can be released with a resolution that is higher than standard CD.

There is controversy regarding the audible fidelity improvement when listening to a stereo DVD-Audio disc compared to a CD-disc, even when conditions and content are optimal. In a peer-reviewed blind listening test published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, the authors were unable to find any proof that stereo DVD-Audio as a format sounds different from CD.^[9] The author suggests that differences in the mastering for particular DVD-Audio and CD may explain perceived differences.

Three of the major music labels, Universal Music, EMI and Warner Bros. Records and several smaller audiophile labels (such as AIX Records, Claudio Records and DTS Entertainment) have released or are continuing to release albums on DVD-Audio and even fewer release 192kHz/24bit Stereo recordings, which are limited to only 66:55, but the number is minimal compared to standard CDs. New high-definition titles have been released in standard DVD-Video format (which can contain 2-channel Linear PCM audio data ranging from 48 kHz/16-bit to 96 kHz/24-bit), "HDAD", which includes a DVD-Video format recording on one side and DVD-Audio on the other, CD/DVD packages, which can include the album on both CD and DVD-Audio, or DualDisc, which can contain DVD-Audio content on the DVD side. In addition, some titles that were initially released as a standalone DVD-Audio disc, such as The Grateful Dead's American Beauty and R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People, were re-released as a CD/DVD package or as a DualDisc.