W9: Myths in Audio

Chair:
Malcolm O. J. Hawksford, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex, UK
Panelists:
James Angus, University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, UK
George Brock-Nannestad
David Chesky, Chesky Records, New York, NY, USA
Stanley P. Lipshitz, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Derk Reefman, Philips Research Labs, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

In 2001 we are witnessing the rollout of multichannel high-resolution audio. If the new optical-based formats mirror the meteoric uptake of DVD-Video, they will become the most significant audio technologies ever to be commercialized. There are potentially massive business opportunities for both hardware and licensing and content providers; the stakes are extremely high. Yet curiously at the inception there are unresolved technological controversies that dramatically polarize opinion. First, there are two data re-lease formats based on radically different digital coding paradigms, thus begging the question: which, if either, is optimal? Second, there is the question of signal bandwidth and amplitude resolution in which both formats can extend significantly beyond the normal perceptual domain that characterizes human hearing.
Experts from the audio manufacturing industry, recording industry, and academia described the technologies and will debate their philosophies and views on this fascinating, controversial, and multifaceted subject.