DVD/SACD on the Verge?


I've been looking to upgrade my cd player for some time now and suddenly there are several top rated models becomming available like the Audio Aero Capitole, Cary 306/200, Meridian, Wadia and Electrocompaniet. Does this mean that the transition from redbook players is finally about to begin? One dealer advised me to wait until May when a lot of new players will be introduced.
tonyp54
Short answer: Don't hold your breath. The transition cannot begin until all new pop recordings are released in a new format. Format changes are driven by software, not hardware.
The general public is still not really aware that the CD format is being superceded. For most people, when their CD player breaks or they need a new one for a student, they go to the store and are then taught about SACD and DVD-A. They have to be won over one at a time. When more players are introduced at lower price points later this year, people will hopefully come in to upgrade their digital source in addition to replacing a broken one or adding a player. You will get a better price/performance value then.

Customer: "Which should I get, SACD or DVD-A?" Salesman: "They're both better than CD. SACD has more software out but DVD-A says they're on the way." Customer: "OK then, which one is cheaper?"
Tony,
In one way the transition had already begun-players of both formats have been available for a while and some people are already enjoying SACD and DVDA.
Multi-format machines are appearing now,also.
However as Bomarc points out the stumbling block is software which still seems incredibly slow taking off.
I stay in the third biggest city in the UK and you can't buy a SACD or a DVDA disc anywhere,not even in the mega-stores or more unbelievably the local Sony Centre..
SACD and DVD - A fit the analogy, "All dressed up with nowhere to go."

I don't care if Sony started selling SACD players for $99, unless and until there is software to play in the machine, it is like having a screen door on a submarine. No, it doesn't hurt anything, but neither does it provide anything.

The Best Buys and Circuit Citys of the world sell SACD. But, normally just one player. They are quite often located on an end cap opposite Bose. And, it has always been my experience that the salesman tried to steer me toward Bose when I was trying to give a listen to SACD. "Well, that's OK, but if you REALLY want to hear something totally awesome, check out this Bose HT rig."

Mass market consumers are not interested in going beyond CD since they still feel it is "Perfect Sound, Forever." Audiophiles are not into it because 99% of their software will not sound as good in a $299 Sony player as it does in their Arcam, Audio Aero, Cambridge, Electrocompaniet, Linn, Musical Fidelity, Music Hall, Rega, or Rotel.

As there is no software, what is the point of buying an Audio Aero SACD player? How many discs will the average person be able to play in it? 10, at the most? We won't just buy a title because it is in a new format, the MUSIC(remember that?!?) has to appeal to us as well.

Sony should be pushing software before the hardware, that is THE only route to creating demand for the machines. 2002 was to be the coming out party for SACD titles. That's what Sony said, with the hardware now accessible, they would flood the market with their vast libraries in the new format. Has it happened? Not in the least. Here we are at the threshold of April and is the buzz for high resolution discs any higher than it was in 1999? Maybe I am alone, but I don't see it. In 1999, I was foaming at the mouth to jump into the new formats. Last week, I bought a new player, a CD player...

Will I embrace high resolution digital? I think so. But, I now see it as something that would happen if they survive in the first place, and when I find that the racks at my record store start to give ANY appreciable space to them, as opposed to CD, or even vinyl.