I'm totally confused about Hi Rez formats

I tend to agree for the most part with Mgottlieb, as I too am a classical listener and have found plenty of good new material coming out on SACD. I find myself preferring to listen to SACD over CDs, and generally don't buy many CDs anymore--while I don't find the differences to be as earthshaking as some, there's an openness and relaxed quality to the sound (very much similar to analog in that regard) that makes most (not all) CDs sound artificial or "boxed in" in comparison, and that makes a huge difference to me subjectively in my listening. The posts above about two-channel and multichannel are good descriptions; I think right now SACD is the better hi-rez format for two-channel playback. I listen to two-channel stereo, but my speakers are quasi-omnis so I get much of the same effect from my two-channel rig as I've heard with good multi-channel rigs (that surprised me). If you don't listen to classical, the pop SACD catalog is pretty sparse, you might not want to make the investment, but if you do like the available SACDs, an inexpensive SACD player, or (better yet) a used Sony SCD-1 or 777ES or higher end Marantz might be a good addition to a second system, and might even find its way into your main system.

Mstram: I believe all DVD-As can be played in 2-channel mode. Some will have a separate 2-channel track on the disk; others will require your player to downmix 2-channel from the multichannel track.

Both SACD and DVD-A are just about dead, however. New releases will continue to trickle out (possibly for a long time, if the audiophile labels decide it's still worth their effort), but trickle is the operative word. If you want to explore a "dead" format, try vinyl. There's just a lot more to explore.

Pabelson, are you saying these formats are "dead" because of lack of acceptance from the public, and therefore, a paucity of new releases?

Well, three of the posters on this thread are sounding pretty gloom and doom for the Hi Rez formats. Maybe I'll just pick up another CD player and continue the wait and see approach. Right now I'm using an iPod w/ AAC files for the front end of my second system (Levinson 383 and Thiel CS2.4). That simply won't do for the long haul.

I have to disagree with Pabelson. Not all DVD-As can be played in 2ch. Many do not have 2ch tracks; they only have multichannel tracks. Some can be "downmixed" by the DVD-A player from MC to 2ch, but many have a software flag set that disallows downmixing. Downmixing usually sounds awful anyway. DVD-A is a music format that was developed to appeal to the Home Theater crowd, not the 2ch music-only crowd. There are cross-overs, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

As to the formats being dead - the original incarnation of DVD-Audio is dead. It was mostly a product of the major labels, and when they stopped supporting it, it pretty much disappeared. DVD-Audio tracks may occasionally surface on DualDisc, but DualDisc is a seriously compromised format.

SACD is somewhat of a different story at this point. If your taste in music is Britney Spears, 50cent, Garth Brooks, or yet-another-reissue-of-Baby-Boomer-rock back catalog stuff, then SACD is dead. For people who favor those genres, SACD was never really alive to begin with. The short story is that if your musical tastes are served solely by the major record companies, SACD probably won't appeal to you.

If your musical tastes tend toward classical, jazz, and high-quality material put out by smaller labels, then SACD is very much alive.

Yes, pretty much anything that is available on SACD is available on CD, but if you buy the CD version instead of the SACD version (when there is one), you will often miss out on a much more musically-rewarding experience.