2. digital
  3. 1133425801

SACD is it worth it?

Recently magazines seems to abandon hi-rez formats and all are speaking of the forthcoming death of sacd & dvd-a.
But if you are planning a new disk player you also have to deal with the dilemma to sacd or not to sacd?
Before 3 years I had the DenonA1 (5900 in US) and the dvd-a was the best sound format I heard but dvd-a is fading out. Now sacd gives the ultimate fight what do you think?
Today would you buy a player with SACD capability or just Redbook cd (which seems immortal). Always have in mind the big cd libraries the most of us has.
128x128kops
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,670 posts
 
It's a personal decision. First, your CD collection is irrelevant since a good SACD player can also be a good CD player. Second, the critical issue is the number and diversity of the program offerings that appeal to you. For me, the SACDs available represent a huge opportunity for enjoyment and, even if/when SACD disappears from the market, I will still have hundreds to enjoy in the future.

Kal
gliderguider's avatar
gliderguider
294 posts
 
I would not personally buy an SACD player. The quality of redbook, both the disks and the players, is now very good. All high-rez formats seem to be fading, while redbook is going to be with us for a long time to come. So if I was investing in playback gear today, I'd get a top quality CD setup. In fact, that's just what I did a year and a half ago, and I have seen no reason since to second-guess the decision.
mikesinger
572 posts
 
agree with gliderguider...
rcprince
3,068 posts
 
I agree with Kal, though my feeling is that if you listen principally to pop the SACD option might be rarely used and therefor might be an unnecessary expense (classical is, fortunately for me, another story). A player like the new Cary SACD player offers outstanding redbook performance to go with its SACD performance, and if you get a cheaper SACD player, you can always use a separate DAC to maximize your redbook playback.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
I wouldn't invest a lot of money in a SACD player right now. I have a Sony DVP-S9000ES for DVD/SACD, which works fine for my limited SACD library. I have a much more expensive redbook cd player, and a much larger redbook library.

In the future, as SACD dies, and software and hardware become much cheaper, I may look into scooping up one of those $10K+ MSRP SACD/CD players for 20% of list. Give it another year or two. If you buy one now, you'll be the one losing money.

That's just my $0.02

John
More to discover