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Coping in an Age of Uncertainty

there have been numerous threads here, i know, about sacd v. dvd-a, upsampling, oversampling, etc. a number of these threads have included discussions of which, if any, new digital format will replace what we now call “redbook” cd’s. i don’t wish to rehash these discussions. rather, i’d like to hear from others how they are coping with the “age of uncertainty” in the realm of digital audio. is it better to “roll the dice” and invest in sacd or dvd a? ignore the contenders for the new and get the best possible out of redbook cd’s? buy with upgradeability firmly in mind? follow another path? i don’t post this query out of mere curiosity. i really haven’t figured out what course i should follow. i’d appreciate your giving me a hand. -kelly
cornfedboy
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
New formats won't succeed until they're in mass market players that sell to the general public. Remember the Macintosh operating system appeared 8 years before Windows, but lost out because Apple would not share it. The same thing happened to Betamax. Sony would not share it, so they ended up competing with the whole world.
1953
140 posts
 
I think this whole thread is why the Sony 9000ES is such a compelling product. The only thing it doesn't play is DVD-A (but it will play the 2 channel 24/96 disks which ARE part of the DVD-A spec)& SACD 6 channel (which I bet we will NEVER see). It plays everything else, is inexpensive by high end standards, has high end sound (especially after break-in) and build quality written all over it, plus it's a great DVD player. Damned good value and it's readily available. Why wait?
dudleydog63's avatar
dudleydog63
105 posts
 
It would be a mistake to buy into a new format right now on the expectation that someday "everything" will be available on it. The odds of that happening are long. But given that most of the new machines on the market handle CDs pretty well, it's not as big a risk as buying CD in Year 1. Most of us have hundreds or thousands of CDs, and we're unlikely to have more than a few dozen SACDs or DVD-As in the near future. So the question we must each ask is, am I willing to pay the price for that few dozen recordings?

As for SACD vs. DVD-A, there are lots of opinions out there, but no one has done a true apples-to-apples comparison (because you'd have to create the software expressly for the test). Technologically, it's beginning to look like DVD-A has the edge, although that's not always the deciding factor.
tmartinjr9589
63 posts
 
Article from the most recent Positive Feedback Magazine stating that the war is over.
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http://www.positive-feedback.com/0804/Crock_S_ACD.htm
tmartinjr9589
63 posts
 
If you decided not to read the above article, let me reprint an excerpt:

If you read of, or hear people that say, "SACD is no big deal," you MUST immediately ask yourself if they are deaf,
if they have a mediocre audio system, or if they have hidden agendas. Only these reasons could explain why
anyone wouldn’t be absolutely shocked by the beauty of SACD music.
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