SACD or not

If you are interested in classical on SACD, jump right in. If not, do some research before you buy a player.

SACDs are more expensive than cds or hi-res streaming. You’re going to pay at least $20 for each SACD, most are $30 and up, and $50 and up for Japanese and out-of-print SACDs.

Selection is pretty limited. Mofi and AP put out a handful of SACDs a year and often those are delayed for a year to several years after an original release date is set. 

At this point, I recommend paying a few hundred dollars for a streamer and $15 to $20 a month for all the hi-res files you can stream or get a really good CD player and lots of currently very cheap CDs. You’ll have a much greater selection and sound that is as good as or better than SACD in many cases.

The best digital sound i have heard has been on SACD. 

Redbook standard is 16/44.1. What is hi-res Redbook??

Thing like the cd’s from the "Reference Recording" label, which is 25/96 redbook pcm also DXD.
And they do sound superb, if you have an R2R multibit dac that can do up to 24/96 decoding,
eg: any dac with PCM1704 nearly all discrete R2R multibit dacs like my MSB. Holo, Denafrips, ect ect

Cheers George

You are better off buying a universal disc player. A later model that plays Blu-Ray and DVD, multiple zones, plus CD, SACD, mp3, wav, flac, etc. You don't have to spend $1400. to get a good unit. I bought my Oppo UDP-203 for $500. when they announced they were discontinuing them. It is an amazing player and well worth the money.
SACD's are impressive, in that many have multi-channel capabilities. You would need a home theater, multi-channel system to take advantage of this. 
If you like classic rock , classical music, oldies, etc., and you like multi-channel, SACD's are great. Audiophile companies like Audio Fidelity and Analogue Productions are constantly coming out with new releases. If you are just listening to stereo or mono recordings, most people couldn't tell the difference between hearing a CD or SACD. They may think they can, but they can't. I've done and performed comparisons with lots of different people. The human ear can only hear a fraction of what even a CD is capable of.

Regarding the cost of SACDS, a few weeks ago I bought about $300 worth from Berkshire Record Outlet, at about $5 each, primarily Pentatone and Audite Labels.  Last night  I bought another large haul of Channel Classics from Presto Classical that we’re being sold for $8-$12/disc as sale.  Both of the companies charge a flat fee for shipping, and not per disc as Amazon does.
  In my two channel system I output the DSD layer of the SACD from my Oppo 105 transport over HDMI into my Bryston DAC3.  As some else has said in this thread it is the best digital replay I have ever heard.  I also have two HT systems in my home with midfi equipment and the multichannel experience is also something special, elevating the experience considerably.  The best recorded multichannel discs don’t try to have the same output from the surrounds, instead adding ambience and reverb to simulate the effect of sound echoing from the back walls in a real concert hall.
The best of these are remarkably effective.