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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
rcprince
3,077 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
czbbcl's avatar
czbbcl
1,752 posts
 
I would not personally buy a new cd player that would not play multiple formats. There are numerous threads concerning hi-rez formats on this site I would read a few before making any decision. I personally enjoy SACD (hybrids) and would not consider buying a player without the capability to play SACD's it is simply better sounding than redbook in the majority of cases IMO.

Chuck
rec
328 posts
 
I have about 150 SACDs in my collection and enjoy them immensely. SACD done right is a great format but not all SACDs and SACD players are equal. I believe that SACD will become a niche market and we will never see huge catalogs of music available. It's really quite unfortunate because on a good player and a good recording SACDs are what this hobby is all about, the best reproduction of music possible.(IMHO) So to answer your question, yes it's worth it and I would purchase the best SACD/CD player you can afford.
theo's avatar
theo
2,699 posts
 
I agree with Rec, the SACD sounds much better and I have gotten to enjoy the Multi-Channel feature very much. I find that on old recordings I am hearing so much more of the instruments and backing vocals when played through 5 speakers than I realized were ever on the recording. I also agree with Chuck in buying a universal player that does it all well.
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