Relief? The New Digital Players

Too much premium for so little options in titles.... If they are throwing in better CD reproduction to lure the buyers to SACD for me still not good enough. I'd rather go with an upsampling DAC like Bel Canto or a good single box CD player instead for the moment.

Sony seems like they're trying to shove another format down our throats (when will they give up on the Minidisk?). I'm not saying that SACD isn't better...I don't know...but I don't see how a format with a relatively subtle improvement will ever go over with most consumers. Most people I know wouldn't hear a difference, and wouldn't see the need to upgrade. I think it's always bound to be a specialty item. It's probably Sony's way to sell $30 CDs to a specialty market.

I think it's going to be YEARS before both hardware and software manufactures make a new format widely attractive. So having conviction in this belief, I purchased a Levinson transport and DAC (used, but excellent) early last summer. So far I see NO reason for having any regrets-- this is the best sounding digital music that I have ever heard. Ben; upsampling is the same thing as oversampling, which has routinely been used in CD players for years. The ONLY reason to purchase an outboard upsampling device is if your CD player does not have very good DA Conversion, eg Levinson gear oversamples at about 346kHZ and is excellent, but does it internally. Any good high end CD player should not need an out board upsampler. I can't see that many SACD titles will ever be available. DVD-Audio has the best chance of succeding in a big way because of the success of DVD-Video-- especially those players that also accept CD. But it's going to be a long time before there will be many DVD-A discs available. The "mass market" is going to like CDs for years. And, the presence of DVD-A discs may bring the cost of CDs down which will make them even more attractive? The above is all IMHO. Does it make any sense? Cheers. Craig.

Craig-yes I appreciate the oversampling/upsampling situation-seen the debate on here about it and in the audio press.However my take on is twofold it'll be sold as new technology and in essence it will allow(or at least claim) the Levinson type audio quality at a price acceptable to the average Joe. Likewise if you can kill two birds with two stones by using the DVD/Bel Canto approach then it's potential sales will be (are?)massive. I agree totally with your other comments. I would guess outwith the purists that the audio market is as likely to follow fashion/trends as any other. I expect the label upsampling to be a very fashionable phrase in the next couple of years..... Ben

Dekay - we must be reading different reports on SACD. Reviews I've seen in the audio mags have been mostly positive and often glowing (Stereophile, TAS, Ultimate Audio, etc..). The reason I'm holding off is the tiny number of titles available and the high cost of SACD discs. If Sony continues at the paltry rate of 10 new titles a month at $30 each, the format seems doomed to fail. Another bad sign is that SACD players do not seem to be poplular with Sony dealers. I could only find one shop in the S.F. Bay Area that carries the SCD-1 and they were geared towards selling big screen TVs, not high end audio.