SACD - Another year and ...

I have a SCD 777 es for almost a year and don`t use it since my reguar CD play back is so good with a Krell DAC. Am tired of waiting for good new classical stuff. Seems like Sony bombed again. I really like their stuff --Sad.

I am hedging my bets. I plan to scoop up a Sony 777 on the used market next year. I have not heard SACD (nor DVD-A, for that matter) but I am definitely interested in the format. Hoping they get some classic rock stuff on SACD before I dive in.

I think there are about 160 SACD titles available which I would refer to as "very few" as well, especially since a lot of them have already had audiophile treatment in other formats. Sony seems somewhat impressed by the number 160, which scares me a bit. I'm not too disconcerted by the events of the last year, as everyone still seems very interested in it, but 2001 has to see some significant strides I would think - much cheaper players are coming to market, including the SCD-777ES which once went for $3500 now being available for $1600. Somebody is going to have to break down and create a real catalog of software including (gasp!) some rock and pop music, which doesn't just mean Jeff Beck's Blow By Blow yet again. I was encouraged by the release of Joe Satriani's latest on SACD, although that wasn't a hybrid disc, which is supposed to be the big selling point of the format. It's also disconcerting that SACD and DVD-A are still sparring so much.

SACD looked & sounded nice at the shows, but afraid to say there's not much available; may never be. Stereophile wasn't too keen about the DSD; justifiably so. I "settled" for HDCD instead. More software to offer, & enhances standard 16 bit playback to boot. Discs are the same prices as 16 bit RedBook too. InfoLink: http://www.hdcd.com/

I have been impressed with the sound of the Sony SACD players. Have yet to hear the Marantz, but $7500 is more than I'm willing to spend on a player anyway. New and cheaper Sony is supposedly just around the corner. And I have also read about a new Philips $2000 unit. The thing that would drive me absolutely nuts with the Sony players I checked out was the ungodly long time it took to initialize a disc. Strangely enough, I don't hear much negative feedback about this. I'm sure that is going to irk many people out there. I hope the upcoming players don't follow suit in this regard. I have now been waiting for three years to move on a new player. Thinking in vain that the format war would have shaken itself out by now. As hindsight is 20/20, I can say I was(and am) the fool for not picking something up by now. I kind of think that CD will survive much longer than anticipated. Perhaps even remaining the dominant format for some time(5 years???). SACD being a niche, along the lines of DAT, DCC, and MD. DVD will continue on up, but it's use might continue to be primarily non-audiophile based. Who knows? I think I might just jump into a great new 24 bit/96KHz CD player. After all, I certainly am NOT getting rid of my thousand or so CDs(too much of my heart invested there).