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Disappointed in SACD player

Well, there I was yesterday. At the chain store who Sony has designated as their retail point of attack for SACD in the Philadelphia, PA region. Tweeter, formerly known as Bryn Mawr Stereo and Video. Formerly, Bryn Mawr Stereo(but we all know what happened there). Since my recent misfortunes with CD players, I was considering a jump to a Sony SACD player. One thing about Sony, their stuff is reliable. I found one player, the 5 disc changer. It was hooked up in a HT setup. Not even prominently. There was also another CD player in this system, along with a DVD-V player. As no salesman came into the room, I didn't pursue. I found no other player in the store. Finally, when we were looking at tv's, someone asked us if we needed help. I asked about SACD, and was told two players were on display. I asked to see the one that I didn't see. I was taken to a wall of DVD players, and sure enough, the ES9000 was there. Not hooked up, sitting there like all of the other DVD players. And in fact, THAT IS HOW THIS STORE IS MARKETING IT. As a DVD player! The guy gave me the big spiel on it, from a DVD perspective. 12 bit scan, instead of 10, etc., etc., etc. All of which is meaningless to me. I am not a HT or DVD guy. I spend my time on two channel audio. The guy left me less interested in the player than when I came in. They could not even find any SACD material in the entire store. Not even a sampler. I came in wanting to be impressed, wanting to leave with the desire to buy an SACD player. Needless to say, I probably won't be buying very soon. Wasn't this supposed to be Sony's summer of all out SACD offensive? Players starting at $350(which still will probably come), creating interest with the general public and lifting the new format to something beyond the niche of the lunatic fringe. As it is now, it is not even as recognizable as DAT, and miles behind MD(which was very prominent in the store). Both of which are monumental flops in the words of Sony.
trelja
rgd
656 posts
 
Its my opinion that the Sony 333ES player which can now be had for $575 is a great starting point - I bought mine 6 weeks before the price drop (my usual luck)... Redbook isn't as good as it should be but SACD is great! I still have a hang-up about owning a changer although while it is purported to be "noisy' when changing discs, it is built very well. I am considering the Dan Wright mods (concerns about negating the Sony warranty...) and I am convinced through what I have read the end result will be outstanding for under a $1K investment (current price + mods). I too have concerns about limited software, especially the price of it here in Canada. I also feel that after the mods the increase in quality on redbook presentation will no doubt fit well with non-sacd discs purchased in the future and sacd discs will just be gravy...
oorth's avatar
oorth
8 posts
 
Different town, same response.
I went into a local audio store with a friend who was buying some speakers. While he was making his puchase I wandered into a room and found a Sony SACD. It had the Miles Davis "Blue" SACD in it so I gave it a spin. Interesting. I decided to come back later when I had more time and give it a thorough listen. A week later I returned and the salespeople couldn't even find any SACD to listen to. They looked at me and said sheepishly, "ya it's cool." No wonder so many people are buying their gear over the net when this is the help you get in the stores. To be fair, the small place I usually shop is great about setting me up with equipment to listen and compare. This is the exception and not the rule though.
j_thunders
173 posts
 
I say Sony and Phillips deserve it if it fails. They need to learn this lesson.

SACD/DVDA will never just sell itself because the license holders of the technology are trying to retain too much control over the bits of information and they've made it too much a pain in the ass to even fool with for the average joe. Compare to MP3. People want ease of use, free transferability, and greater access, not more confusing formats, compatibility problems, and more expensive software. People already think software costs too much--now they are expected to pay more? The average consumer is confused and half pissed at whoever is responsible for keeping CD prices so high and taking away their napster. That whoever is Sony.

Now add the Tweeter problem where the boobs can't sell what cannot sell itself and you have a compound fracture. I'm all about payin for software use (I guess), but there are simply too damn many strings attached with this one it seems. So keep they can keep it.
dbear44
42 posts
 
I agree with J thunders about Sony's handling of the software issue and the general greed of the music industry in general, although I think there is plenty of blame to go around for high CD prices. It is appaling to pay $16-$19 for a CD of music that is 30 to 50 years old and in many cases the artist is long dead. Where is all of that money going? Now it appears that remastering a disc is all the excuse needed to charge full price. Why was the first CD mastering so lousy to begin with? That's one great thing about SACD, you should finally have a definitive copy of the master tape, no need to replace it again. But SONY made a couple of big mistakes. First these single layer discs negates the whole advantage of SACD compatibility. Now I'm expected to pay $25 for a disc that I can't play on but one machine. Then look at the music they are releasing. Most of the pop stuff is poorly recorded in the first place, not listenable on a good high end system and then you have to buy another copy to play in your car! Deserve to fail....indeed! The other poison pill is the inability to access the digital data stream. In their paronia about copy protection SACD is left behind in the future of digital system integration and signal processing. If you can take your datastream and add speaker and room correction such as the Perpetual Tech stuff I feel that the leap in performance will be much greater than that of SACD or DVDA. I hope to have my P-1a in about a month so I'll report back but after a year with SACD I can say that the improvements are subtle and require a near SOTA system to make it worthwhile.
leafs
414 posts
 
Went to HMV store and asked about SACD&DVD-A.No one knew what i was talking about.This is so typical it is crazy.Why are the companies not doing a better job promoting these new formats.
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