SACD Opinions: Gimmick? Like it? Don't? Why?

I have a Sony SCD 777es which is a two channel player. I have no use for nor any interest in multichannel gear. I'm running Krell for amp and pre-amp if it matters.

I have had the Sony for about a year and have been very impressed with it. If you have seen my comments here before, as a rule I do not like CD for anything other than background NOISE. It is a flawed medium that has been tweaked to sound about as good as it can. SACD is another issue altogether. The sound is within a stones throw of vinyl, which I still consdier the superior medium.

Most of the design flaws inherant in redbook CD playback have been dealt with in the new format. Whether or not it will survive in the long run is anyones guess. It has potential, and if the better companies like; Krell, Levinson, CJ, or whoever take up the format and make better playback systems (unlike the current Krell SACD) the sound will be amazing, but people need to support it in it's infancy or it will never grow up!

CD sounded terrible when it was first foisted upon the listening public, but it is much better now. SACD now is much better than CD, if it gets the support required for capital investment it can grow into something worth having and keeping.

Ben is right--check the recent thread SACD vs. Standard CD--Minor Differences? for a debate on the subject. My observations, which are pro-SACD but recognize that the differences are not as night and day as some say, are in that thread. I think the differences become a bit more pronounced as you get into the best players like the EMM Labs, dCS and heavily modified pieces.

Never go in over your head with out a life jacket.

I am on my second universal player, Denon 2900 following a Pioneer DV45A.

With the Pioneer, both SACD and DVD-A were superior to CD, with the caution that all media are strongly impacted by the audio quality of the particular disc. However, I found that SACD was a disapointment after all the hype from Sony. DVD-A seemed better.

With the Denon, SACD matches DVD-A within the variable sonics from disc to disc. It isn't any better.

From this I conclude that SACD technology does not lend itself to good implementation in a low cost player (compared to DVD-A) and this does not bode well for the survival of the format in competition with DVD-A.

It depends, more than anything else, on the quality of the remastering job. Some of them have been great, and if you want to hear the best versions of some classic recordings, you've got to have an SACD player.