I have no fundamental disagreement with the premise -- I haven't spent a dime on either SACD or DVD-A because the format war hasn't been resolved. (A similar logic applies for me to the whole 6.1, 7.1, 10.2, etc., approach to home theater. I have a very good 5.1 system that works just dandy in my home, and until the storage medium for video sees a quantum jump, I can't see any sense in just buying more speakers and more amps.) Of the two formats, DVD-A has the greater likelihood of mass market acceptance, simply because it is more compatible with DVD-V playback.
The other cogent point that has not gotten discussed is that both SACD and DVD-A may soon be obsolete due to the next leapfrog in optical storage medium technology: fluorescent multilayer disks (FMD). FMD has many layers (up to about 100, as I recall) and uses a dichroic dye that has a very short fluorescing time, which acts like an on-off switch when illuminated by a laser beam. The chief advantage of MFD's is that they can store a vastly larger amount of data than either SACD or DVD-A, and thus offer much greater potential for high definition video recording (to say nothing of audio). The theoretical data storage limit for FMD, as I understand it, is roughly equivalent to 470 CD's (at the theoretical maximum of 100 layers and 300 gigabytes). The technology for FMD already exists, and may appear in consumer products in several years. So, we may soon see the launch of a much-superior storage medium that will make SACD and DVD-A largely irrelevant. (For more info about FMD's, there was a very good article on this technology in Widescreen Review magazine, issue 55.)
The only quarrel I have is with Joe's suggestion to buy a $3-6K CD player. To my mind, it makes much better sense to buy a good CD transport and an excellent separate DAC unit that can be upgraded as necessary. Frankly, given the state of the format wars right now, I couldn't advise anyone to buy a top-end standalone CD deck.
I also agree that vinyl is a format that appeals mainly to those who already own a lot of vinyl, or who just love the inherent appeal of the analog process. I have a substantial investment in my LP collection and analog front end, but if I had not begun building an LP collection some 40 years ago, I seriously doubt I would bother now.
The other cogent point that has not gotten discussed is that both SACD and DVD-A may soon be obsolete due to the next leapfrog in optical storage medium technology: fluorescent multilayer disks (FMD). FMD has many layers (up to about 100, as I recall) and uses a dichroic dye that has a very short fluorescing time, which acts like an on-off switch when illuminated by a laser beam. The chief advantage of MFD's is that they can store a vastly larger amount of data than either SACD or DVD-A, and thus offer much greater potential for high definition video recording (to say nothing of audio). The theoretical data storage limit for FMD, as I understand it, is roughly equivalent to 470 CD's (at the theoretical maximum of 100 layers and 300 gigabytes). The technology for FMD already exists, and may appear in consumer products in several years. So, we may soon see the launch of a much-superior storage medium that will make SACD and DVD-A largely irrelevant. (For more info about FMD's, there was a very good article on this technology in Widescreen Review magazine, issue 55.)
The only quarrel I have is with Joe's suggestion to buy a $3-6K CD player. To my mind, it makes much better sense to buy a good CD transport and an excellent separate DAC unit that can be upgraded as necessary. Frankly, given the state of the format wars right now, I couldn't advise anyone to buy a top-end standalone CD deck.
I also agree that vinyl is a format that appeals mainly to those who already own a lot of vinyl, or who just love the inherent appeal of the analog process. I have a substantial investment in my LP collection and analog front end, but if I had not begun building an LP collection some 40 years ago, I seriously doubt I would bother now.