Obviously, it would be easy to agree with the majority of your comments on SACD/DVD-A but just as easy to disagree. To take the opposing viewpoint: I love SACD. Here's why. Five years ago, if I could have had an audiophile dream, I would have imagined a brand new format, with improved sampling rate and resolution. You know, CD done right, like it should have been done in the first place. Of course, that would have only been a dream, unapproachable, never to happen. To think that this has happened at all is amazing. Now, as we speak, you can actually buy a "Class A rated" SACD player for $550 (on ebay) and have hundreds of software titles sitting down at Best Buy for easy convenience. It's incredible. It's an audiophile blessing! It's an acceptable digital format. CD is the bare minimum. Its 44.1 kHz sampling rate is a dead giveaway that the ability of the human ear/brain was not valued highly enough. It's just enough sampling rate to cover up to 20 kHz. As for resolution and dynamic range, 16 bit is approximately 65,000 amplitude possibilities. Give the human ear/brain more credit than that. Especially when you're talking about a seasoned audiophile.
Okay, maybe Sony is blowing the SACD marketing, and maybe it is going to die out. That would be terrible. But, its not dead yet. Right now it is still pushing forward. It appears to be better suited as an audiophile format rather than a mass market format. If audiophiles take this advancement in technology and adopt the "gloom and doom" approach, nothing will ever happen for us. We will be the ungrateful ones who spit on the new formats.
1. Concerning the artists that are chosen as SACD releases: Many of the artists who have SACD titles may have low mass market appeal but also have high audiophile market appeal. That is another reason for audiophiles to embrace this format. If all that was available on SACD was driven by the top 40 Billboard rankings, we'd really be in a mess. I probably don't need NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears on SACD. There may be little to gain from them. For great music with many layers of information hidden in it, SACD can reveal musical detail unattainable by CD, no matter how good the CD players get. Remember, they will still be 16 (or 20) bit, 44.1 kHz. Upsample as you may, you will always be limited by the world length (16 or 20 bit ) and sampling rates of CD. Upsampling is a wonderful and glorified example of interpolation. On the other end of the spectrum, MP3 is another example of interpolation. Upsampling for CDs is becoming more common. The fact that CDs can benefit from it just shows that their original world length is not adequate. I PREFER real resolution, not interpolated resolution. Yes, I'll take my CDs upsampled please, because they need it but I would rather have something that already has an adequate word length.
2. First of all, for the sake of arguing about price, it sounds much worse to say that SACDs cost $25 than to take a look around and realize the truth is that they are $16.99 for Stereo and $18.99 for Multi-Channel/Stereo at Best Buy. $16.99 is only about $3 more than a CD. I'm willing to pay that much for the sonic improvements being offered. We pay alot more than that for an MFSL, DCC, or other re-mastered version of a CD. And I must say that the players don't really cost that much more either. Of course, they will get cheaper, but right now you can get a DVD/CD/SACD Multi-Channel player for $199. That is affordable. And, as I said earlier, you can get a "Class A rated" SACD Multi-channel player for $550 on ebay. I have one, and I believe it deserves its Class A rating for both SACD and rebook CD.
3. Much of the music industry is embracing SACD. Software titles are available and more are on their way. They are putting some time and effort into SACD. Just because they are busy fighting MP3 doesn't mean they're not doing other things. They are offering quality over quantity. 99% of the time, a pound of gold is worth more than 100 pounds of dirt.
4. SACD offers a clear cut advantage: measurable and perceivable increase in dynamic range, resolution, and frequency response. What does the average person get? They get what I just mentioned, they just can't appreciate those qualities. But audiophiles can ! Maybe we should embrace SACD and tell people that it is better than CD instead of assuming it is going to die out soon.
5. There is no reason to think there will be compromises on the CD playback chain as SACD players become more affordable. As always, time brings better technology. CD will get better in SACD players, not worse.
My recommendation: Embrace SACD and enjoy the benefits it has to offer. I hope this response is taken for what it is, just food for thought. There are always many angles at which to look at something. Somehow, mine is always right. Bufus.
Okay, maybe Sony is blowing the SACD marketing, and maybe it is going to die out. That would be terrible. But, its not dead yet. Right now it is still pushing forward. It appears to be better suited as an audiophile format rather than a mass market format. If audiophiles take this advancement in technology and adopt the "gloom and doom" approach, nothing will ever happen for us. We will be the ungrateful ones who spit on the new formats.
1. Concerning the artists that are chosen as SACD releases: Many of the artists who have SACD titles may have low mass market appeal but also have high audiophile market appeal. That is another reason for audiophiles to embrace this format. If all that was available on SACD was driven by the top 40 Billboard rankings, we'd really be in a mess. I probably don't need NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears on SACD. There may be little to gain from them. For great music with many layers of information hidden in it, SACD can reveal musical detail unattainable by CD, no matter how good the CD players get. Remember, they will still be 16 (or 20) bit, 44.1 kHz. Upsample as you may, you will always be limited by the world length (16 or 20 bit ) and sampling rates of CD. Upsampling is a wonderful and glorified example of interpolation. On the other end of the spectrum, MP3 is another example of interpolation. Upsampling for CDs is becoming more common. The fact that CDs can benefit from it just shows that their original world length is not adequate. I PREFER real resolution, not interpolated resolution. Yes, I'll take my CDs upsampled please, because they need it but I would rather have something that already has an adequate word length.
2. First of all, for the sake of arguing about price, it sounds much worse to say that SACDs cost $25 than to take a look around and realize the truth is that they are $16.99 for Stereo and $18.99 for Multi-Channel/Stereo at Best Buy. $16.99 is only about $3 more than a CD. I'm willing to pay that much for the sonic improvements being offered. We pay alot more than that for an MFSL, DCC, or other re-mastered version of a CD. And I must say that the players don't really cost that much more either. Of course, they will get cheaper, but right now you can get a DVD/CD/SACD Multi-Channel player for $199. That is affordable. And, as I said earlier, you can get a "Class A rated" SACD Multi-channel player for $550 on ebay. I have one, and I believe it deserves its Class A rating for both SACD and rebook CD.
3. Much of the music industry is embracing SACD. Software titles are available and more are on their way. They are putting some time and effort into SACD. Just because they are busy fighting MP3 doesn't mean they're not doing other things. They are offering quality over quantity. 99% of the time, a pound of gold is worth more than 100 pounds of dirt.
4. SACD offers a clear cut advantage: measurable and perceivable increase in dynamic range, resolution, and frequency response. What does the average person get? They get what I just mentioned, they just can't appreciate those qualities. But audiophiles can ! Maybe we should embrace SACD and tell people that it is better than CD instead of assuming it is going to die out soon.
5. There is no reason to think there will be compromises on the CD playback chain as SACD players become more affordable. As always, time brings better technology. CD will get better in SACD players, not worse.
My recommendation: Embrace SACD and enjoy the benefits it has to offer. I hope this response is taken for what it is, just food for thought. There are always many angles at which to look at something. Somehow, mine is always right. Bufus.