High-end Universal...Why? ?

I believe there *are* many people who care about sound. To say otherwise is specious; otherwise why would anyone every buy a stereo system over $100? The general public will catch on. Like any company trying to recoup its R&D, Sony and Co is aiming at the Who, Rolling Stones, Tommy, and Classical crowd--middle-age men (presumably) with money. Price will come down. Naxos, a budget classical company has just started releasing SACDs at $12.

And Uppermidfi, a confession: I was born with a reptilian tail and besides being laughed at in middle school, I damaged record after record when, if I turned around too fast, it would knock the needle across my Soundesign turntable. I couldn't get the tail removed until Philips perfected laser technology in the '80's. I will always have an aversion to you people, and Lp's....

I was pretty well informed on audio technology in the mid 1980s, about when CDs came out . . .went through some impoverished times with my pair of Vandersteen 2ci, a Sony Walkman as a CD player and a receiver I bought at a garage sale, and just recently got back into the hobby.

My point is, even though I didn't read the audio press during the lean years, I was a person interested in audio in general, and should have noticed the introduction of a new format or technology, had it been publicized. I read newspapers and magazines, watch a lot of TV news and am generally well-informed.

I never knew that SACD OR DVD-Audio existed until I re-entered shopping for audio hardware last December and started buying the audio press again.

This does not make me optimistic that either of these formats will succeed. You are starting to see the occasional mention of SACD players at Circuit City-type stores now that there is one that sells for $150.

And remember that there are three competitors for the very small niche market for high resolution audio sources: DVD-A, SACD and vinyl. Right now, I would almost have to say that vinyl may win. . .

>> I believe there *are* many people who care about sound. To say otherwise is specious; otherwise why would anyone every buy a stereo system over $100? <<

Believe all you want, but the fact remains that SACD and DVD-Audio have almost 0 representation in the home of the average Joe. Yet that same Joe probably already has a DVD player capable of decoding DTS and Dolby Digital surround sound.

As for why anyone would have a > $100 sound system - c'mon, America is all about image - and nothing looks nicer (and impresses friends more) than a big home theater system kicking out the jams. Audiophiles are curious oddities to most folks, get used to it.

Game, set, match to DTS, I'm afraid...

-RW-

Neither DVD-A OR SACD will gain any sort of marketshare until, Best Buy, Circuit City, Sam Goody, Tower, FYE et al start promoting the software. Instead the aforesaid, hide the DVD-As and SACDs in out of the way corners and have a lousy selection, that never changes. You all have to admit that also once bitten twice shy, remember when CDs first arrived, perfect sound forever. How many of us dumped our turntables and the CD sound was lousy for a decade at least. I am an advocate for whatever sounds best, but to spend 10k to 12k for hardware at this point in time is insane. Just remember all you old time audiophiles, Sony and Panasonic had the El Cassette, which sounded much better than the standard cassette. I bought an El Cassette and in two years time I was using it for a boat anchor. Beware of Sony bearing gifts.

Hey man, I don't care if DSD goes mainstream or not. The majority of mainstream music would benefit very little from the higher sampling rate. Most of the Rhino CD remasters sound great...

I think that where DSD will matter for decades to come is in remasters of the older jazz, blues, bluegrass, and classical 30 ips master analog reels of historically significant recordings.

Case-in-Point:
I'll never be willing to spend the cash for a MINT original pressing of Ellington's "Blues in Orbit," but damn the DSD MoFi I bought for small coin sounds F'ing incredible...