What happened with the SACD format?

Wow, so many audio snobs, saddening to see/read.

There are great discs of all types, it all comes down to recording, mastering and production quality. I too am a huge XRCD fan of all types including as of late, the latest K2HD variants and all the XRCD24s out there. There are also outstanding RBCD examples out there from Stockfisch, Venus Records, etc...that like many of my SACDs are as close as I care to get to vinyl and very good to listen too....when you could get them, most DVDA's were also quite stunning.

As an aside, there are also lifeless, boring, poorly recorded, poorly manufactured discs of all types (and vinyl examples as well). I prefer to
stay out of the religious and other debates and chase music that I love and simply listen to it :-)

Syntax,

I can agree with you to some point as nothing beats my vinyl setup so far - Kuzma Stabi M + Kuzma 4Point + Dynavector XV-1s + my own phonostage.

However, I personally find many SACDs sounding much closer to it compared to XRCDs. The latter are sort of running hot, in my experience.

Of course, as many vinyl lovers would agree, it is very hard to match the high frequency extension of the vinyl, so may be this is the reason XRCDs sound more "lively" to you, but that is not all. :-)

Best wishes,
Alex Peychev
APL Hi-Fi

0 to very little music released on SACD that is of my personal interest.
Felt no need to invest huge dollar to SACD playback of just few items when SACD was bloomin. It's too audiophiliholic.
Purchasing releases just because them sound good not my bowl of soup.
Reselling them is waste of time and storefront space.

According to the www.sa-cd.net web site, there are now over 9,500 SACDs on the market with more being released each week.

Clearly the SACD format continues to have fans out there! :)