onebitaudio

Hi Vahe. Good to find you alive and well. There is no 'contact' link from Pacman's website so there is no way to contact him. A pity it has become moribund as it was always a good counter-weight to Stephen Best's idiosyncrasies on sa-cd.net and always my first port of call in seeking out new SACD titles. Presto Classical is also very good for future releases but limited to what they can sell from the UK so many Japanese titles do not get included. HRAudio.net is useless as an information sharing website, very few people seem to be on there these days. Well, we all told the man about throwing babies out with the bathwater.

RE: onebitaudio, posted on March 26, 2016 at 04:27:07
hiredfox Audiophile Posts: 62 Joined: March 25, 2016	I've e-mailed Steve to find out what's happening and will post his reply. For those who do not know Steve (pacwin) is based in New Zealand.

RE: onebitaudio, posted on March 26, 2016 at 11:32:16
vahe Audiophile Posts: 449 Location: Houston, Texas Joined: September 11, 2005	Well, Stephen Best did his level Best to destroy SACD.net, I would give him credit for that. There are a few sites that I visit, one is Audiophile audition, Musicweb is another, this one, Hi-Rez Highway seems useless to me, Classics Today is so-so, any other? I never got into downloads, prefer physical discs, SACD is still alive but one needs to know where to look for these. Vahe

Stephen Best's Site, posted on March 27, 2016 at 12:13:06
flyingdutchman Audiophile Posts: 623 Location: Honolulu Joined: January 25, 2003	I wholly agree. The man has no sense when it comes to promoting what he set out to do in the first place. Vindictive, hateful man.

RE: onebitaudio, posted on March 27, 2016 at 12:14:13
flyingdutchman Audiophile Posts: 623 Location: Honolulu Joined: January 25, 2003	Couldn't agree more.

RE: onebitaudio, posted on March 28, 2016 at 03:04:33

hiredfox
Audiophile

Posts: 62
Joined: March 25, 2016

Like you, I prefer the absolute security of possessing physical discs. OK, your house can burn down but that apart the discs appear to be sufficiently durable to last for one's lifetime. The earliest CDs in my collection from 1983 are still in 'as-new' condition and play perfectly despite the doom-mongers suggesting they would rot away over time. Well, that's 30 years notched up! The secret or at least one secret is to store them in darkness when not being played.

A big selling point of down-loading must be convenience - certainly not price - but it is doubtful that convenience is much of an issue for most audiophiles. From my experience most have all the time in the world for their beloved hobby. Then there is the issue of what you actually get out of your end of the pipe? Nothing you can do about that whatever happens thereafter. Things have moved on from the old chestnut of "bits are bits".

Another issue is SQ. The best source to follow on the relative merits of SQ derived from downloading or streaming and disc is Martin Colloms who has a very sceptical as well as objective view on these things.

In time of course physical disc are likely to be squeezed out altogether by record labels and the production of disc players will end at which people like you and me are going to be very unhappy. The latter is the biggest threat and one maybe should think seriously about buying a couple of the very best players out there and storing them away for future use or at least stockpiling critical components of existing players for future repair if there are still specialist technicians around who can fix them.

RE: Stephen Best's Site, posted on March 28, 2016 at 03:21:26

hiredfox
Audiophile

Posts: 62
Joined: March 25, 2016

Beats me! On his new website he has a host of people reviewing new discs but seemingly no audience to read them! There are very few 'comments' thereafter and no debate whatsoever. Those reviews are never quoted by record labels as a source so what are they for?

I asked him by e-mail to perhaps give more prominence to "Comments" so that people might be drawn back into discussions but he headed that one off in his usual style. The situation there is crazy, all the good work he does in compiling up-to-date release information but little value derived from it.

sa-cd.net was of course oft quoted in disc literature and journal and website advertisements.

...and the think it could all have been so different had he ever taken on board what his followers were saying to him. I thought it was we Brits who had a small island mentality.

RE: onebitaudio, posted on March 28, 2016 at 06:43:43
Disbeliever Audiophile Posts: 1877 Joined: June 1, 2012	Again totally agree. I do have a second Sony XA5400ES player stored , will be interesting to see how long the first one lasts.

RE: Stephen Best's Site, posted on March 28, 2016 at 10:14:48

hiredfox
Audiophile

Posts: 62
Joined: March 25, 2016

Beats me! On his new website he has a host of people reviewing new discs but seemingly no audience to read them! There are very few 'comments' thereafter and no debate whatsoever. Those reviews are never quoted by record labels as a source so what are they for?

I asked him by e-mail to perhaps give more prominence to "Comments" so that people might be drawn back into discussions but he headed that one off in his usual style. The situation there is crazy, all the good work he does in compiling up-to-date release information but little value derived from it.

sa-cd.net was of course oft quoted in disc literature and journal and website advertisements.

...and the think it could all have been so different had he ever taken on board what his followers were saying to him. I thought it was we Brits who had a small island mentality.

RE: onebitaudio, posted on March 28, 2016 at 10:52:00

hiredfox
Audiophile

Posts: 62
Joined: March 25, 2016

The Sony ES series is supposedly built to a much higher standard than their run of the mill products for AV so hopefully it should last. At the moment Marantz are still introducing new SACD players but Sony seem to have done nothing serious since the XA5400ES which is a little surprising as that player sold out very quickly so there is clearly a large enough market for such speciality products. I wonder why Sony read the situation so much differently to Marantz?

Of course Sony had to do a lot of belt tightening over the last few years and they would argue that their HAPZ iES player (sorry if that is not the correct designation) meets modern needs but as this thread proves few audiophiles are that interested in streaming and down-loading.

It's good to find some old friends on this site and perhaps we should bury our differences of opinion on the SA7 and focus in future on the many issues of concern to audiophiles that we do agree upon.

Best wishes

RE: onebitaudio, posted on March 28, 2016 at 11:44:13

Disbeliever
Audiophile

Posts: 1877
Joined: June 1, 2012

Yes I agree with what you say. As for other Sony AV products the STR-DA 5400ES AV receiver with HATS also built to a high standard an absolute bargain is essential to get the best SQ from the SACD player. Furthermore this superb receiver has never been reviewed fully, both the FM & MM phono sections are excellent I have never heard better sound from BBC 3 & Classic FM. Happy Listening Best wishes Gerald. P.S. I wonder what Rammiepie & Fitzcalrado are up to as they can no longer post on SACD.net ha.

RE: Stephen Best's Site, posted on March 28, 2016 at 14:55:43
stvnharr Audiophile Posts: 659 Joined: November 6, 2003	Ah, nice to have a memory of the old forum here. I miss it. While the subject matter varied, it allowed users the chance to interact and be a part of something. Now the HRAudio site is like a private club for the half dozen or so reviewers. How long can it last?

RE: Stephen Best's Site, posted on March 28, 2016 at 18:29:06
flyingdutchman Audiophile Posts: 623 Location: Honolulu Joined: January 25, 2003	Well, he blamed me for what he felt was hostility there, but good grief, the man became more paranoid by the day.

rammie where is that guy:) nt, posted on March 28, 2016 at 19:25:16
diw Audiophile Posts: 290 Joined: May 30, 2002	*

Hi-Rez Highway

onebitaudio

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