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Is it dying or dead? doo some folks have enough SACDs to buy a audio Aero Prestige?
I thought i read several places a few months ago that SACD has been a failure, and they would not be produced much longer.
What's up with SACD?
Follow Ups:
It's the future, slowly but surely. I would not bet against that.
Some guy looked at me, a fairly educated man, and asked last week, "records, what, why do you have them?" Same emotion would go for SACD. Because I have significant # of LP's and love vinyl, I haven't bought a lot of SACD's, but those I have sound pretty good.As for the redbook layer of the RCA and Merc hybrids in classical, it sounds very good (I own about 5 or 6 only).
How many of you have sampled the DSD reissues of the Columbia/Sony classical catalog?
Like the LP there will always be a market for SACD, the only question is..."at what price"?
I have about 100 hybrid SACDs, and I don't even own an SACD player. Quite a few desirable releases are on hybrids. I generally find the SACD releases to have superior sound -- the attention paid to sound quality is quite evident in the CD mastering as well.I use to have the Sony SCD-1 player, but the relative paucity of releases in the SACD format and great sound that now, at this late date in the product development cycle, CD players can deliver made me switch back.
The SCD-1 is a very good CD player. What do you have now?
I have a Naim CD 555. Amazing player, but, it is quite a bit more expensive than the SCD-1.
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for the SACD players themselves. Good ones are expensive and apparently break a lot. There are SO MANY LP's and CD's out there that I'm confident that high-quality players will be around for our lifetimes. Perhaps this will also be true for high-end SACD players...perhaps.
Neither it is dead, nor it is going to win against other formats.It has won against DVD-A.
It has firmly occupied the niche of high quality audio. This niche is minuscule compared to that of MP3 music, but it is sufficient to sustain the format. On the other hand, SACD is in no danger of being replaced by higher resolution formats in the near future.
SACD players are available in all price categories. Many CD and DVD players support the format.
SACD and CD are like stereo and mono LPs at their time. Compatible, with a little bit more to be paid for a superior format. With costs of SACD manufacturing going down, hybrid SACD may gradually replace CDs like stereo LPs eventually replaced monos.
If you can't walk into a random record shop and find the major works in a given genre be it classical, pop, rock or jazz almost seven years into a mediums lifecycle I think you can reasonably assume it is a dead format.
You jest. Try to find one within walking distance, anywhere.
...with plenty of excellent new classical titles arriving every week.I do wish that there were more jazz and rock titles, but there are enough of them to keep me going.
SACDs do sound signficantly better to my ears, just like LPs and open reel do when compared with lower resolution CDs, MP3s, and cassettes.
Which is why, in my opinion, SACD continues to be such an active niche in fine audio.
Regards,
I don't do classical, which obviously limits my choices, but there are a decent number of pop/rock titles out there for me, and many sound great. I'll support the format as long as it's around.
No, because I'm Recording and Mastering in DSD even more now.
I don't know the numbers. But whereas new LPs are special interest merchandise (expensive/elitist, almost exclusively re-issues of old material), SACD is more vibrant and general public-oriented format.
I don't know exact numbers but it's likely that reissues comprise only a small part of the many new LPs being issued. There are plenty of new recordings on vinyl and many of them cost less than the same music on CD. A quick look at a couple of online LP vendors shows new LPs from Wilco, Bloc Party, My Morning Jacket, Arcade Fire, Rush, Archie Shepp, Bright Eyes, Artic Monkeys, Tori Amos, Elliot Smith, Feist, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Depeche Mode, Mark Knopfler and Emmy Lou Harris, Ween, Interpol, Rickie Lee Jones, Maximo Park, Los Straitjackets, The White Stripes, Amy Winehouse, The Stooges, Bjork, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton and JJ Cale, Built To Spill, Modest Mouse, Kings of Leon, and Madeleine Peyroux. You can even get the soundtrack to The 300 on vinyl. That doesn't look like an elitist list to me.
I listen to classical music, and this was what I meant. Esp. price wise. SACDs end where new LPs start.
I recognize 3 names only, and one is classical (Peyroux)?
All of them (including Peyroux) work in various genres of popular music. Nobody disputes that there is almost no new classical music on LP any more, but assertions that "new LPs are special interest merchandise (expensive/elitist, almost exclusively re-issues of old material)", while "SACD is more vibrant and general public-oriented format" are just plain wrong. According to the RIAA's 2005 statistics (the last year that they broke out SACD and LP as seperate data elements), unit shipments of SACDs were less than half of LP. Since many small LP - issuing indie labels aren't members of the trade association the RIAA's stats understate the real numbers of LPs shipped.
I checked your picture gallery. What occasion led you to Guangzhou?
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the lastest and greatest after spending a lot of money on what they have. Also this is possibly another episode of a Betamax type failure. Just my thoughts.
since sacds,mostly, are hybrids and can play on any cd player and any sacd player can play Red Book.
very few, if any, of the hybrids actually play the Red Book standards. There wasn't enough room on the discs to do both, so although they will play on a cd player designed for Red Book, it's with less data and not up to the stds. Another instance where you have to read the 'fine print' with the recording industry.
According to Philips, holder of the Red Book Intellectual Property, hybrid SACDs are "fully compatible with the 'Red Book' specifications." That quote is straight from the technical pages on their website.
I wouldn't draw the same conclusion you do from this statement, and I've written to labels and they said they don't fully meet the standards. "Compatible" is not a comforting word to me in this context.
"Fully compatible" means exactly that. The specs are identical. Hybrid SACDs even carry the "Compact Disc" logo, which is only allowed on discs that conform 100% to the Red Book.
I don't know whether what you say is true or not, but I do know this: the "redbook" or "CD layer" on all of the hybrids that I've purchased sounds SPLENDID. Maybe it's the DSD, or the remastering job itself, or the brand-new SOTA recording (each of these things "as applicable" to RCA releases, Ondine etc). I don't have SACD -- but, if I want the remaster or the new recording and it's only available as a hybrid, I buy them. I've never been dissappointed with the "redbook layer" on my highly revealing system.
The first ones I bought I took back cause they didn't sound good on my highly revealing system and I checked it out. A friend also brought a top-of-line SACD player over to my house once and I didn't think it sounded better on the whole (musicality), even tho it was a little more detailed, than my modified Njoe Tjoeb playing red book. Each to his own, but I'm not missing SACD at all when it goes down for the count.
I'm not one to say it isn't dependent on one's equipment but these are the ones to try. If not, go no further as they are amongst the best to date on the format!
If you don't enjoy the sound of EITHER the redbook or SACD layer on the RCA's:(1) Digital just isn't for you.
(2) Your system isn't all it could be.
(3) Your more of an analog man at heart.There's nothing wrong with any of the above situations. Since the RCA's are glorious sound sources, however, if they don't sound great to you it's got to be one of the above!;-)
probably Option #3. I do have a cdp, but I got it cause it sounded more like vinyl than any other I heard, even tho it has great detail. I listen through 2A3 SET and large bass reflex speakers w/ horns- great dynamics, lifelike vocals and string instruments sound live. I really don't like what I think of as "etched" sound, which is too detailed and not quite as dynamic that I associate with SACD. I do really like all the old RCA Living Stereo recordings-they were really done well, which is 90% of the battle. I read about these earlier today and it said the "red book" layer was remastered from the original for these, so it should be very good. I'll try a couple and see what I think, cause they were great recordings. On my stereo, anything that was recorded direct to tape in one take with decent mikes sounds best.
The best of the best as far as I'm concerned. Try whichever one for which the music interests you most.I'll be looking forward towards your comments on the RCA Living Stereo SACDs in the future.
Enough is enough. How many different Dark Side of the Moons do I need?
I think HDCD is just as good as SACD anyway. That's why I'm sticking with my 10 year old DAC for now.
Because they are better and people who know will still buy them. Like LPs.
... the average Joe/Jane does not know what an SACD is. And if he/she does know, doesn't care.
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