Coping in an Age of Uncertainty

I doubt if many here remember the mid 70s debacle over the CD4 and SQ4 formats. Both ended up being doomed. One is that RCA and Columbia could not come up with a decoding format that worked for both. So the four channel died a quick and I hope a painless death. Although I know many folks invested heavily at the time in this format. Only to have obsolete gear 18 months later.

As far as I am concerned SACD, DVD-A and other formats, is that I belive it is headed for the scrap yard as well. It will take sales in the millions to save either one. How many of us are going to repopulate or musical library with these additional formats? I won't go to that expense and the vast majority will not either. It is just not sensible to do so. The Redbook format has been with us since 1982 and was developed between Philips and Sony. I have every reason to belive that the Redbook format will continue for the fore see able future. Sure there are 18,20,22 and now 24 bit CDs on the market as well as HDCD, but the basic format remains Redbook.

I have two CD Players one a Classe CDP.5 player with HDCD and recently acquired an Arcam CD73 that is a 24 bit player. Very happy with both of them and is ceratinly all I need for the digital format.

If the SACD and DVD-A survives, which is highly doubtful at this point, it will be because the software and players have become more affordable. Players will in time, will only come down in price, if the demand for the software increases and the price of the software decreases. I just do not see that happening. Costs have to be recovered to do this, it will be cheaper for the manufactures to cut their losses and get out of the SACD, DVD-A arena.

I for one will stay with the current Redbook players I have and enjoy the music library I have amassed over the years. I see no reason to repopulate my library. Financially it just doesn't sense.

Sean - I work with two companies that may be of use to you. Have found both very reliable. Links below.

www.amusicdirect.com

www.secondspin.com

Also have heard this is a good source as well, but have yet to use them:

www.redtrumpet.com

Sean - Forgot to menetion another company I use for LPs,CDs and the like. Most reliable and great selection of music. Link below.

http://www.euclidrecords.com/

Very easy to do business with.

Let's see been in this hobby since 1957, been married since 1969 to a former aka March 68. Have seen just a ton of gear in those 47 years. Some of it really stellar and has made a dramatic impact on the world of audio.

One of the young guys I work with recently bought an I-Pod.Once again lets thank Steven Jobs and the other morons who live on to polute the ears of the newbies into thinking they are actually hearing music.

So I dragged this newbie over to the humble abode to listen to some high end. The transformation on his face said it all.

So now he is in the process of putting together a high rez system. And when he left he threw the I-Pod in the trash can. The conversion is underway. And no I don't have the I-Pod he threw away. I took it out to the trash with the rest of the garbage that night.

So as far as we have come in all these years, it is safe to say that high end has not truly done its job, except for a very few of us. For if the realm of high end was to expose the possibilities of the music medium to a greater audience it has failed.

So in the final analysis it remains for us the hobbyist in high end to do our job, for the newbies. This endeavour is about the music, so much more than the gear. The components are there only to serve the music, as we perceive it. We all hear things differently and what is right for you, most likely I will find fault with.

With that being said however crap is crap. I-Pod,MP3,down loaded music, etc, you get the idea, does not serve music,but does serve the manufactuer, who proposes that this is music and reaps hughe rewards for polluting the ears of our children.

It is true that no portable medium can ever capture the essence of a home setup.

However the portable medium does not have to sound like the dreck it is. At this point in time there is not any incentive for the manufacturers to raise the bar of development as the masses have voted with their wallet to accept mediocrity. And believe me they are doing hand springs down Park Ave, with the excessive profits of these portable mediums. Music means nothing to them, just profit,thats it, nothing less.

During my days with CBS/Columbia if we had ever put out a LP,cassette,reel to reel that has the sonic signature of this medium, our heads would have been on pikes.

I for one would dearly love to see a portable medium I could live with and no it doesn't have to be as good as a
home system. But it does have to sound like music. It can be done and it will happen, when the masses finally turn thier back and demand more from the portable medium.

Until it does I vote no with my wallet.

I am most likely the senior member to this thread. Been in this hobby since 1957, now 62 have seen a lot of things come and go in audio. So one can imagine the depth of my library in Vinyl, and CD at this point. Some years ago finally disposed of the Cassette and Reel to Reel tapes. Made a donation of them to a public library. Pardales is right about the remaster of Redbook CD issues. I have not found a clunker in the lot of them. One of the reasons purchased the Arcam CD Player is that it is a 24 bit machine and a lot of the remasters are coming out coded in 24 bit. They sound superb and are worth everyones attention to fill in their library.

I was in the entertainment business for years with CBS-Columbia and later TV Guide. Trust me on this guys SACD and DVD-A are going to have to make serious in roads to the consumer if either format is to survive. Frankly as I see it , it is just not in the cards. SACD and DVD-A has just to much red ink to overcome. Currently I do not see either format surviving much beyond 2007.

My opinion for what it is worth get a high quality CD Redbook player. Don't spend more than $2,000.00 for one either, then your buying something else than quality. Try to get one with the current 24 bit technology and you are set for a very long time. There are as of now some very good sub $1,000.00 players on the market that deserve merit.

Remember this hobby is about the music. more than it is about the gear. We all hear things differently. What sounds good to me, may not sound so good to you. Always pick the equipment that sounds the best to you, not to some sales person or review in some magazine. You will be living with it ,not them!

And ALWAYS - ALWAYS beware of the HYPE! It is there for a reason!! Have you noticed that all the really good gear out there never HYPE their products. Well that speaks volumes about that company and the people involved with it.

Do your home work and you won't get sucked in. Someone once said " A Fool and his money are Soon Parted" Don't let it be you.