Esoteric UX-3 vs. XO-3

Another sad collection of writeoffs of SACD. Sure, Sony seems to have abandoned it--what hasn't Sony abandoned over the years?--but at least the small label classical and audiophile labels haven't, and just a casual look seems to suggest that it isn't all classical. Look at Acoustic Sounds' new releases sections, there are probably 30-40 recent interesting SACDs. Sure DVD-A is dead; five minutes of trying to get an audio-only system to work with one of those video-based miscalculations shows what a silly idea that format was. But before trying to convince people to wait around and do it all over again on Bluray or whatever pie in the sky competing formats they hype next year, LISTEN to how much better a good SACD is over a good CD, which usually sounds like a two dimensional cardboard cutout in comparison, even in 2 channels. SACD is only dead if everyone ignores it because the hi-fi mags have moved on to hype something else to keep their circulation/ad bucks up.

I agree that the war is over, with mostly losers and few, if any, winnners. Stick with redbook until you see what happens with HD/Blu-ray thing.

Keep the Opus 21. It's a fantastic player. Very musical and fun. As Jmcgrogan2 pointed out, both formats are DOA, though some classical labels are holding on to SACD. I tried SACD a few years ago, but a lack of software caused me to pass on. Redbook all the way and the Opus 21 is hard to beat. If you have the itch for something new try computer-based audio. Or an Audio Note transport/DAC suystem. Either will stick.

Rhythmace4218, I highly rcommend you go to the thread that I started entitled, Reference DACS: An overall perspective, that contains a vast amount of information regarding the sonic differences between the different Esoteric digital CDPS and DACS/Transports.

I believe you will find this information very helpful.

I wonder which format will emerge the winner, sacd or dvd-a.

No winners here, only losers. Not the formats themselves, but the marketing essentially killed the war.

The good news is you can find more and more SACD's and DVD-A's for sale cheap on Ebay, AudiogoN, etc. The bad news is that what you see is what you get. The major labels haved stopped supporting these formats, and stores like Best Buys have stopped carrying them.
It's what happens when you have a format war and no one comes. :-)

Don't worry, I'm sure with the advent of HD-DVD and Blu-ray technology, a new hi-rez format for music is just around the corner. Unless you have a boatload of SACD/DVD-A software, I'd just stick with your Opus 21 for now, and wait for the next format war. This one is over.

Cheers,
John