Is SACD really this lousy?

David 99, I made it clear I was here to get insight from people who have heard it. I did not, until your most recent post, read where you HAD heard the thing. As for the other posts about this being a marketing ploy...an opinion. One I just don't happen to share. If the status quo were "good enough" we probably wouldn't be here on this site. I'm by no means a SONY fan (as a matter of fact I think their stuff is overpriced and of questionable quality) but I will give them credit for trying to lead and innovate here. Anyway, if you're happy with what you've got, that's what its all about! HAve a good one!

Sorry Albertporter I can't afford the stuff you buy. I only have a basis 2500 fitted with graham 1.5 and benz ruby 2. So maybe you are right its the system and not the lp itself that is the source of the surface noise. Maybe I will upgrade them when my 2 kids stop going to college. Any recommendation Albert what I should audition that will give me 100% guaranteed satisfaction? It will greatly appreciated. Then maybe that will help me stop from this continuous vicious cycle of seeking the holy grail of musicality. For now let us enjoy whatever medium gives us satisfaction at home because nothing out there regardless of price, analog or digital, comes close to the actual performances. I have listen to top of the line Basis debut on a Martin logan Statement and it stll comes short. I am not saying I am not happy with it but at the same time I am also gratified listening to digital on the same setup. Have a nice day gentlemen. Enjoy your music. Let me know when the chicken and egg issue gets resolve.

I can't speak for the others but David99, I am not chasing analog sound by buying digital sources. If I am, then you are exactly correct, I will just keep listening to my analog setup. But I am seeking the best recreation of music at home and the enjoyment I get when I go listen to the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I think that is what music is all about.

i've heard SACD, audio DVD, CD (44.1) and the best analouge frontends out there. best thing i've ever heard is 1 inch, 2-track master tape through a hot-rodded Studer-Revox (tube) reel-to-reel @ 30 ips. but how practical is that? ever tried to find master tapes? i have roughly 5,000 lps and 1400 CD's. i still collect lps but, contrary to the experience of david99 (BTW, you ought to get a spellchecker and maybe buy a used version of Strunk & White), find that new lps, if they are available at all, cost as much or more than new CD's on sale (as they always are somewhere). fact is, if you want to listen to almost anything new, you're confined to digital sources. live with it! it ain't gonna change, no matter that there are a handful of us still around with the means and desire to buy $20k+ tt/arm/cartridge combos. and, unless you play your records at something approaching a whisper, you're gonna get noise, no matter that you have, as do i, the best-of-the-best equipment and software. my experience is this: the Accuphase SACD transport played through an Accuphase DC 330 all-digital preamp is vastly superior to any of the Sony's; problem is the former is likely to cost at least 4x's more than the Sony under discussion (at this point, i don't have a qoute on the SACD transport but the digital pre with all the option boards you'll want will run you $18-21k). notwithstanding this observation, the SACD format, with 1st-rate electronics and speakers, is clearly superior to CD, 24/96 audio DVD and CD(44.1). since there are only about 100 SACD's in the present worldwide catalogue, i've not been able to a/b them with lp's. i suspect, tho, that the SACD may, in fact, surpass all but the best-of-the-best lp sources/frontends. all that said, you guys are all focusing on the wrong problem here. SACD, and perhaps CD, may already be doomed formats (i hate it, too, but vinyl is already on life support). MP3 and Napster have changed the face of audio already and, IMHO, may wipe out the whole highend, as we know it, in the next 2-3 years. SACD will not be supported by the oligarchy that controls it unless those few of us on the outer reaches of the audio market embrace it as a format an order of magnitude better than any alternative. absent that, expect to be yolked with compressed, narrow-band dreck that you won't need anything better than Radioshack offers to appreciate fully. but, borrowing (no, stealing) from dennis miller: that's just my opinion; i could be wrong.

Cornboy-now this is getting absurd.As far as my spelling go back and check yours,teacher.As far as your comment on the prices and avaliability of new music,it just shows how out of touch you are.Have to play LPs at a whisper?? Again,know what you are talking about before you jump in.