Interesting.
Especially in that I've been thinking about the same eventuality. I remember what happened to LPs when CDs came out: shops found they could put much more inventory in less space, so gradually---and suddenly, in some cases---there were no more LPs. I imagine the record companies see the hybrids as a big cash cow to be slaughtered. Hybrids probably cost the same to make, but retail prices go up by 50-100%. Everyone makes out like a bandit, with the notable exception of the consumer, of course.
For this very reason, I've been considering the purchase of
one of the two Sony players (SCD-CE775 or SCD-DVP-500V) reviewed, favorably, in the current TAS. I say "favorably"
with reservations, since I get the feeling TAS is going the way of Stereophile: liking everything they review; or, perhaps, not reviewing anything they don't like (?), to the extent that the reader comes away from their reviews not really knowing what to think. At any rate, I've been wondering how SACDs played on either of these inexpensive players stack up against the CD layer played on my current combo of CEC TL-1X/Chord DAC-64. If I thought there would be some favorable comparison, I'd feel better about shelling out the additional price for hybrids.
It's hard for me to imagine that either of these players
in SACD mode can match my present CD playback, however,
even in view of that puzzling recent thread on the Forum about the SCD-DVP-500V being better than the SCD-1.
My present problem is the fact that, as stated by many people on the Forum, there's not much of interest to me on SACD, hybrid or otherwise. I enjoy almost exclusively classical, and even within classical, my tastes have narrowed to string quartets, piano trios, piano quartets, piano quintets, small chamber orchestras, etc., so I have difficulty finding new material available even on standard CDs, not to mention the very limited selection on SACD. I presently own three hybrids, and only one of those has any interest to me. The highly-touted Water Lily "Nature's Realm", with which R.E. Greene is so proud to have been involved, sounds like a mono recording to me, unless the speakers are repositioned in the weird configuration required by the Blunheim technique. Even then the sound is nothing to write home about, IMHO. The other one not worth hearing is the Vanguard "Plow That Broke the Plains"---a remastered Stokowski recording from ancient stereo history. The one that I do enjoy is on Hyperion---piano trios of Ravel/Debussy/Faure. Admittedly, I have only heard these in CD mode, but seriously doubt that the SACD layer would correct the deficiencies to which I object, namely the unorthodox mike technique of the Water Lily, and the tubby, laborious, stale sound of the Vanguard (I suppose I'm simply not a fan of anything remastered!).
The other alternative to buying a hybrid player now is to simply wait. Wait until there's more software available, and until player prices bottom out. Problem with this is that, if history repeats itself, prices for truly high end SACD players will start rising again, just as happened with CD players: who would ever have imagined that there would be CD players selling in five figures? Those $200 Yamahas
were supposed to be "as good as it gets", right? Perfect sound forever, for next to nothing. Then came upsampling, oversampling, jitter filtering, on and on.
I would be interested in reading of any other comparisons between high end CD players and these two inexpensive Sony SACD players.
Jim
Especially in that I've been thinking about the same eventuality. I remember what happened to LPs when CDs came out: shops found they could put much more inventory in less space, so gradually---and suddenly, in some cases---there were no more LPs. I imagine the record companies see the hybrids as a big cash cow to be slaughtered. Hybrids probably cost the same to make, but retail prices go up by 50-100%. Everyone makes out like a bandit, with the notable exception of the consumer, of course.
For this very reason, I've been considering the purchase of
one of the two Sony players (SCD-CE775 or SCD-DVP-500V) reviewed, favorably, in the current TAS. I say "favorably"
with reservations, since I get the feeling TAS is going the way of Stereophile: liking everything they review; or, perhaps, not reviewing anything they don't like (?), to the extent that the reader comes away from their reviews not really knowing what to think. At any rate, I've been wondering how SACDs played on either of these inexpensive players stack up against the CD layer played on my current combo of CEC TL-1X/Chord DAC-64. If I thought there would be some favorable comparison, I'd feel better about shelling out the additional price for hybrids.
It's hard for me to imagine that either of these players
in SACD mode can match my present CD playback, however,
even in view of that puzzling recent thread on the Forum about the SCD-DVP-500V being better than the SCD-1.
My present problem is the fact that, as stated by many people on the Forum, there's not much of interest to me on SACD, hybrid or otherwise. I enjoy almost exclusively classical, and even within classical, my tastes have narrowed to string quartets, piano trios, piano quartets, piano quintets, small chamber orchestras, etc., so I have difficulty finding new material available even on standard CDs, not to mention the very limited selection on SACD. I presently own three hybrids, and only one of those has any interest to me. The highly-touted Water Lily "Nature's Realm", with which R.E. Greene is so proud to have been involved, sounds like a mono recording to me, unless the speakers are repositioned in the weird configuration required by the Blunheim technique. Even then the sound is nothing to write home about, IMHO. The other one not worth hearing is the Vanguard "Plow That Broke the Plains"---a remastered Stokowski recording from ancient stereo history. The one that I do enjoy is on Hyperion---piano trios of Ravel/Debussy/Faure. Admittedly, I have only heard these in CD mode, but seriously doubt that the SACD layer would correct the deficiencies to which I object, namely the unorthodox mike technique of the Water Lily, and the tubby, laborious, stale sound of the Vanguard (I suppose I'm simply not a fan of anything remastered!).
The other alternative to buying a hybrid player now is to simply wait. Wait until there's more software available, and until player prices bottom out. Problem with this is that, if history repeats itself, prices for truly high end SACD players will start rising again, just as happened with CD players: who would ever have imagined that there would be CD players selling in five figures? Those $200 Yamahas
were supposed to be "as good as it gets", right? Perfect sound forever, for next to nothing. Then came upsampling, oversampling, jitter filtering, on and on.
I would be interested in reading of any other comparisons between high end CD players and these two inexpensive Sony SACD players.
Jim