Thanks to all for the responses. It looks like we still have not arrived at the point where we would have liked to have been. I started on this road in 1997, waiting for the new format. In retrospect, I foolishly waited for over 3 years for one of them to become dominant. Not replacing a player that was THE major weak link in my system for a long, long time. My hope was that before the Y2K event, I would be sitting back enjoying a new way of listening to music. I was wrong. I still keep hearing all manner of opinion. Sony will win because they have the hardware end of things together. Sony will lose because most companies other than Philips will be going with DVD-A. Sony will lose because DVD is the format people have already chosen. DVD-A will win because of two of the reasons I listed as to why Sony will lose. DVD-A will lose because of the fact that they keep chasing their tail regarding encryption. One of them will win because people always need the new. One will win becaue companies always need to foist the new upon us. Both will win because there is enough room for everyone to be happy. Both will lose because there is still not enough(and won't be for a long time) software to support either. Sony will lose because MP3 is the heir apparent to CD. Both will lose because 99.9% of people think CD is "Perfect Sound, Forever". Are you confused yet? So am I. It was getting so that I didn't know what was happening. I was in what I will coin "Digital Daze". A condition marked by absolute confusion about digital audio. Finally, I just broke down and bought a short term fix. A Cambridge D500 SE CD player. A nice player to be sure. Just that I don't feel as if my thirst has been quenched. I still think I am suffering from Digital Daze. As always, Sdcampbell brings an amazing amount to the table. This time with upsampling and room correction. Upsampling is a route many in our community are turning to. Some even say this will be the answer far into the forseeable future. Kudos to Whatjd. Buying an SACD player, combined with an upsampler seems to be a smart way to hedge our bets. At least for a little while. Do I regret buying the Cambridge, and not waiting for the influx of SACD players, combined with the aforementioned upsampler? I don't know. I just don't know. I think I am just as confused as I was last year.
New formats, same old story?
OK, we continue to be inundated by advice to upgrade to a new digital format. Most say SACD, the rest tell us that DVD-A will be the ticket. My thing is that I would be ready to buy if things were sorted out. They are not yet. It doesn't look any clearer to me than it did a year ago today. Am I blind? Neither has taken precedence. More importantly, neither has had the major influx of software we have been waiting for. A major determinant as to which one wins out in the end. Yes, SOFTWARE. Where is it? Sure, there are some titles out there(how many currently???), but new albums are still more often than not released CD only. The people at the record stores still have not heard of either of the new formats. Yes, I know Sony keeps dangling the influx of new players(even cheap ones) at us, but I am still in the same mindset I was last year. That I don't want to invest in a new player that won't be a REAL step up in terms of CD playback(which would make it worth it) until one of the formats emerges as the future path. And, once the players come, will they be obsoleted by a new twist a couple of years later? As in multichannel - which I am not interested in, or by offering a digital output of the new format's signal. Are my feelings correct, or do I need the way I see things corrected? Thank you.