In my opinion (take it for thought, if anything) is that the new formats i,e; sacd, dvd-audio are just another attepmt by
corporate to get your hard earned bucks. Wonder why they're not compatable with CDs? Sony has got the stronghold on sacd, if you havent already noticed, so your title availability is narrow. Theyll release what they want,
when they want, and overcharge you for it. DVD-audio is pretty much along the same lines only with a select few companies sharing the royalties. My suggestion to friends
pondering this very topic is, get yourself a high-end HDCD
player (you may spend a grand, but youll spend that on sacd, or dvd titles, easy), and listen to your CDs for the first time, again!
And with thousands of titles on the HDCD format your choices
are much greater. Best of all, any CD, especially the remasters maybe in 20, or 24 bit, sound fantastic!
Some of your favorite titles will most likely never make it to either format, but, like I said, take it for what its worth (it could be thousands!) check around, do a little research, take a test
drive at your hi-fi dealer, then decide for yourself!
And by the way, I am in no way associated with any company, or business of the like, just an novice audiophile.
GOOD LUCK! |
Twinsdad makes a good point.
I bought the Sony 9000ES for 2 reasons...
1-It was a significant step up from my previous CD player
2-My family enjoys watching DVD movies
To be sure, there is better digital playback available, but this all-in-one package will hold me until I can upgrade to Accuphase or the like. |
Twinsdad - Can you point me to a list of "thousands" of HDCD titles? I've found a few hundred - perhaps less than SACD.
I also wouldn't bet on HDCD gaining much ground.
People usualy fall into three camps.
1) They don't care about any future titles. They just plain want SACD so they buy it.
2) Since the prices on the Sony ES SACD players are coming down and some folks consider the redbook performance to be 'good enough' they buy the player for redbook and consider the SACD as a free bonus.
3) Stay out of the pool and put the money into non-SACD gear. The thing here is if you decide you want SACD a year from now you'll wind up buying two players.
Nobody knows what will happen. I fell into camp 2 when the price of the C333ES fell below $600.
Good luck in your hunt!
- A |
I think the SACD or DVD-audio are already obsoleted !!!! The original redbook CD came to the marktet in the early 80's and are already obsoleted(5 years ago!) according to the so-called "experts". It had been five years(estimate) since the born of SACD or DVD-audio and they are still not gaining ground. Half of the SACD or DVD-audio product life were past already !!!!!! Somethings new will be around the corner very soon !!!!!
If I were you, I will keep my original digital system and use the money to invest on a high quality turntable and forget all the "digital fuss". I guess the old LP will be around for another 50 years........ |
Hi, I own a SACD player (Marantz SA1) but mostly play regular CDs on it with GREAT satisfaction! Super musical, incredible detail, etc. The few SACDs I have don't sound all that much better, if any, to my ear. But I love the Marantz player because it plays all my discs so well. My recommendation would be to buy a good CD player and all the JVC XRCD recordings you can find (these are mostly jazz recordings, but there are some pop titles too). The XRCD's sound so good on all my CD players that I listen to them over and over. They cost about the same as SACD's but are WORTH it. You won't hear better sounding CDs, and I include HDCD recordings in that claim. |
I bought a 333 when the price dropped and I am extremely pleased with it as a CD player, and the SACD brings the player into the $5000 sound category. At the current price, the SACD capability is free. I disagree with the previous postings. I think SACD is in its infancy. There are more titles everyday (although the retailers haven't figured out what to do about them). Check out the hirez forum on AudioAsylum.com for lists and updates on availability. The big shoe for sacd and dvd-a is just beginning to drop. The companies believe for a mass market, they need to offer something besides better sound, and that something is discrete multichannel. If you want to keep your options open, the replacement for the 9000 is about to hit the market , at $1000, with multichannel. The prices will be dropping on the software, to about the current level for new releases on CD. CD will become the low cost medium of the future, like cassettes. And LP's- I'm sorry, but I am more convinced than ever that it will continue to shrink, and become more and more a "collector's" market. The sound quality of SACD, to my ears, is better(read: more accurate to the recording, not necessarily "better" sounding) than Lp ever was. These changes are in part a response to MP3s. If the companies are going to be able to charge for a product, higher quality and new features are the only way to go for them. BTW, I have been a very active audiophile for 35 years, and have had hundreds of front ends of all types. Just my opinion, of course. Your mileage may vary. |
I think that vinyls will still last longer than SACD.
So instead of SACD player the turntable might be the better option.
Right now for the digital it is the best to buy used high quality CD-player or CD + DAC combo and enjoy. The favorable SONY 9000es sucks on regular CDs! |
I bought the 9000ES, but primarily because I wanted a better picture quality for DVD movies. It definitely delivered. The sound quality (digital out on 5.1 and DTS soundtracks) is also superb. As to SACD, I agree with many of the above posts. It is pretty stagnant at this point in time, when it should be releasing thousands of titles by the month at this point. I've bought only 3 SACDs, and I think that's all I will buy for the time being. The SACD sound quality from 9000ES does not equal my vinyl.
Bottom line: don't by the 9000ES for SACD. If you need a great quality DVD for movies--it's worth it and you get SACD as bonus. I also agree that regular CD's are pretty poor off the Sony. |
Thanks for all the responses. I appreciate the input. |
Sorry Guys, I should have posted this link with my message.
Check it out!
http://www.hdcd.com/ |
I have a Marantz SA-1 player. It palys great regular cds and incredible super audio cds. Marantz stopped making it because I heard the costs were too great. Buy one and it will give you years of enjoyment. |
I have both SACD (a Sony SCD-1) and DVD-A (Pioneer 38A) and both have their strenghts and weaknesses. Well recorded SACD's are very good -- in same league as the best vinyl, poor recordings or remasters are no better than Redbook and certainly inferior to any vinyl. DVD-A is quite an experience, and althought the "high endness" may not be up to SACD, I do enjoy multichannel "fun" on occassion. Same problem as with SACD though -- many of the recordings are abysmal. And with only 50 titles, the pickings are certainly slim. SACD has about 350 titles, but how much Miles Davis can anyone really take? So now I find myself peppering my "audophile" recordings with off-the-shelf Redbook.
I also agree with poster who likes XRCD -- these are quite good, and certainly more consistient in quality than the SACDs and DVD-A's. Between my SACDs, DVD-A, XRCDs and even DTS 5.1 multichannel, I'm never bored. And I can't even pick a favorite -- it's the diversity that I actually enjoy. I'll reserve further judgement on any of this until I get a the EMC-1 with 192 upsampling and the Sony 555 multichannel SACD.
Oh sh$%@t, no more room to put all this stuff -- I need to buy another rack. "Honey, the left rack balances the right rack, don't you think". Somehow, I'll have to come up with a better line. --Lorne |
When you look at the numbers, it is hard to believe that SACD will make it into the mainstream. According to TAS there are about 100,000 serious audiophiles out there. There are at least 50 million cd players being used right now. It is hard to believe that with only 100,000 serious users that would be enough to make SACD mainstream. To the vast majority of music listeners, they just will not be able to here the benefits. A lot of audiophiles are just going to buy better redbook cd players like the Meridian . 508.24 or the Ayre D-l or the new 24 bit EMCl and enjoy their existing cd collection. These players, although somewhat pricey, are almost as good as SACD and you can play your entire cd collection. |
