State of HDCD and SACD


I am contemplating a new digital front-end and wondering if I should give preference to HDCD or SACD. It seems that you do not see these two technologies combined too often in a CDP, at least not well!

So, what I want to decide is "What has more of a future as a format?" I think both can sound excellent - that's not the question. I have a MiniMax CDP in my 2nd system that does great things with HDCD, and I previously owned a Shanling T200 that was great with SACD (and Redbook).

If I decide to put my eggs in the HDCD basket I'll probably get a Raysonic CD128. If SACD, a Marantz SA-11.

So, I would appreciate hearing takes on the respective futures of these formats. SACD has many titles available but still a drop, of course, compared to Redbook, and it seems views differed greatly on its future the last time I looked into it, about a year ago.

Would also consider other recommendations for players. Is there something there under $3K (preferably new - I don't trust used digital transports) that does HDCD and SACD and does them both well?
paulfolbrecht

Showing 2 responses by rar1

Paul:

CD Redbook will be the standard for now and the near future and is where your preference should be. SACD's and HDCD are nice to haves, nothing more or less.

I have owned a SACD player (SONY SCD 555 ES) for 5 years now and the buying and tracking down of SACD's is a pain. I find myself buying titles (usually by mail order) more because I bought into SACD, than because I would normally buy these titles in the first place. For me, with the exception of the RCA Living Stereo, Dylan, Stones, Renee Jacobs' Opera series and the odd Byrds or BST release (and they are all hybrids), there is not much available that I would NEED to have.

I currently own SACD and DVD-A players and owned a HDCD player, with HDCD being the format I liked the best.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have passed on SACD and spent the money on a much better redbook player. It's not that what I own is shabby, but the $1K or so could have been spent on other components.

Regards, Rich
Soundboy:

I hear what you are saying, but SONY's support for its own technology has been so half hearted as to represent an absolute slap in the face of those who purchased both the SACD hardware and the software. I have thousands of dollars invested in SACD (a SONY SCD 555 ES player and at least two hundred SACD's). SONY never lived up to its part of the deal. In a world of never saying never, I would never trust SONY to keep its word with a new audio technology again.

Regards, Rich