The plight of SACD....

This past weekend I broke down and purchased a new DVD player to replace my ageing Pioneer DVD/LD player, with a 9 bit video processor, which also served as my transport into an Audio Alchemy DTI-PRO32 and then to a Parasound DAC1000 20 bit DAC. I have always loved the sound this equipment produced but have been intrigued by SACD since I heard it 2 years ago at a local high-end shop on a Sony SCD-777es. I went ahead and bought the Sony DVP-NS999es DVD/SACD player which is replacing the DVP-S9000es in the Sony line. I got it more for the DVD performance with a 14 bit/108 mhz video DAC but figured the SACD was "gravy". I have had it playing CD's and SACD (on repeat) all weekend and have accumulated about 30 hours on each signal path (redbook and SACD). While it is still too early to tell how it will finally sound after a full run-in, I have been formulating some early opinions. First, the SACD sound is much more fluid that standard CD's - more texture and air. It is also more "laid-back" than standard CD (this may be due to the high output level from the AA equipment however). It is NOT a wholesale improvement over what I currently have but is an improvement none the less - and hopefully will improve more when fully "broken-in". BTW - I was not too impressed with the multi-channel SACD (a "gimmicky" sound)and found I preferred stereo - at least with the Alice in Chains greatest hits SACD. I have purchased about 4 SACD's and find them all to be very well done. At this point I think of this as akin to buying Mobile Fidelity CD's back in the mid-90's. BTW: Look how much some of those Mo-Fi's are selling for today! - Tony

Brian, The comparison I did was between the SACD played on the new Sony vs. the CD played on my existing digital front end (w/ the AA and the DAC). The CD played on the Sony was nowhere near the quality of my other digital components. That said, I am keeping an open mind until I get about 400 hours, on the CD side, played on the Sony. That will be a more fair comparison. I'm not expecting the moon here and really got the Sony for it's picture quality, which is EXCELLENT! In some ways it is satisfying to see how well my existing digital technology, which is about 6-7 years old, holds up against the new unit. The DAC for CD in the Sony is 96/192kHz too! Time will tell...

I can't help but believe that DVD-A and SACD are a digital "stopgag" for the next truly revolutionary product. To make an analogy, I bought my very first laserdisc player in 1989 and I remember having to go to high-end audio stores to buy laserdisc movies in the "early years". There was no question that the picture and sound were better AND the LD players played CD's - it seemed like a no-brainer that it would catch on. It took a looong time but finally the software became more readily available and a few local Blockbusters had a limited selection to rent - and the next thing you know about .75% of the households in America had one!. The fact that they were expensive, large (the size of an LP) and scarce always kept LD a niche market. When DVD came along it killed LD practically overnight! The fact remained that LD was the BEST format you could enjoy a movie on for about 10 years - or settle for VHS! I believe DVD-A and SACD will serve the same niche market unless they increase the number of titles, make them readilly available and affordable and release titles from popular bands! I find it crazy that out of 580 SACD titles I only want to own 7 or 8 and out of the approx 350 DVD- titles, I only want to own 12-15 (a better % anyway). If the studios looked over their best selling artists of the last 40 years, I bet they only have (maybe) one title that they have put out on SACD or DVD-A so far. My guess is they will piddle out about 5 titles a year worth owning - in either format. And while I am "thinking" about the future, don't be suprised if in 5 years we have a digital scheme that is small as an MP3 and has even better resolution than DVD-A OR SACD, utilizing better compression techniques and blue laser technology. Perhaps the next thing that will really catch on with consumers will be a DVD player that plays High Definition DVD AND the "next great" digital audio format. We shall see... In the meantime you can grow old wishing and waiting for it or take a chance and pick up the technolgy as I did - by having it "thrown in for free" on your next purchase of a high quality DVD video player. At least that's the way I am rationalizing it :-) - Tony