I think it was probably a misreading of where the majors were going to go, as the product itself is quite good, and Mike Hobson was banking on the fact that there were tons of DVD players out there for people to play DADs on. He knew SACD was in the wings, but figured that with the head start on hardware out there the 24/96 pcm would be the winning format. Unfortunately, the major record companies seem more interested in watermarking their discs and establishing a new system rather than utilizing what's out there, and their delay really has hurt the 24/96 format. I am very disappointed about the DVD-A format in that, unlike the DADs, I can't use a better quality DAC through a digital out to play the discs (DVD-A will not currently let a digital 24/96 signal out of the player)--it really bugs me that the Classic and Chesky DAD system, which utilizes the same technology and has been available for years, wasn't adopted. A case of corporate concerns over piracy stifling a very good format.
Why didn't the DAD format take off??
I own a few of the Classic Records DAD discs...Muddy Waters' "Folksinger", the Duke Ellington/Louis Armstrong disc, and the two Sam Phillips albums. I play them on my unmodded Pioneer DV-05 and they all sound great...much better than the same redbook CDs. I realize that the format may not be quite as good as DVD-A or SACD, but most people already have regular DVD players in their home. We can all play them right now...without any upgrades...and they'll sound great. What happened?? Why didn't more people release DAD discs, and why did Classic stop issueing them?? I do think they were a little too pricey, but other than that...I'm puzzled. Was it just a case of bad timing (with the release of DVD-a and SACD on the horizon)??