dac or sacd?

While I am definitely committed to multichannel, it is plain wrong to say that you need a decent, or any, multichannel system to "properly" play SACD. All SACDs have a dedicated stereo DSD track and will play "properly" on any stereo system.

Kal

SACD is only ubiquitous in the classical music realm. There are very few titles in other music genres.

Wrong.

BUT - to properly play SACD you need a decent multi-channel system, i.e. a 5.1 channel home theater system.

Wrong again.

*none* of the music I listen to is widely available on SACD. I've looked. So before diving in, do some research and see what's out there.

Isn't SACD mixed into multiple channels, why not take advantage of the engineer's intent and play it the way it was mixed? Seems to take maximum advantage of the medium to me.

*none* of the music I listen to is widely available on SACD. I've looked. So before diving in, do some research and see what's out there.

Here's the research:

Pop/Rock: 546 titles (http://www.sa-cd.net/titles/3/0/date/5/1)
Jazz: 1127 titles (http://www.sa-cd.net/titles/2/0/date/5/1)
Blues: 77 titles (http://www.sa-cd.net/titles/9/0/date/5/1)
Classical: 4443 titles (http://www.sa-cd.net/titles/1/0/date/5/1)
All Genres: 7212 titles (http://www.sa-cd.net/titles/0/0/date/5/1)

Not exactly a dearth of options outside of the Classical realm but certainly Classical is just over 60% of the titles. The sa-cs.net site is the definitive resource for those interested in SACDs and for each title listed provides link(s) to vendors where you can purchase that title. Enjoy.

Nothing beats a refurb sony 595 for $60 from sonystyle. It is a sacd unit with a great optical out.