SACD finally taking-off? non-classical listeners

Excellent, Unsound. I'd like to add a point here. As I can see it from my point-of-view, The main sticking points are backward compatibility, and needing to purchase a new player. First, there is backward compatibilty with all the CDs that we have. Naturally, if you want to play any of the old stuff on SACD format, you have to buy a new disc. But if no SACD were available, you'd be playing the old disc with no option to upgrade. So, you can play your old one or upgrade at your option. Number 2, buying a new player. With the rate of equipment replacement that is already going on, I can hardly believe that this is a problem. I see people changing their CD players, sometimes 3 times a year. And spending multi- thousands of dollars to do it. So I think that this is not a real issue, but a "log rolling" activity in resistance to the new format for whatever reason. I think some of this resistance is related to the "consumer brand" names of the players, like Sony, Philips, and Marantz. There is no "boutique" gear out there with the exception of Accuphase. This leads audiophiles to think they are getting stuck with "mid-fi" products. I have not found this with my Sony. It is a good product and there are already "boutique" modification houses that do tweaks to it. I would have thought that the audiophile market would embrace a new format that offers a sonic improvement over the existing CD while retaining the convenience and quiet background and backward compatibility. I guess I thought wrong.
Just now, it occurs to me that it may be the same crowd who is always finding some reason to dislike vinyl, claiming that CD is better. You know, surface noise and all. Now they don't want SACD either. Maybe it is not us vinyl-philes that are the flat-earthers.

I don't see the downside to SACD that alot of you fear. If Sony releases all selections on hybrid disks, they will have to lower the price to compete. There are already alot of SACD's available for $17 online. If you don't care about better sound, you can just play the hybrid disks on your CD player. I use a Sony 9000es. It is a much better cd player than a Rotel 971 or Rega planet. I Owned both those players and did direct comparison with the rotel . It was not even a close contest. SACD will not make your CD collection obsolete. Ohlala, what sub $1000 cd player sounds better than a 9000es?

Twl you make some excellent points as do most who have written here.

I have no complaints for those who enjoy vinyl as I too believe with a great set-up the sound is the best available. I do have a problem with people who out-right disregard a new technology with little to no experience with it. To compare SACD to Beta and laser disk is silly, to say because Sony developed it that it must be dismissed without testing is close minded, and to not see the benefit available to us by advancing the audio industry is sad. Most SACD players will perform better than a similarly priced cd player on your existing library. Isn't that what we are all looking for, better sound?

Now for my system I would need to begin approaching Albert's vinyl playback equipment ($70,000) in order to justify what I'm hearing and not hear the flaws inherent in vinyl playback. (I've had $15,000 worth of front end in my system and felt I was listening to the flaws more than the music)Even with $1 software, I'm not interested in spending in excess of $50,000 to get the benefits of vinyl when for $5000 I have 95% of the enjoyment with my modified SCD-1. My library has grown for future advancements in the technology and I've been able to upgrade the playback of my existing cd library by almost 100%. Now can someone please explain what is wrong with my thinking? Vinyl's great, but not for everyone and not everyone enjoys the time it takes to keep the playback at 100%. CD is flawed but not all that bad on red-book cd through my modified SCD-1. The new technology introduced in the digital filters is as good as I've heard for cd playback, and SACD is as close to a top notch vinyl set-up at 1/10th the cost. I'm extremely happy and hope more people open there eyes to what's available.

One last thought, I hear people talk about SACD and the players available. I hear comparisons of $300-$1000 players to there existing players and there vinyl set-up. If your using a $300-$1000 cd player or a $300-$1000 vinyl set-up please don't expect too much from any format, your simply missing the point. If you fit this category, your system will not display too much of the advantages of SACD or vinyl.

Jadem, your thinking is right on target. One may be dismayed at the instant hackle-raising that occurs whenever there is an analog-digital comparison, but it isn't really hard to understand.

Obviously, someone who has invested tens of thousands of dollars in analog hardware (not to mention vinylware) is going to hold forth stoutly on the superiority of analog. This will be true if the individual is genuinely convinced that s/he hears differences in the media of sufficient magnitude to warrant the expenditure of such sums. It will be true if the individual has found and fallen in love with an intriguing hobby (which I used to liken in my own case to building ships in very expensive bottles). It will be true even if the individual has no motive other than conspicuous consumption.

Contrariwise, some persons who long for analog systems but are unable to purchase them may find the vinyl grapes most puckeringly sour. The pH of those grapes is likely to be low whether the individual sincerely believes that s/he is missing the chance for nirvanic audio through entrapment in the digital domain or merely feels chagrin at his/her inability to acquire the latest and greatest mechanical impedimenta and thereby join the analog literati.

Persons on the analog side of the debate are likely to be the more volatile of the two, at least in my experience, on account of the really staggering amounts of time and money some of them spend. They become, in Eric Hoffer's brilliant construction, True Believers. One does not tweak their noses with impunity.

Members of the digitali, feeling the inferiority of having spent a mere $2000 on a CD player rather than a princely $20,000 on a turntable, tend to retreat into querulous objectivism, thereby treading on one of the most sacred totems of the high end, namely that What One Says One Hears Must Not Be Discounted.

One must not be surprised, then, that the bringing together of these divided camps is often accompanied by donner und blitzen. Indeed, so hair-trigger are some of the tempers and so vituperative some of the personalities that one comes clearly to understand that for them audiophilia is not wholly about the enjoyment of sound, their varied remonstrations to the contrary notwithstanding.

In the end, one must choose a camp and live with one's tentmates as best one may. A healthy self image helps, as does some knowledge of human nature and a puckish sense of humor. But beware: the little girl who dared to observe that her emperor rode abroad unclothed gained neither the love of her king nor the admiration of her fellows. And it wouldn't have made the slightest difference if the potentate had claimed to be attired in sensuous black or in shimmery silver.

will

With all due respect to those who see this as a modern-day version of the Hatfields and the McCoys, some of us do rest in the middle. I happen to like the sound of vinyl, and listen to plenty of it. But I don't need to make myself feel good by spouting a lot of bogus technical reasons why vinyl is superior to CD. I'm quite aware of all the real reasons why CDs are more accurate than vinyl can ever hope to be. But I still like to listen to vinyl.