Vote

I think they're just trying to cash in. I hope everyone waits for the prices to drop and/or a universal player. It's almost as bad as the PC game, where every 2 years half as much money as you spent on your PC gets you twice as much. I'll sit this one out.

Poor audiophiles can't afford to leap early, and we really can't afford to leap on the wrong tree.

I can't see that SACD has a future. For any format to succeed it must have mass-market appeal. That requires an audience larger than just audiophiles, and, let's face it, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Average will not notice any discernible difference between CD and SACD. DVD audio has a future because it offers more than just superior sound. People will buy a DVD player to watch movies. Within 12 months, all DVD players on the market will also be DVD-Audio players. People will want DVD-Audio discs because they can incorporate videos, liner notes, multichannel etc.—cool stuff that Mr. and Mrs. Joe Average will appreciate. SACD's still images will simply not have the same mass-market appeal. While manufacturers will appreciate being able to produce a single medium for CD and SACD, they will not continue to go to the expense of producing dual-format SACDs if no one buys SACD players. My suggestion to Sony and Philips is to give it up! Let's kill this before we end up with another VHS/BETA war. DVD is the future, the current rate of take-up for DVD players clearly shows this. The mass market will be with DVD and the media producers will follow.

Did the same guy who thought of Divx come up with SACD? I smell Circuit City here!

The emphasis on multichannel sound for DVD-Audio and lack of back-compatibility with CD players are huge obstacles for public acceptance. A stereo 24-bit/192kHz DVD-Audio disc with a second CD layer (like SACD) would be the ideal format. The public has no interest in replacing or reconfiguring their entire systems for surround sound just to hear reverb coming out of the rear speakers. SACD, on the other hand, seems to offer no room for growth sonically (unlike DVD-Audio), and is incompatible with current digital recording/mixing equipment. Therefore, a universal player is the only safe bet.

DVD is already a proven format for music and data storage. Sony is going to lose big time . . . at least on the comsumer front.

Will not buy until there is a good selection of music titles available.

Remembering previous format wars, it's "beta" (sic) to wait.

Why would one buy a player when there is virtually no music to play on it?

I love music, and I already own a high-end "standard" transport/DAC. I'm not spending any more money on a source component until I'm sure that wathever machine I'm going to buy will last me some good years of good software. Period!

Buy DVD-Audio/DVD-Video universal player.

its better to concentrate on Universality, engineers..! and on going upto theoretical best of 32 bits, 10x nyquist eventually.

Wait till Hi-end companies introduces players.

I will not be stuck with an Elcassette or Beta machine!

What I would like and what will be available will probably be very different. I would like a DVD-A or universal DVD with an unencrypted full-resolution digital out (S/PDIF or I2S). Whether we get it or not is still to be determined.

Any machine that I buy will have to have the ability to read the current "redbook" cd, i.e., compact disc software already released. SACD seems to be, from all the literature I've read (or can remember), the only hardware medium that will accomodate the existing compact disc format. Any manufacturer that thinks consumers will abandon their existing libraries of CDs is shortsighted and terribly out of touch with the consumer and audiophile markets. I've already spent a lot of money on my digital playback chain and music collection. Before I buy and replace existing hardware, I want to ensure backwards compatability.

Almost all imminent releases of DVD-Audio players are announced by Japanese manufacturers. I'd certainly wait and buy one from the US big boys like Theta, Wadia, Madrigal, or Cello.

Why get caught in another betamax vs. VHS format war, especially when the prices are in the thousands, not the hundreds? CD audio isn't perfect, but—especailly with HDCD—it's very good; and the medium is much better than the majority of recordings made with it. DVD will probably win, just because the installed base of machines will be so much greater. But I can wait before buying another digital playback device. I'm busy re-discovering vinyl.

I'll wait to hear what both formats sound like and what the hardware and software costs before jumping in.

with 24/96 dac already on the market for $800 like music fidelitys why would I need a DVD-a?

I have a life, thanks.

Will wait to see what the software story becomes for each of formats, and to get a sense of how the format war may turn out.

Unless these units are backward compatable you can for get new formats with this audio file they always over look the cost of the media.every one I know shops at used stores and are tired of over priced music this is the reason for drops in sales.They better wait for the next generation!

Continue to use Wadia 830, perhaps with new transport & possible upgrade.

I'm using the cheapest Panasonic player money can buy in my Home Theatre. I intend to replace it with a DVD-audio player if theres one around $1-1.5k. As for the 'audiophile' Sony XA7ES CD player, I'll wait for a universal player of similar audiophile pedigree before committing the big $$$.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am VERY TIRED of all the changes in the last couple of years. You upgrade to a laserdisc with AC-3 RF and a decoder, and out comes DTS. You get a DTS decoder, and out comes DVD (making laserdiscs obsolete). You buy a DVD player, and out comes SACD & DVD-Audio, both of which require a new preamp/pro with a 5.1 analog input. What's next?? There have been more changes in the last 5 years requiring new hardware upgrades than in the prior 50 years. The audio/video hardware companies are releasing all these new technologies because the 20-year patents have expired on CD technology. My bank account and patience are both tapped out & drained dry. Someone else is going to have to shell out the long green to fund this new technogy. I'm sick of the constant "upgrades"!!, especially as I still haven't heard of anything that equals, let alone surpasses, a high-quality LP setup!

Early adopters? Let it be! I'll buy a DVD-Audio since I've been waiting so long for its coming. Better models will be coming next year? You bet! But life is short. We must support DVD-Audio with our sacrifice so that the format may not perish from the earth. Buy DVD-Audio, for DVD-Audio, love DVD-Audio!

I have every intention of waiting. For now, there are too many unanswered questions. Such as, will either new format actually deliver, in the real world, the performance promised? (Keep in mind that the companies backing these formats are the same sorts that promised "perfect sound forever.") How will the performance compare to the best records or the best CDs? Will whatever performance gains be worth the undoubtedly higher disc cost? And, will either format be accepted by the general public? By waiting, one could (with luck) be able to buy a player that can handle all surviving formats, at a reasonable price, and that is made by a real hi-fi company. And there would be a decently sized library of discs to play on that new player.

I don't think it matters how good the SACD will sound; the DVD-Audio will completely rule the market, since it will have the capability of showing high-quality video too. Even if the SACD sounds better, which I do not believe, DVD will win. The average person will definitely not buy two different kind of players, but maybe they'll wait for a universal player.

For me it's clear: DVD for video, SACD for high-end audio! SACD is the superior format, technically speaking, because the analog waveform is recovered by using just a simple low-pass filter and nothing more.