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I own a Sony SCD777-ES SACD. When jumpered to the 100MHz setting, the soundstage and clarity are incredible.
Now that SACD and DVD-Audio players are available, it's time to hear your predictions for the new formats.
The massive analog-domain filtering7 to 10 poles needed to achieve even a 55dB broadband signal-to-noise ratiocannot be done transparently. These filters are often done with one or more op-amps per filter stage. There is also a phase shift of frequencies that seldom sounds good. A simpler, three-pole, linear-phase Bessel filter can be used on the output of a DVD DAC to pass the music through almost unscathed.
I checked "They both survive," but that's ONLY if the hardware industry comes out with affordable all-format players. If not, then DVD-A may have a chance by riding on the coattails of home theater. SACD is for audiophiles only, who, as we know, represent the smallest possible slice of the consumer electronics pie. Without universal players, SACD has no chance.
Ordinary people are under the impression that CD is perfect. The slogan "perfect sound forever" is true to most people, so why change a good format for another? Also, young people listen to music on the inferior MP3 format and seem to prefer this to the much better quality of current CDs. Audiophiles represent such a small market that it could not be financially worthwhile for CD pressing plants and recording studios to change to a higher-resolution system when the present system is satisfying the demands of users and the market.
SACD and DVD-audio are both likely to survive, although it is arguable that, in the short term, sales will not be especially great. This will probably be due to the reluctance of many of us to invest in new formats after having spent a great deal of our money on existing CDs and good-quality CD players. I won't be fooled into investing in these new formats; no doubt in the near future, even newer formats will arrive to displace SACD and DVD-Audio! I wonder if someone, one day, in reaction to these fromats, will develop an analog format based on some composite (other than vinyl) that is as durable as CD but could deliver true analog fidelity. Am I dreaming?
Both are wonderful, but neither has any public support. The products are too similar for both to survive, and in this very limited community, the war of attrition will kill both parties. The consumers have just bought their new DVD players and will be alienated by a new, incompatible formatno sales there. I think Classic Records and others with DAD formats will be the ones to survive here.
I don't think the general public feels a need for a superior-quality format. It's obvious most of the public is quite pleased with the CD format, and with the advent of Napster (and others) on the Internet, the world of recorded music will never be the same, especially at escalated prices!
In most real households, keeping the box count low is more important than sound quality. After all, you can't appreciate sound quality if your ears are still ringing from the last screech of "You're not bring that in MY living room!" So even if SACD sounds better, DVD-A, or more likely recordable DVD-Multi, will win.
Since SACD is apparently the better format (sonically) and older adults are accounting for most of today's music sales re-releasing many of the popular titles in Sony's music catalog should provide SACD with an immediate and powerful sales presence. If Sony is smart they'll put both formats in their players and let the consumer decide. It won't hurt them a bit.
I would have to say that SACD will win out over DVD-Audio, simply because it was brought to bear so much sooner and done with a sense of craft that is often not displayed by the mass-market guys. In addition, the DVD camp stresses multi-channel reproduction, something that frightens most audio purists and is only marginally interesting to those who would be hard pressed to name the brand of their components (Sadly, that latter group accounts for the vast majority of the money-spenders who make up our buying public!). The fact that the SACD players are also quite exellent players of the 44.1/16khz CD is also an attractive feature, allowing those of us that have sunk vast quantities of money into that format to continue listening to the convienent, cheap media we have grown to love. One final thought: With all the resolution and natural sound that the engineers and artists have been able to coax out of the old CD format, imagine what greatness may come from this far superior platform, once years and thousands of man-hours are applied to its outer limits of response.
Data word-length interpolation and upsampling converters and 24/192 kHz DAC's will make SACD and DVD-Audio a moot issue. The overwhelming library of Redbook audio CD's will swamp the meager availibility of SACD or DVD-Audio software.
Ihope any and all higher fidelity mediums have a chance to succeed in the market. My personal desire is for SACD to win because of backward compatibility. I hope for a player to replace my Wadia 850 that has a volume control and plays SACD's.