Who has actually listened to DVD audio?

I have and it is awesome. We got in the new Rotel RDV-1080 and I just received the new Beethoven Symphonies by Barenboim. The sound is very smooth and spacious. The surround field is not agressive but enveloping. This has been worth waiting for. (Note: for true DVD-A, you must have an analog six channel input on your pre-amp. The decoder is only found in the machines).

I bought two DVD-A players and returned both--the Panasonic A7 and JVC723GD. I then tried the S9000ES, and kept it. It's CD, DVD-V audio, and SACD play was superior to anything I ever brought.

DVD-A is a step forward from 16/44 CDs. I suspect that SACD will always be judged as "slightly" better than DVD-A, but the difference is so small that it's not important outside of the studio. There are some concerns/questions about stereo playback with DVD-A.

Some people state that software availability should be the judge. If so, SACD wins hands down. I saw a note the other day that by the end of February there will be 400 available SACD titles worldwide That compares with about 30 DVD-a titles.

I have both, so can compare. True, little s/w is out there in DVD-A... Natalie Merchant's "Tiger Lily" being the best DVD-A I've heard. "San Andreas Fault" sounds so spooky in 5.1 channels it literally makes the hairs on the back of your neck jump up! Haven't had that happen listening to SACD yet. (Don't have multi channel SACD. Yet. Then it's "Tubular Bells" for chills & thrills man!)

There's exceptions, but SACD appears to stress accuracy. SACD engineers want a piano to sound like a piano, guitar like a guitar, etc. They want to develop a sound stage which one could visualize.

DVD-A has mainly stressed the mid-fi market with lower prices and gimicky sound--where accuracy takes a back seat. I own Aaron Nevelle Devotion DVD-A. Cymbals and backup singers usually come from the rear, while the lead singer and drums come from the front. At times bass is too strong. Many DVD-As give the "I'm in the middle of the band effect." However, while not accurate, they do sound "neat" at times.

There are some "accurate" DVD-A's and someday there'll be gimicky SACDs.

I actually bought my Pioneer dv 09 thinking of buying some "dads"...but at least getting a good dvd player.So far not mentioned here. Well,I still haven't found one dad, I wanted to buy in 15 months. With dvd players having the universal appeal and the #s of units in service,I don't know why they had to introduce 2 more formats. My rack is full now. The sacd sw is starting to look atractive;but where to put the payer/and will another format take away from this format also? At least when the cd came out,there were no new formats. The LP was 30 years old the cassette was 10/12 years old. Now you can measure in months,instead of years,how long before a new format is introduced.Ok, I'm off the soap box......NEXT?