Another sign SACD is dying

I think the strangest thing in this debate that most of us are actually not that far apart on the fundamental issues.

My belief is that those who have gotten most out of SACD are those who've been lucky enough to have serious money to spend on a player/DAC (not exclusively of course).

Then I see a split between audio fans who are more focused on the quality of recordings/specialist labels(SACD) and those who are more interested in hearing a wide range of music(nearly always plain old vanilla CD).

By and large I only see these two "groups" continuing to be passionate about the format.
I'm only guessing here but I would bet that over 70% who have tried SACD and even DVDA have bailed out for various reasons or have players(universal/DVDA/SACD) as back up and lie pretty much unused.
Is this a crazy guess?

What I don't see is the supporters of SACD making as big an argument as much as they used to that the format will thrive and replace Redbook.
Am I wrong?

Ben

No, I do not believe you are wrong. SACD will not replace redbook only enhance it or if you wish work in concert with it. Such is the case for the Hybrid discs; seems like synergies to me. And the way SACD should have been marketed all along (IMO).

Chuck

I bought the Living stereo sacd (Rimski Karsakov) and I really was flabbergasted with the quality of trasfer. Later I stumbled upon an article giving comparison of the sacd with the living stereo LP and the reviewer could not make up his mind which was better the LP or SACD. This review was on TNT website.

If the SACD is that good why is it dying, how come more and more titles are being released and expensive SACD players are being introduced by famous companies. On the other hand one could buy hybrid ones on Amazon for less than ten bucks!

Come on guys, give SACD a break it deserves, don't kill it. Some of your fellow audiophiles are really enjoying it!

Well, if whether Blu-ray or whatever the next thing is comes out, it will take another 2-3 years to start getting software for it. So, if you are waiting then you'll be waiting for a long time.

SACD isn't going to die in the near future. But you don't need it to enjoy the music - redbook sounds great to me. SACD sounds better on certain recordings. What is probably going to happen is most Audiophile companies will start making Universal players and stop making CD only player. It seems to already be happening.

Rob

Anyone else think a one-box PC or Mac based hard drive music server coupled with a redbook CD player would be a no-brainer for Microsoft or Apple? Something akin to the combo Tivo/DVD players or VHS/DVD players, only for audio...