Coping in an Age of Uncertainty

No matter what, you can't talk about it unless you experience it. So to wait for a player or software that would make you change your mind is kind of counterproductive in this form of talk.

When I hear "It would be a mistake to buy into a new format right now" I have chills running down my spine!
It is a business! Good or bad! MONEY TALKS!

And yes I blame the mfg's for this mess, but looks like they have no interest in cleaning it up either.

Why do you think SONY is lowering it's ambition on it's DSD catalog program??? Because IT MAKES NO ECONOMIC SENSE for them.
At first it was the issue with DVDa vs SACD. Now it's like media vs download! The tide has moved and you are falling asleep!
DVD is far better then CD, too bad many engineers in studios still don't know how to mix for 5.1. Turns off a lot of stereo lovers.
DSD is better then anything you ever had! (In theory or if you got an EMM player.) I think it's better then analog when done right. It is still expensive to get right tough.

I think everyone who can afford it should get a UNIVERSAL player, I know you don't want to be a guinea pig, but if don't start buying titles the industry will soon pull the plug in we will be left with I-pods and compressed AAC files!

CD as a medium is basically dead. Like it or not if you look at CD sales they are slowly but surly loosing ground to downloaded files. So stop bickering and get a freaking player now! The new Marantz dv9500 is a good place to start.
I for one would hope to see SACD survive because DVDa is just ain't that cool (video menus, PCM sound).
There is one other really disturbing issue with all of those 1000 of cd's we all have.
They are disintegrating at a faster rate then previously advertised. Last year when I discovered that some of my CD's are simply "fading" and some wont even play anymore, I quickly moved em all to a music server (lossless compression.) And never looked back!
It has lower jitter then any transport I have ever had (5ppm)! Of course it does, it's got enough buffer for an entire album, not just a few samples like $20k motor driven spinning platter.

I think modified universal players are a great solution to the current "age of uncertainity". They offer great performance on DVD-A and SACD (if you are into that), and the mods really make the redbook performance outstanding, in my experience.

As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Izsakmixer that silver disks are dinosaurs and on their way to extinction...CD, SACD and DVD-A. High-end music servers are the next wave, and the audiophile hardware companies better catch on quickly or they're going to be left behind. Just take a look at the few (and growing in numbers) Audiogon members who are using their computers as playback sources. Music downloads will soon completely wipe out silver disk purchases as the ease of use and customability (is that a word?) of music files increases. We're all going to be waxing nostalgic about the good ol' days when we went through the ritual of unwrapping a compact disk case, beveling the edges, coating the disk with magic spray, gently placing the disk in the CD tray, and pressing the play button.

Ah....I remember the days....

As for digital connections.
Once again no point in waiting. There is no uncertainty, Not because we have something that works, but because chances are we never will. Unless the SONY SuperMAC interface (48ch (dsd or pcm), proper clock and control over cat5 good 300m)which is now being ratified as an AES standard, makes it to home audio.

1394 is a software mess, everyone is doing their own thing. To fix compatibility mfg's would have to invest heavily into software.
1394 also has some clock issues that some designers can deal with most can't.
HDMI is a joke it's only good for video since it doesn't even cary DSD.
So if you are awaiting for that "player" that will connect to your pre pro with a single link, well you can get them now, from Denon, Meridian and alike.
Other then that, don't hold your breath.
There is not much wrong with short set of nice analog cables going into a pre pro with proper analog bypass. Unless you hate the idea of paying for a nice set of dacs twice. However this allows for tailoring. You can keep your fancy da you got for your cd's and not have to worry about if your new player will paly cd's ok or not (Most will.).
So you may be thinking Denon 5910 for all it's linkage (1394, denon link, HDMI) but realistically unless you get a denon box, these will only be good for video (HDMI).

... age uncertainty... Everything digital is basically end of life by the time the product hits the market. Compatibility going forward will be meaningless. So there is really nothing you can take for granted. Everything is a giant uncertainty. And even when you think things are in concrete, someone else will come along with something faster better cheaper.
Some mfg's are already talking 384khz and Wide DSD (8bit).

I for one use all these connections and technologies very happily in a very nice and simple system.
I use HDMI for my cable box to the projector, I use analog from my UNI Player to my Classe SSP75, I use AES from my HTPC to the classe and DVI for Video from the HTPC to the projector. The classe is superb decoder and DA for all PCM low ress. The Marantz plays DVD an SACD over analog.
So you can have it all today enjoy it for what it is and stop worrying about obsolescence, because they are all already there.

ive heard a state- of- the- art vinyl playback system and it was head over heels more musical and real sounding than any digital system. theres a seemless quality to vinyl that digital technology, at this time, is not able to capture. however, vinyl is time intensive(record cleaning, proper set-up,no remote, short paying time, etc) vs the ease of digital. i have a levinson 37 and 360s digital system which is very enjoyable but there is a quality to my less expensive analogue system- VPI turntable with a Graham Slee phono pre (which is remarkable)- that reproduces music that is more realistic.