SACD - Dying already?

Only hybrid CD/SCAD discs make any sense to me as a music buyer. I appreciate the benefits of SACD, but knowing that down the line, redbook may be my default playback format, I won't buy SACD-only discs. There's little benefit in owning two versions of the same album just to have the slight improvement of SACD.

I heard that a re-issue of the Kinks catalog on SACD is coming soon. I tend to agree that these new formats aren't going to sweep aside all others and will likely remain a niche market. But, if you think about it, if a time comes when 5 SACDs that I want are released every month, that will be good enough for me. We're almost there now.

The average Joe does not even understand when to use a digital cable and when to use analog cables. Most Sales Clerks in Major Record Stores give you that glazed eye look if you ask where the "high res" section is. If their even is a "high res" section. While many SACD's sound excellent, their are many that are just average sounding at best, and if you want to call something "Super" its should be consistently outstanding. And the killer is I dont beleive their is major money in it, for the artists and the retailer's. So add it all up and I dont believe it will ever be mainstream. I enjoy it as a supplement to my music listening and hope it will remain a "niche" market for years to come.

Why should "local stores" expect to sell SACDS? One can get them more inexpensively on the 'net and if you buy from Amazon UK, you can get them months earlier than their US release. Next. Dying already? Some of you guys have short memories: Three years after the introduction of CDs I remember driving to San Francisco because I heard of their "vast" selections available--over 300 CD! (There are now 2144 SACDs available and an average of three new releases a year.) And what's with all the "Sony this and Sony that?" Let 'em collect they're proprietary fees and make machines; the musical products I've been purchasing from the Indie labels are *so* much better than what the majors have been putting out in the last few years. The only stuff worth listening repeatedly can be found in the niche markets anyway.

I look at it another way and think it's major failing has been in not attracting more Audiophiles.

Slappy is bang on with his general analysis which many here have been making for a few years,their policy has been flawed from the start but their new policy as in the case of the Dylan remasters where a few months after the hybrids they release the same discs as Redbook only( and at a much lower price) seems pretty crazy to me.

I also believe at the mid-level of high end playback machines there is a gap in the market currently not filled.

If the Meitner/EMM Labs Dac is the state of the art (and all indications are that it is)where are the machines in the price ranges downwards that offer playback where SACD could be seen as a bonus?

A decent strategy would probably have doubled (at least)SACD purchases.

I've always said that SACD would survive (at best)as an Audiophile format and nothing else.

It's future will probably now be determined by those early adopters staying loyal and a decent push to establish SACD as the Audiophile standard however I see no evidence to suggest anything other than a slow withdrawal into the background .