2. digital
  3. 1087510420

SACD - Dying already?

I just read the industry blurb in this month's TAS which described how it seems the stream of SACDs from Sony has pretty much dried up. I was in the largest local independent record store in my area last week and actually bought a SACD because it was music not available on CD. The SACD/DVD-A section was a bit smaller than a year ago and I asked the manager about it. He laughed and said they only sell 2-3 a month combined and he doesn't order many anymore.

Except for audiophiles, is anyone buying these things? Or, are all hopes and dreams of SACD slowly fading away (for at least Sony)?
tomryan
merganser
216 posts
 
From the SACD conference in Hong Kong.......

"In spite of new media on the horizon, SA-CD is likely to remain to highest resolution audio format for maybe twenty years. This from the people whose role it is to promote Blu-ray. Those hanging out for something "better" may want to look into cryonics."
merge038346
73 posts
 
Twenty years, huh? Guess they never heard the terms "disruptive technology" or "Moore's Law". Twenty years ago (1984) the interner as we know it, didn't exist (and I had a room full of vinyl and a three head cassette deck). Twenty years from today, you'll be hard pressed to find someone who remembers what SACD even was, or why it was. Sorry, but that's a rather biased opinion from the SACD community. I ain't buying it, SACD is the walking dead.
merganser
216 posts
 
They said vinyl was dead 20 years ago and quess what, it's still here! So much for "disruptive technology" and "Moore's Law", eh?
tomryan OP
794 posts
 
Vinyl and turntables have "cache". SACD doesn't and unless it shows up in dozens of movies and TV shows (portrayed as something cooly retro) it never will. I borrowed an $800.00 Sony SACD multidisc player over the weekend. Sounded thin with unnatural high frequencies. Good transparency, however, it's at the expense of body and just plain "realness". Never got a sense of real people playing real music. Maybe I need to get a much more expensive player...
gabbro
88 posts
 
I read an article in a popular magazine recently that stated how MP3 has changed music for the better the way that CD's changed it 20 years ago. I believe it was in Runner's World, and the article was about a different topic - but I have seen similar comments in other places. The average consumer wants convenience and my best guess is that digital satellite radio, MP3's, iPods, and the like are the mass-market future. Flattening/compression of a soundstage is not a trait that is detectable in a car or on inexpensive home audio systems/boomboxes. I am interested in sacd, but ...
More to discover