Rumors of more pop/rock SACDs coming from Sony (1 Viewer)

[Ron Reda]

Strange, CD Universe has had it listed as a SACD all along…

I’m really curious to hear what this sounds like. The redbook CD has a good bit of sibilance on it, but I imagine that was on the master tapes.

 

[Justin Lane]

The SA-CD will almost certainly use the same lack-luster Multichannel mix, so I will probably be passing.

J

 

[Manus]

"Please, more SACD discs! DualDiscs sound like crap, and most are not 5.1 surround. C'mon Sony, the SACD is the best sounding disc in years , let's not bury it 6 feet under!

I've obviously stumbled into the I-Love-Sony thread by accident.Which department of the'Sony Family' do you work in ?

So all Dualdiscs sound crap and all Sacds are 'best sounding' ? Thanks for sorting that out for me

Back in the real world I wont be buying any Sony hardware/software products ever again.

~M~

 

[Rachael B]

I'm with you Manus. I'm just fed up with Sony. I'm going to buy SA-CD's from other labels which means Sony does get a something out of it but that's about it for me. I'd love to see Sony seperated from Columia/Epic and from Columbia Pictures too. They're the biggest market bullies ever. I hope Bu-Ray fails too. Sony can kiss my grits!

 

[Paul.S]

Ohh, come now Racheal. Let's not let our being justifiably pissed off at Sony have a negative stance on our finally getting our hands on high definition consumer media.

Just because Sony of course played a major role in inventing the CD and SACD and we all have issues with what they have and have not done with those formats doesn't mean that *other* companies* haven't taken their technology and run with it. If SACD never existed, Telarc wouldn't have been able to do all of the fabulous things they have with it.

Similarly, in the same way you say that you're buying non-Sony SACDs, I'd rather you say you're looking forward to non-Sony Blu-rays, as opposed to wishing death on the entire format. It's been waaay too long for HD on consumer media: HDTV has been around 20 years. Let's not fling bad karma out there by wishing for its death some 8 months before its hopeful market launch please.

I can't wait to watch some of my favorite films in high def at home. And Sony's often fakakta market behavior is not going to spoil that.

-p

 

[Rachael B]

Paul, I said what I said because I'm not pleased with Blu-Ray or HD-DVD as their alleged selves stand today, both. They're becoming so consumer unfriendly, allegedly, that we may not want them. Gawd only knows how much these corporations are running up the cost of the two formats in their quest for the purr-fect copy-protection...? That quest appears to be the only reason the technolgy has not been delivered....the impossible quest.

Sure, I'd love to have a high-def disc format. I have D-Theater tapes and HD broadcasts to hold me over. So, I'm proably more pacified than you are in the present...? I'm fed up with the nonsense and So-knee is the principal leader of nonsense central.

 

[Manus]

Sorry, Paul but i think Rachael's right. I too , would rather bury Bluray or at least re-write the book IN ADVANCE of launch rather than put up with all inevitable crap that Sacd and Dvd-A lovers have had to put up with.

This format is the Studio's dream format , there are too many drawbacks IMO for the consumer. See this announcement of a Pioneer Bluray player early next year :

http://www.audioholics.com/news/pres...layerSigma.php

"Powerful content security is ensured through a dedicated secure processor, flash memory, and a range of digital rights management (DRM) engines for high-speed payload decryption

This seems to be ALL their worried about , compounded with Sony's obvious disdain for all their customers ( Rootkit anybody ? ) You'd have to be very brave or very stupid to be an early adopter IMO. The companies involved in this format , I suspect, have a lot more to do to regain the trust of the consumer.

~M~

 

[Paul.S]

I think the "crap" SACD and DVD-A lovers have had to put up with is poor marketing and a paucity of releases. That's quite different from the copy protection concerns/paranoia some have about Blu-ray.

The biggest copy protection issue I've had with DVD-A doesn't involve Sony: my Pio 563A requires a firmware upgrade in order to play some (larger Warner) DVD-As because of a change in the software used to encrypt the high rez content.

Is there any new word about this supposed SACD release by Sony of Duran Duran's Astronaut? If it happens this Tuesday, it will be the fourth iteration of this title on disc (standard CD, Dual, Limited Edition CD + DVD with music vids not on the Dual and possibly SACD).

-p

 

[Ron Reda]

Anyone get a copy of the "Room For Squares" SACD today?

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

The "crap" I've had to put up with from Sony in regards Sack-Dee is that they forbid putting DSD decoders into receivers. Therefore you have to purchase an ICBM from Outlaw Audio (sole source!) for about $300 just to have bass management in a Sack-Dee playback system. The ICBM handles bass management in the analog domain.

 

[Danny Tse]

Highfidelityreview.com's article on the 4 Sony pop/rock SACDs released yesterday

 

[Paul.S]

Trippy: I had the Astronaut CD on My Amazon Wish List. Someone bought it for me . . . and Amazon shipped the SACD.

-p

 

[Ron Reda]

I finally picked up a copy of the “Room For Squares” hybrid SACD and I’m sad to say that it’s no huge improvement over the redbook CD when played back on my system. I say “my system” because I run my CD player through a DAC that upsamples to 24-bit/192kHz which (IMO) squeezes every last bit of detail out of a CD. While they don’t approach the sound quality of the best sounding SACDs available, well-recorded CDs sound pretty darn good. So, for those that have a high-rez set up that trumps their CD set up, you may want to give this disc a try if you’re a JM fan.

 

[Eric_Connelly]

Being totally new to this and have no allegiance to either side from my listening and purchases made over the past few days I much prefer DVD-A to SACD.

The absolute simplest thing is I cannot believe they don't do CD text so my player says what its playing.

My unit upsamples to 176.4kHz and I must say also alot of them sounds just as "good" as the SA CD's I've bought while the DVD-A sound much more crisp and have more punch.

 

[Wes Larkins]

I picked up the John Mayer's Room for Squares and Duran Duran's Astronaut SACD's the other day but havent got a chance to listen to either of them yet. I first went to Best Buy and they had 1 copy of the John Mayer and 1 copy of Switchfoot's Beautiful Letdown. I just decided to get the John Mayer one because I had the Switchfoot one on DualDisc but ill end up picking that one up on SACD eventually. The Duran Duran SACD I picked up at Borders and they also had only 1 copy. I dont understand why they dont release these the Hybrid's as the first release. instead of waiting a year or a few years later.

Maybe if Sony would just release a Hybrid Version first then more people would learn about SACD and become more interested in it. Then sales would be better and SACD would kick off then Sony would maybe release more albums more often.

Maybe its just my area where I live but if most places just put out 1 or 2 copies of each of the albums when they are released then how are they gonna sell. I didnt see hardly any of Sony's Hybrid SACD's in stock at either place. I think the only one I seen was one copy of John Mayer's Heavier Things. Ive been looking for Incubus' Hybrid release but nothin i seen one copy when it was first released.

Am I the only one with this prob in finding SACD's available in stores ?

 

[Danny Tse]

Same here at the Dublin, California Best Buy. I located the Duran Duran, John Mayer, and Switchfoot SACDs (no John Legend SACD) in the regular CD section when there's still a dedicated SACD/DVD-A section at this store. Only 1 copy of each above title....I grabbed the John Mayer SACD.

 

[Danny Tse]

Musictap.net is reporting Sony is planning the long promised Oasis SACD of "Heathen Chemistry" for release later in the year.