Have you sign the petition to save SACD? (1 Viewer)

[Matt Fisher]

There's always going to be something that people are missing out on. Unfortunately, these hi-res formats were released amidst the mp3 revolution. I personally don't bootleg music or movies, but it has just become so easy for anyone to do it. It's like saying to someone "here's a free Hyundai. if you want a BMW, it's gonna cost you $30000." Now a lot of people who are working and making good money know that the BMW is going to hold up longer, look better, and have more features. But the 15-24 year olds who are big spenders when it comes to music and movies, will probably think twice and realize the benefits of saving the money, even if it means cutting some corners.

Hope that analogy came out right, but it's just hard to explain to people who are older and have real jobs and a lot of expendable income that while they can easily spend $2000 on a new receiver, some kids are using that same amount of money to buy food, clothes, school supplies, etc. for an entire year.

BTW: This isn't supposed to be some sort of sympathy case if that's what it came out to sound like. We're just in an age where while there are amazing technologies coming out that are capable of things we probably never would've imagined, there are people putting out much cheaper and lower quality versions that appeal to a lot of people from a financial standpoint.

 

[Danny Tse]

I don't see one has to pay that much of a premium for a SACD....I was looking at Elton John's new release "Peachtree Road" at Best Buy the other day, $13.99 for the regular CD vs. $14.99 for the multi-channel hybrid SACD. These are the regular prices. Hmmmm....

The 3,000th SACD release is coming up. The count at sa-cd.net is currently at 2,931, although there are easily 15-20 existing SACD titles not listed, such as the stereo only SACD of Carole King's "Tapestry" or Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell". So we are actually closer to 3,000 than indicated.

BTW, new article at Audiophile Audition is quite an interesting read...."SACD is Dying....or Not?"

http://www.audaud.com/audaud/APR05/feature/feature.html

 

[Henry Lambert]

Hi Danny,
Location may have something to do with the SACD premium.
For example, these were the last two sacd's I purchased:
Norah Jones come away with me, cd @ $13.99 sacd @ $31.99
Diana Krall when I look in your eyes cd 15.99 sacd 32.99
At these prices sacd is at a premium in my book. If I could get sacd's for just $1.00 more that the cd version my collection would be much larger than it is. That is if I could find somewhere to buy them. The only store that I have seen with a small selection is 345 Km away. I live in a rural area.
I have never found sacd to be much of a sonic improvement over red book. The usual response to this is that your system is not good enough for you to see the great benefit of the format. My question then would be what kind of system do I need to hear the obvious advantage sacd has over cd.

ps: I checked amazon.ca for sacd. I found 33 titles priced from 27.99 to 59.99. No thanks.

 

[PaulDA]

Henry,

I too live in Canada and face the same ridiculous prices, but I've found that ordering from Amazon.com (instead of .ca) can sometimes get decent prices (with our relatively strong dollar). Not ideal, but still an option.

As for the benefits, you should be able to notice them on anything more than excessively bargain basement gear, IMO. However, and this is what I tell my friends who ask about hi-res music, there are two things to consider.

One, two channel hi-res will likely only be subtly better unless you have at least "mid-fi" gear, and even then, you'll only notice it if you listen critically/actively (not as background to something else).

Two, MCH channel hi-res is very much worth the effort, PROVIDED you're willing to sit and listen.

In other words, if you are the type of person who likes to put music on in the background while doing something else AND rarely, if ever, take the time to sit and listen as an activity unto itself, hi-res may not be worth the effort.

Personally, I think the HYBRID SACD model is the best, and should have been the default format for SACD (single inventory release). Everyone could use them in CD players, those who want hi-res would have it and SACD sales would skyrocket as they wouldn't be competing with CD versions of the same thing. Moreover, costs/prices would come down with economies of scale. Alas, it didn't work out that way. Oh well, I'll still grab my hi-res when and where I can (afford to) get it.

In the end, though, hi-res or no, it's all about enjoying the tunes.

 

[mackie]

That brings up some memories

I really enjoy a good sacd or dvd-a recording, but MP3 is just so much more convenient and fits easier into my day-to-day life. It doesn't have to sound half-bad anyway.

 

[Paul.S]

Danny:

Thanks very much for the link to the Audiophile Audition article. I particularly enjoyed Bob Woods' comments.

Wish there was more info about the John Hiatt SACD project. At the very least, it would seem we can expect a new John Hiatt album on SACD in the future.

-p

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Well, I just woke up about all this -- been too busy w/ photography stuff these days. Just signed the petition (and read that big long thread asking about SACD's future).

Admittedly, I haven't bought any SACDs in a while, but I should start again, especially since I just found out that BMG Music Service carries SACDs. And oh, will probably get that Brothers In Arms SACD also.

_Man_

 

[Danny Tse]

OK, it's time to give this petition a bump

Since this past Monday, when the petition had about 660 signatures, it has picked up over 70 new signatures....now at 739 signatures. This week's new signature total represents a 10+% jump in just 5 days.

Granted, it's not a big number. However, let's get it going again.

Edit: Geez, picked up another 4 signatures in 4 minutes Now at 743 signatures.

 

[JeremyErwin]

The options on the 2000es (not entry level, but hey, some people think it's the 595 with better cosmetics)

MCh Direct
5 Large +SW
5 Large
5 Small + SW
F Large + SW
F Large
NO CNTR+SW
NO CNTR

I run mine as 5 Small +SW. You must think I'm a philistine.

edt: just downloaded the 595's manual. The available options are the same.

 

[Danny Tse]

I contacted one of audioasylum's "regulars", Teresa, and she agreed to have the petition linked to her hirezstereo.com website. It's also listed in the website's SACD section.

Currently at 837 signatures.

 

[Marc Colella]

The petition has been "advertised" on forums such as HTF, DVDTalk and AudioAsylum where audio (and video) quality matters to it's members.

And after 13 months all it's gathered is 970 signatures?

I've seen petitions for cult films on DVD amass more signatures in a much shorter period of time.

Yet another indicator that Hi-Rez audio only matters to an extremely small group of people.

 

[Paul.S]

LOL! Missed that comment, Matt, on my first time through the thread a year ago. LO freakin' L.

 

[Danny Tse]

The latest 400 or so signatures came within the last 7 days.

With Sony officially announcing tonight that SACD will be part of the upcoming PlayStation 3 gaming platform, you think Sony has plans for SACD?

 

[Marc Colella]

I think Sony added SACD playback into Blu-Ray just as a throw-in, and the PS3 happens to have it because it includes Blu-Ray.

Does anyone really think that people who purchase a gaming console is going to care about Hi-Rez sound?

 

[JeremyErwin]

A universal player is useful. I started buying DVD-Audio because my Oppo 971 supported the discs. A cool bonus feature, I suppose. Later, I got a SACD player because I found out that I enjoyed surround music, but wanted actual, um, content...

Sony is trying to promote the PS3 as more than a game machine. Buy one player, and play everything-- bluray, sacd, dvd-video, cd, ps1/2 games, ps3 games.

Apparently, Microsoft is taking an entirely different approach. For instance, the dvd player does not upscale, there's no hdmi out, you need to buy a separate add-on to play hd-dvd, the dvd player does not support dts....

 

[Matt Birchall]

I signed, because if there's one thing that I've learned, it's that these online petitions always work.

 

[Jim Rakowiecki]

Put your money where thier bottom line is. Go out and buy an SACD today. Supporting the idea of SACD and actually supporting SACD are different things.

 

[LanceJ]

Um..........

 

[LanceJ]

At this point, a DSD chip can probably just be plugged into a spare socket on the PS3's main board, so why not?

As for your second point: no, I don't think most gamers will care about *hi-res* sound, but seeing that many games now include 5.1 soundtracks and (I'm guesstimating at this next part) that a lot of gamers have bought those $75 to $200 5.1 systems for their PC-based games, maybe Sony thinks they'll be interested in 5.1 music? But I'm still not sure if the PS3 has a multichannel analog output for this purpose. And right now the title selection for modern rock/pop music in 5.1 form on sacd is very slim.

 

[Ted Todorov]

If they had any interest in either format surviving, they would allow you to connect a SACD/DVD-A player via optical digital to the receiver instead of forcing you to buy 6 RCA cables.

That $400 basic setup didn't include the cost of the cables. And, I can only imagine that a well mastered CD on a better system will sound much better then a SACD on the el-cheapo system. (And for most people $400 is not cheap).

Sorry to be a pessimist, but why would someone buy say a Sheryl Crow Globe Sessions DVD-A when for the same price the can get a the DVD (with a very solid DTS soundtrack, I might add).

People who care enough about sound quality to go out of their are too few to make either format anything other then a small niche (if they survive at all).

Ted