DVD-A/SACD: Does J6P care? (1 Viewer)

[ReggieW]

A few days ago, I had a person tell me that he would never buy a CD changer of any kind because MP3's have pretty much eliminated the need for one since they are able to carry hours of music (very compressed of course) without leaving your seat. I looked at him with dismay, and said do you really listen to MP3's at home for casual enjoyment? I can see using them to test the waters for a new sonf or album you might want to sample before buying, or listening with a walkman if you're jogging or something, but at home, I would rather have the CD, SACD, or DVD-A. keep in mind that this person wasn't experimenting to see what he likes, he actually doesn't buy much music (afterall, MP3's sound fine to him). However, in all fairness, I don't think he has a multi-channel/HT set-up, so maybe this is fine for him - for now. I find more and more people who simply are not interested in the quality of the music they're listening to. Yes, MP3 technology is improving, but it is still pretty sub-par when compared to redbook CD. I just couldn't imagine someone being entirely happy with a MP3 download of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue." I guess the gist of what I'm saying is....if this guy (and many MANY like him) is happy with lossy MP3 downloads, then why should he care about SACD/DVD-A or even redbook CD! Personally, I have been listening to nothing but hi-res music and remastered CD's the past few months, and couldn't imagine going back to listening to MP3's.
Reg

 

[JohnnyN]

I've just recently started buying CDs again. For a while there I was very heavy into electronic dance music heavy on samples and synth sounds, where the quality of the recording honestly didn't matter that much to me. I guess to me it sort of depends on the availability and the quality of the original.

Some mixes that I download are from live performances that were recorded to dat or minidisc and can't be bought, here my choice is obvious. I do definitely agree with you though, that there's a fairly significant difference between 128kbps 16/44 mp3s and 96/24 music, but at the same time keep in mind that another benefit of mp3s is organization. It's a lot easier to put just the songs you want on one cd, then it is to program a changer to play only the songs you want to hear.

my $0.02.

 

[KeithH]

Reggie asked:

DVD-A/SACD: Does J6P care?

In my opinion, unfortunately, no. :frowning:

 

[Rachael B]

Joe 6-Pack doesn't even know what SACD & DVD-A are....

 

[ReggieW]

Thanks for the replies.

I agree with you Johnny. It was just that whole "you don't know what you're missing factor" I had towards this person when he told me this. In fact, he had never heard hi-res music before (including DTD CD's). I think in certain instances MP3's are fine, but for casual home listening? Never!

Keith and Rachael:

No argument here! I remember going into my local Best Buy asking for DVD-A, in which the clerk preceded to take me to the DVD concert video section!!! He had no idea what I was talking about. I guess this is one of many of the arguments being throttled at high-res music...If J6P is happy with MP3's for all-around listening, why would he care about DVD-A? It's really kinda sad.

Reg

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Actually, all the BB around here keep their DVD-A with the DVD concerts, so he did take you to the right place

 

[Zack Scott]

I was showing my mother my new DVD-A player and tried to introduce her to it. As I started to give her a brief decription of what DVD-A is she said "So It's just like a CD".

She is a J6P as they come. i feel that DVD-A and SACD will be something like the Laserdisc of the Audio formats. Why pay extra money for bette quality?

By the way I love my DVD-A player. I just got ELP'S DVD-A and My GOD can I tell you how much I love Tocatta.

 

[Ryan Spaight]

The mass market is moving to lower quality with MP3, while the enthusiast market is moving to higher quality with SACD and DVD-A.

The comparison of hi-res to Laserdisc is spot on, I think. MP3 is the VHS of today.

The one wild card is how badly the labels want to kill redbook and move to something more inherently secure. That is more likely trigger the move to hi-res than mass market interest, which seems pretty low right now.

Ryan

 

[EricK]

The ONLY two ways DVD-a and SACD will ever take off are :
1) Make dvd-a and sacd head units for cars. This is a no brainer.
2) ALL B&M's NEED to have proper displays for demos of dvd-a and sacd. Has anyone seen dvd-a or sacd actually demoed in a Wal Mart? Target? Best Buy? Circuit City? Probably not. And if they have, what are the chances that the relative channel levels were balanced? The system was set up properly? How many of these places have salespeople interesed and knowledgable about dvd-a and sacd?
Also consider this - location of software...what good does it do to have a SACD display buried in the back of a store in a corner where virtually no one wanders. Maybe the only people that even handle the display are employees (to clean) and the niche market that comes from audiophiles and people more in the know.
In addition, why isn't that SACD display playing music? Some places mix their SACD's in with the regular cd's. What sense does this make? How many people will actually read the fine print that says "Designed for use in an SACD player only." What happens when Joe Smith buys it, gets it home and scratches his headcause it wont play on his cd player.
As much as I hate Tower records, they might be the only ones actually trying to do things right. Most Tower records stores' have a dedicated section for both dvd-a and sacd. It's never hidden, easily found and actually has some decent signage. Its too bad they don't have a demo system to go along with the display. Even CD World's in NJ have seperate sections for dvd-a and sacd.
Maybe what I've said in #2 could all be summed up in one sentence...Music companies and retail stores need to work together in order to properly MARKET this new technology.
In the end it really does come down to marketing.
Eric.

 

[Philip Hamm]

DVD-A/SACD: Does J6P care?

Is this a joke? J6P has absolutely no awareness of these formats, much less "care". I personally think this is a good thing.

 

[Lin Park]

Weren't we asking the same questions about 5 years ago regarding DVD's in general .vs. VHS?

I think J6P traditionally buys technology that has been around for a long time that is "cheap" and offers great advancement in quality without having to upgrade other pieces of equipment.

I think Philip is right on here because look at what has happened now that all of the J6P's in the world have DVD players. We should count our blessings and hope that J6P never gets involved here because we are talking about excellent quality recordings played through mid to hi end equipment. How good would DVD-A/SACD sound played through J6P's $99 AV receiver and $200 Bose bookshelf speakers when compared to an MP3 played on a basic CD player?

Lin

 

[Greg_Y]

I haven't bought into SACD or DVD-A yet, but I'm champing at the bit to do so. However, I don't think I'll buy into it until I can get a good quality hybrid player at a decent price. (Has Pioneer announced their combo player yet? I don't plan on buying Apex.) There are enough positives for each format for each of them to exist as a niche.

Even if you told me today that both would only achieve the level of market reach that laserdisc did, I would still want to buy into it. I couldn't care less about what the general public wants. As long as studios continue to release new, quality titles in either format, and I can get them on the 'net or at a large B&M store, that's fine with me.

Make dvd-a and sacd head units for cars. This is a no brainer.

Did you mean combo units which support both formats? Because I know you can already buy DVD-A players for the car, and I assume SACD is available too.

Another question: are the studios even trying to push these formats as general consumer formats right now? And if not, do they plan to in the future or will they continue to push them in the audiophile markets only?

 

[Philip Hamm]

Weren't we asking the same questions about 5 years ago regarding DVD's in general .vs. VHS?

No. That analogy is completely invalid.

The difference between CD audio and DVD-Audio or SACD is completely unrecognizable and inaudible to 99.999999% of the public. The difference in convenience is immeasurably in favor of CD (particularly for DVD-Audio, where monitor-less listening is implemented very poorly as an afterthought). In contrast the difference in quality between DVD and VHS is easily observable, and the DVD offers much more convenience than does the tape.

We are the only one who care, and damn few of us even do.

 

[Lin Park]

Perhaps my comment was incorrectly worded but what I was trying to say was that we are asking what J6P thinks of a fairly new format and the answer is "Absolutely nothing". There is probably not a single J6P on the planet that even has a DVD-A/SACD player or who has A/B'd one to a CD player and I'll bet the same statement would have held true for DVD players in 1997.

The difference between CD audio and DVD-Audio or SACD is completely unrecognizable and inaudible to 99.999999% of the public.

Makes you wonder if that 0.000001% are really hearing what they say they are.
Don't get me wrong - I love DVD's and I'm gonna love DVD-A/SACD's, but you are fooling yourself if you think that J6P is viewing DVD-A/SACD now any differently than he viewed DVD back in '97. Don't be surprised if in 2007 everyone owns a hybrid DVD-A/SACD/MP3 player and J6P gives out SACD's to both of his friends for Christmas. Heck, by then we might have Star Wars: A New Hope on DVD, too.
Lin

 

[Evan S]

The difference between CD audio and DVD-Audio or SACD is completely unrecognizable and inaudible to 99.999999% of the public.

Phil, IMO this is so far off base it isn't even funny. I've played SACD and CD Redbook comparison of the same tracks to my roommates, ex-girlfriend and other friends. There hasn't been one person who cannot tell that SACD is head and shoulders above Redbook. At least in my trials.

I've set up my tests blindly for listeners. If I play SACD first, then Redbook, people can hear the difference but say it's subtle. If I play Redbook first, then SACD, their eyes open up the size of the grand canyon. I'm not sure why this is, but that's been my experience. But either way, they can always tell a difference.

 

[EricK]

The difference between CD audio and DVD-Audio or SACD is completely unrecognizable and inaudible to 99.999999% of the public.

I don't think that you can make that kind of statement. Maybe 70% of the public might fall into the category of not being able to recoognize the difference between the cd and high rez formats.
I think the important thing is this...we all want to see more music, more variation on dvd-a and sacd. We want to see it now, and not the current 4-6 titles a quarter (if we are lucky, we might be interested in some of them).
However without J6P recognizing the formats and wanting them...I don't think dvd-a and sacd will go much further then dts cd. The small niche market of audiophiles buying dvd-a and sacd just isn't enough to get the studios to produce faster and more quantity of different genres. If it was then we might see either multiple releases or hybrid releases of current "popular" music.
The one thing that pisses me off is that I can go and get Shakira or Destiny's Child on cd...but what happens when Sony releases those on SACD a month or two later? I get to pay the piper all over again. That IMO is whats sucks about being an early adopter and an audiophile - and why J6P might not get into dvd-a and sacd for quite a while.
Eric.

 

[Greg_Y]

That IMO is whats sucks about being an early adopter and an audiophile

I understand what you're saying. I guess it's just part of the game. Rob Gillespie's quote about HT is the wrong hobby if you don't want to spend money holds especially true for the higher-end stuff and niche markets.

 

[Sutjahjo Ngaserin]

FYI only,

There is a DVD-Audio Player for the Car!

 

[RicP]

DVD-Audio or SACD is completely unrecognizable and inaudible to 99.999999% of the public.

Hyperbole thy name is Philip Hamm.

 

[ReggieW]

Wow! I don't think I've ever started a thread with this many responses....makes a guy feel wanted around here for a change
Reg