I hate to ask since the 950 is arriving, but... (1 Viewer)

[Ashford Little]

I've enjoyed reading about the Outlaw 950 for many months now and am pleased for the new owners of what appears to be a fabulous unit at a great price, but I'm not on the list.

I'm not on the list because I have decided to be a late adopter this time. By that I mean that I am waiting for the next generation preamp/processor from Outlaw or similar. I want and need a new preamp. I want and need a new DVD player. But I want a preamp that will incorporate Firewire or whatever is decided upon. I also want a universal DVD-A/SACD player that will output digitally these signals. These self-imposed requirements also allow me to sock away a few dollars towards the inevitable purchase.

My question is when would a likely timetable be for such products to appear on the market. I was heartened when at the CES show, or was it CEDIA, several manufacturers announced products that would offer the ability to digitally connect a preamp to a DVD player for DVD-A albiet using a proprietary connection. I viewed this as a good sign that the copyright problem would soon be solved and products would start to trickle out.

So, what do the esteemed members of this forum think? Sorry to bring this up, but the suspense is killing me.

 

[AntonS]

Don't hold you breath. It may be be quite a long time before a standard like firewire or something like that will be fixed and univeraslly accepted. Even longer until the prices will come down. And even longer than that until enough music titles are releasd in DVD-A or SACD to be bothered anyway. Can you believe that some music titles I'm intereted in have not been released on plain CDs at all? And some were released only a year or two ago?

It the interim, buy something that you like - NOW. If you like the 950, buy the 950. If you don't, but something else. There are quite a few choices on the market.

 

[Camp]

I agree. An all in one cable is at least 2 years away (my own best guess, of course). Even then things tend to appear on the high end stuff well before hitting acceptable price points.

 

[Thomas_Berg]

if you are waiting for a universal SACD/DVD-A player that will output them both digitally, i see it at least 3 years down the road. go for a universal player now and use 5.1 analog connectors.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I bet 1 year for really high end stuff. For Outlaw and their typical price point and market and even considering that the new pre/pro will be "upscale" and considering the delay in getting the 950 out? 2 years.

 

[Will]

You can read more information in the thread titled DVD-Video & DVD-Audio Digital Interface announced

 

[Ashford Little]

Thanks Will for pointing me back to that thread. I was part of the discussion back in January, but it appears nothing has changed with regard to a non-proprietary connection. The announcement made at the tail end of the year was my justification for a glimmer of hope for future products not being too too far in the future; I guess I was overly optimistic.

One of the other reasons I've been holding off for a Firewire and WG4 solution is HDTV. I'd really like to be able to purchase my preamp/proc, DVD player and an HDTV that incorporated IEEE1394 or equivalent.

The discussion about bass management of the 950 in another thread and also time alignment are issues that would be mute to me by utilizing IEEE1394.

What should be apparent to me by now, but I steadfastly refuse to accept the obvious, is that high def audio be it SACD or DVD-A will not take off until it is both widely available and the connections are made easier. While I am not satisfied with my current setup and desperately want to upgrade, I may be better suited to continue to wait.

I just wish there was some news, any news, of progress being made to resolve the Firewire or equivalent connection.

 

[Will]

I wanted to wait until a non-proprietary digital connection was available before buying a new pre/pro. I've waited for over two years. But with no news implying that feature is so far out it's not in any manufactuer's schedule to appear, I've come to the conclusion not to wait. Instead I decided to wait for something less pie in the sky: an affordable pre/pro with DPL II in it.

Life moves on. It's too short to wait for the ultimate, imho.

The Rotel and Outlaw pre/pro's aren't the ultimate. But that means they are not too expensive, and so, can be discarded without much pain, if/when something significantly better comes along.