SACD updates from Sony (1 Viewer)

[Danny Tse]

Coming software....more SACDs from Bob Dylan, Indigo Girls, the Kinks, Herman Hermits, the Animals, etc.

http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/4808

This on top of coming SACDs from Moody Blues and Genesis.

I really think Sony should start releasing the Springsteen and the Sade catalog on hybrid SACD.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

The Kinks has got me very excited...hopefully the mastering is good.

Genesis won't be on SACD in the US.

I'd still like to hear more from Sony about their own releases but I'm glad more Dylan is on the way.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

This is superb news. I figured Sony would make some announcements ahead of the hifi show.

I will be at HE2004 this weekedn and talking with friends & collecting some notes.

I will report back perhaps as early as Sunday evening what I learned.

 

[LarryDavenport]

D'Oh! I just completed my Kinks collection (through Lola) now the SACDs are coming out.

 

[Danny Tse]

You are correct, Michael.

 

[Craig S]

I dunno. I just read that press release and it's a whole lot of marketspeak and very little concrete data. All the meat in it is summorized quite nicely by Danny in his 1st sentence.

Give me a LONG list of upcoming titles with dates. Then actually release the titles on the dates promised. That's when I'll get excited.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Bill Hunt's pals have an interview with a real-live Sony Sack-Dee type posted today:

http://www.musictap.net/Interviews/C...Interview.html

 

[Michael St. Clair]

The bizarre thing is that little no-name labels put out more pop/rock SACD product than a huge megalabel like Sony.

Unfortunately it appears that what many of us consider to be the very best Kinks albums (60s fare like 'Arthur', 'Village Green', 'Something Else') will not be part of the Kinks enslaught.

I will still buy a Kinks disc or two and more Dylan titles, that is for sure.

 

[LarryDavenport]

I wish he would have asked tougher questions, like what happened with Bob Dylan's Live 1964?

 

[KrisM]

I have to agree with you Craig. I didn't get alot out the 'article'. The only real positive news came from companies other than Sony. Not to beat a dead horse, but what is Sony waiting for? With their catalog, all they mention is David Sanchez and the Indigo Girls? I'm a Dylan fan and loved the titles so far, but I think it is pretty obvious that they have a few more titles that they are going to release.
And if I hear that SACD continues to "gain momentum and generate excitement" one more time I think I'll be sick. If there is so much excitement, then where are the titles(either catalog or new releases)?

Regards
KrisM

 

[Paul.S]

Is anyone else underwhelmed with that Colin Cigarran interview Dennis links to above?

First of all, its not clear to me exactly who he is/what he does (SACD catalog development exec?, mastering engineer?). He is "unable to answer [the] question" re SACD II because he is "not involved with the technical specifications of the format." If the SACD II tech spec has been codified (and we were hearing rumors of it as early as last fall), then it seems to me that it is now less of a tech issue and more of a marketing one--i.e., the kind of thing you'd wanna talk up in an interview read by many of the format's core demographic/advocates.

I also find the interview short on addressing some of the now-perennial questions/issues many of us HTF Music Forum hi rezers have been asking/gnashing our teeth over for a long time (i.e., why all the missed street dates?, why the slow release schedule?, why only hybrids originally?, etc., etc.). He intimates that there are other entire catalog remasterings in the offing by mentioning "many other artists whose albums are in the works" right after mentioning the Stones and Bob Dylan . . . but then does not say/is not asked what artist(s) he's referring to.

I also have to say that I disagree with his vision of the format's future, namely that hi rez will one day displace CD, partly because downloading is "done strictly out of convenience and [is] something that one would most likely grow out of at some point." This strikes me as naively typical of the way labels have thought of digital delivery of music in recent years, to their peril. The "demand for quality and real value" that he intimates will win the day for SACD is not something that everyone--of even the majority--of the music-listening market values.

Commodus says, " ".

Sorry for such a long post not explicitly related to your starting a thread about the new SACD announcement, Danny. Perhaps, Dennis, one of us should start a new thread about the Colin Cigarran interview? Or does it even deserve it? LOL.

-p

 

[Michael St. Clair]

No offense to the guys at our neighbor site, but that interview was a puff piece. No tough questions, and all the same old spin goes unchallenged.

In what way is SACD a 'de facto' standard for releasing an album? Not for mainstream pop/rock, that is for sure.

How long will Sony get away with claiming that there is a 'huge increase of catalog reissues' and then give the same old tired Dylan/Stones example?

I'd love to interview these guys, but they wouldn't like it. I'd be hard on the DVD-A guys too.

 

[KrisM]

It was a total puff-piece. He says he has never downloaded a song and people will grow out of downloading? I have to call bull-shit on that one. The music industry complains on and on about downloading killing their business, and this guy has never checked out downloading(the enemy) to see what it is all about? People will never grow out of getting something for free.
I agree with him that people want value for their money, and SACD can provide this. But people also need titles, and Sony is just not providing any value with their lack of titles.

Regards
KrisM

 

[Paul.S]

KrisM:

"And if I hear that SACD continues to 'gain momentum and generate excitement' one more time I think I'll be sick."

"People will never grow out of getting something for free."

LOL!

-p

 

[Paul.S]

More bitching: Too bad they can't just say which damn Indigo Girls album supposedly is gonna be released on SACD: their new album from a few months ago, All That We Let In? Their I think biggest-seller, the eponymous debut, that Sony released a gold SBM CD of??

-p

 

[Joe Casey]

Sony...Sony....Sony. I was at the show today and sat for the blu-ray and SACD demo. The system was a 9000ES receiver driving NINE Wilsons and a Wilson sub (virtual 9.1 from 5.1 sources). SACD playback was through a 9000ES player, and a large Sony projector at 1080p onto a 100" screen. The blu-ray video demo at 1080p (1080i native) was astounding, and was via a prototype Sony player. The SACD demo was Allison Kraus. I was sitting front row center. IT SUCKED! The vocals were above and behind my head, no instrument separation, just a blend of sounds.

The plus side was a native DSD demo in the Kimber room by Ray Kimber. He recorded some great live music using his Iso-mike technique, and had it played back through an EMM Labs DAC into a pair of Theils. THAT was music. Incredible. He was also nice enough to hand out a few demo discs he made with the Iso-mike.

 

[Marc Colella]

Definitely a puff-piece.

I guess we don't have to hear excuses that Sony is aiming the format towards a niche audiophile market.
The man admitted it himself... mainstream is their goal.

The "interview" was basically a method to put a spin on the format... pure marketing.

This Colin Cigarran also seems to be out of touch with the buying public as well.

Someone wake me up if/when something exciting finally happens in the world of hi-rez audio.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Heck I figured it didn't need its own thread.....

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I would go back later in the week. These shows often don't have the best sound early in the show due to unfamiliarity, component matching, room acoustics, and other conditions. It could be a bad mastering but every Alison Krauss I have heard and I think that's all of them sounds great sonically....maybe they have some equipment issues.

I'm looking forward to seeing the BluRay demo.

 

[Rachael B]

Puffy Puffiness I'd say, a touch of doubletalk. I picked up a used copy of the new Aerosmith this week and it has SA-CD graphics and titles. It's obviously yet another cancelled SA-CD! Sony is hiding something IMO. __________________________________-. Place the sack-dee conspiracy theory of the week in the blank. Why is Sony hurting their own format through neglect?