Post by fabiete April 26, 2005 (11 of 22)
|
|
I also hope the rumours of SACD's upcoming demise are "grossly exaggerated".
As others, obviously not that many worldwide, I do hear the difference......
Here in the Netherlands, SACDs appeared early enough, the selection in shops (mainly classical and jazz) increased rather quickly, special shelves were created for SACD and then, all of a sudden, things calmed down and, although the present selection would still be satisfactory for a "newcomer", the increase suddenly stopped. Today it is stagnating. People here have long been waiting for ECM's SACD releases of old and new recordings (e.g. K. Jarrett Köln concert) yet..... nothing (1 SACD only, in fact). As far as jazz is concerned, there are many re-issues of old recordings, which is quite alright, but hardly anything newly published directly in SACD format. For classical things are going better, I believe, although the best quality normally comes from smaller/independent companies.
I have always thought that SACD would only pick up if people bought enough of it and I therefore invested in about 100 of them.
Quite frankly, I would personally find the death of SACD very annoying after all the investment it took and very sad because SACD sounds, in general, much better than anything else I have listened to so far, excluding records.
|
|
|
Post by vonwegen April 26, 2005 (12 of 22)
|
|
zem05 said:
Hopefully Sony will get it right with the upcoming Born to Run 30th anniversary package, though I'm not optimistic
I bet it's just a crappy RB-CD with an extra-big booklet of "previously unseen" pix & little more than that. You can bet the farm on the fact that it won't be a hybrid SA-CD--Sony's abandoned SA-CDs on their own label imprint.
Hell, I can't even recall Sony Classical putting out anything since 2003...
|
|
|
Post by zem06 April 26, 2005 (13 of 22)
|
|
vonwegen said:
I bet it's just a crappy RB-CD with an extra-big booklet of "previously unseen" pix & little more than that. You can bet the farm on the fact that it won't be a hybrid SA-CD--Sony's abandoned SA-CDs on their own label imprint.
Hell, I can't even recall Sony Classical putting out anything since 2003...
I'm thinking that because this has been announced as a CD/DVD 3-disc package, any eventual multichannel remix will be found on the DVD.
|
|
|
Post by vonwegen April 27, 2005 (14 of 22)
|
|
zem05 said:
I'm thinking that because this has been announced as a CD/DVD 3-disc package, any eventual multichannel remix will be found on the DVD.
Here's hoping you're right, though I recall the title track being recorded on 16-track 2" tape & there being so many overdubs that they had to ping-pong multiple tracks on to the few open tracks before recording extra instruments like glockenspiel over the original tracks, thereby eliminating the 1st gen recordings of many instruments. This alone forced the recently-hired producer Jon Landau to scrap all his attempts to re-mix the song (which was produced by Springsteen's ex-manager Mike Appel). The rest of the album was produced by Landau.
I imagine, if this story is true, it would make it very difficult to do a real MCH mix of B2R -- more likely would be a re-using of the original stereo 1/4" mixdown tape with ambient reverb in the surrounds and nothing in the center channel.
|
|
|
Post by delerue April 27, 2005 (15 of 22)
|
|
Batches of SACDs (new and sealed) of various titles (Marvin Gaye, Police, Elton John, Beck, etc...) showed up at the local used CD store for $8.99 which was quite a bargain. All still had the original $18.98 price sticker from Tower affixed to the back!
What gives?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyone that says SACD is still alive and kicking is only fooling themselves.
Citing some obscure classical up and coming SACD does not a future make. So how many people care about that title? What 17 of you? Here in Northern CA 2 years ago, I could buy SACDs at Tower, Best Buy, Circuit City, and the The Good Guys (very limited). In the present, Circuit City has dumped SACD. Best Buy has let their SACD section go all to hell, mixed in with DVD-A, dual disc, CDs that contain bonus DVDs, it's just sad. The Tower near me in Newark closed down.
A few titles trickle out, but as much as it pains me to say it, SACD is dead. The hardware is out there, tons of it, even cheap mainstream stuff and the major electronics chains have SACD/DVD players everywhere, lots of HTIB systems also support SACD but where are the titles?
I said it last year, without Eminem, OutKast, Green Day and U2, and a hundred others, the audiophiles will find slim pickings for the titles they want. There just isn't a profit to be made in most cases. Sony has blown it big time. SACD will remain for another year, maybe three or four as something barely a notch above (or below) the Mini Disc or Beta.
If I could ask all those big suits just one question it would be "where are the titles?"
I haven't purchased a SACD in months and I'm dying for something new. Even with a good higher end universal player to add DVD-A into the mix, the number of titles is still incredibly sad.
Suck up the bad news boys, unless there is a big change from the major labels and their attitude toward SACD, the format will never go above the hyper niche status that it has now. I'm almost willing to bet that LP sales are better than SACD.
Sony just made this big stink about their new PC with DSD
http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/news.asp?newsnumber=14655563
but it won't actually play SACDs? I mean I know the format is dead, but it's like Sony has to rub our faces in it, the very people that spent money on the gear.
Where is the SACD for my car? What about my SACD disc man? I love music, and this is the one case where the success or failure of a format really hit hard. I made a post maybe a year ago or more about BluRay killing SACD, but looking back now it doesn't have to kill anything. Good news is that with all the data capacity and bandwidth, I'm sure someone will fit multi-channel 24/192k (or higher) music onto BluRay.
So I guess I have that to look forward to, as that format will have a better chance of making it than SACD. It looks like both the HD-DVD and BluRay camp want to combine the formats to avoid a format war, so who knows, that new format could be the real home of high-def audio, and DVD-A and SACD could end up being the DAT, digital cassette, and 8 Track of this century.
http://www.StrangerSoundLabs.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
I sort of agree with Sound_Labs assessment. I mean the only things I am looking forward to that are coming up are Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds and the Genesis reissues (when and if THAT happens!). The SACD stuff that has come out since the Elton John re-releases have been sparse and generally awful.
I've found myself buying the distinctly lo-fi but currently ubiquitous DUALDISCs that have been getting a major push, as well as some DVD-A's that I have been interesting. They don't sound as good as SACD at all, but they sure do have the big names (Springsteen, Ben Folds, Duran Duran), and DUALDISCs are being launched as single-inventory, which is a luxury that SACD did not have at launch. (It definitely seems that DUALDISC marketers have learned something about the benefits of Single-Inventory statistics when justifying a new format's future.)
When you think about the numbers, a lot more people can enjoy the 5.1 mix on a DUALDISC or a DVD-A than people who can enjoy 5.1 from an SACD. From a creative standpoint, if I were a 5.1 mix-down guy, I'd want more people to hear my mix. Bottom line. So I'd say that since there are more DVD players than SACD players out there, I'd back the format that lets more people hear my work.
I think SACD is going to fade away and leave a lot of fans (like me) holding a big bag of SACDs. I'll still buy good content on SACDs when it's there, but I'm no longer excited about the format nor am I advocating it as the successor to CD, as I have been in the past amongst friends. The industry alone is the only thing that can convince me otherwise.
|
|
|
Post by stvnharr April 29, 2005 (18 of 22)
|
|
sound_labs said:
Citing some obscure classical up and coming SACD does not a future make.
A few titles trickle out, but as much as it pains me to say it, SACD is dead. The hardware is out there, tons of it, even cheap mainstream stuff and the major electronics chains have SACD/DVD players everywhere, lots of HTIB systems also support SACD but where are the titles?
I said it last year, without Eminem, OutKast, Green Day and U2, and a hundred others,
So I guess I have that to look forward to, as that format will have a better chance of making it than SACD. It looks like both the HD-DVD and BluRay camp want to combine the formats to avoid a format war, so who knows, that new format could be the real home of high-def audio, and DVD-A and SACD could end up being the DAT, digital cassette, and 8 Track of this century.
Sure sacd is mostly non existent in the popular music market. Most people haven't heard of sacd, don't care, and think cd's are wonderful.
As can easily be seen here in the recent additions, most new releases are of the classical variety. Classical has been a small single digit percentage of the market for years. And sacd is a small single digit percentage of even that small market. Yet, they all keep coming out, and most do not come from labels dependent on the pop music of the day.
How many dvd players, especially the Wal Mart, Circuit City, or Best Buy variety actually have sacd in them?
As for BluRay and HD-DVD, sure they will eventually come out. But, how many people are going to throw away their perfectly good DVD players to buy some new expensive player to play something they've never heard of. Looks to me like DVD-A and SACD all over again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
gfresh said:
I had to return The Police Live to Best Buy because one of the disc's was missing and they said there store no longer is stocking SACD and DVD-A. Once they sell what is left that's it. I think Circuit City is the same, their SACD section has mysteriously disappeared. Aside from Fry's, nobody else anywhere carries SACD or even knows what it is. Meanwhile DualDisc is in Rolling Stone and on big displays at major CD stores.
I too have found that Best Buy is no longer getting in any SACDs or DVD-A. I guess that they just do not sell enough, but that could also be because the goofs who work at Best Buy (at least the ones here in Austin) know absolutely nothing about either format. I laugh when I try to get any information from their sales people...in fact, no one even knows what SACD or DVD-A are and I usually give them a quick lesson. One person told me that they were in the computer section!!!! LOL!!!!
Barnes & Noble use to be good for ordering SACDs, but now everything is geared to make you go to the Barnes & Noble website...bummer
Fortunately, Austin has a great place for SACDs and it is called Waterloo Records. They stock a small selection of SACDs and they can order just about anything, from classical to pop.
If Waterloo were to stop selling SACDs, audiophiles in Austin would be in trouble!!!
Cheers,
|
|
|
Post by henry33 May 16, 2005 (20 of 22)
|
|
mandel said:
There is still a perception that CD is 'perfect quality' or as high quality as is necessary. Also an unfortunate number of cynics who are either talking without having tried the alternatives or who have cotton-wool in their ears.
I'm doing, as I suspect many people who read this do, my best to dispel these ideas on forums that i read.
As we approach 3000 SACDs and releases are speeding up, the format is anything but dead. Maybe slow taking off, but alive and kicking.
Check this out for a positive report from several quarters of what's happening with SACD:
http://www.audaud.com/audaud/APR05/feature/feature.html
|
|
