[Audio Redneck]

The American Symphony Orchestra League posted this on their e-mail newsletter today.

Quote:

The San Francisco Symphony will undertake a major Mahler recording project, beginning with recordings this month of the composer's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 6. Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the orchestra intend to record all nine Mahler symphonies and the Adagietto from the unfinished Symphony No. 10 over the next five seasons. The first releases are slated for early 2002 in the new Super Audio CD format, which provides the precision of digital technology while retaining the warmth and ambiance of analog sound. The recordings will be distributed by the orchestra through retail outlets and the SFS web site.

 

[KurtW]

I'm starting to wonder about Sony's commitment to SACD. As the inventor of the format and a company with lots of resources they don't seem to be releasing a lot of SACDs. In fact they seem to be more committed to the LP format than SACD.

I just bought Bob Dylan's latest release, which is on Columbia/Sony, and noticed it was available in three formats: CD, LP and MD. No SACD. Taking a look at Sony's website I see they have about 70 artists with SACD, but about 120 artists with LP releases. Maybe it's a pricing issue; the CD and LP have the same list price but the SACD releases are much more expensive.

In the past couple of years I've held off getting a SACD player because I was not convinced the format had a strong future, and instead invested in LP equipment. So far I've been happy with that decision.

 

[markl]

There was a noticeable slow-down in SACD releases over the last 2-3 months.

I'm pretty sure the trouble started with the need for Sony to rush into multi-channel SACD to compete directly with DVD-A. I'm sure there was a lag as they switched gears to start cranking out discs in multi-channel format. There was a recent flurry of multi-channel titles, and hopefully this recent lag was just a little speed-bump, and not a de-commitment from SACD.

SACD and DVD-A are becoming standard on the one piece of equipment people ARE still buying-- DVD players. Once people experience the joy of DVD, I think they can be sold on the new audio formats as well.

markl

 

[jaghouse]

If I had the extra $$$, would go KurtW's route. Many people comment on SACD approaching LP sound. Now why not just get a turntable and go vinyl.

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by jaghouse If I had the extra $$$, would go KurtW's route. Many people comment on SACD approaching LP sound. Now why not just get a turntable and go vinyl.

I love vinyl too. But I carry 100+ CD's with me almost everywhere I go (mostly between my home rig and my office rig). I'm not too sure about SACD's future either, but I do hope it makes it. If it does, can you imagine portable SACD fidelity? Maybe some day. Outlook is iffy, I'll admit.

Vinyl sounds beautiful. But portable it's not.

 

[jaghouse]

SACD would have a big advantage in portability if there were such players. SACD in cars?? Time will tell.

 

[jmpsmash]

spot on. multi-channel SACD will be a killer for cars. where else do most people much of their lives and almost always comes with 4+ channel audio?

the quality of SACD in this case will be less important though.

i am still sticking with redbook, and probably moving to vinyl.

 

[blr]

I don't see any particular advantage of SACD over red book CD for portables. For car units, yes the multi channel playback could be nice, but a portable SACD player doesn't make much sense to me. Usually portable players are limited by the quality of their DACs and analog stages. To make use of the SACD higher resolution such player should have good electronics inside, which would kick up the price way above what people are normally willing to pay for a music on the go. I pesonally wouldn't spend say 500 USD for a portable SACD player. Perhaps, for a home unit when the format war is resolved and there is enough software out there. Until then I'm happy with my CDs.