[kfh227]

I was wondering if any manufacturers have stated intentions on such a release and/or if there are rumors on the subject?

Thanks,
Karl

 

[Old Pa]

My understanding is that the chips to convert SACD and DVD-A are of the variety with too high a current demand for portable devices and that there are no plans to develop the low current variety. Furthermore, PCDPs, having just gotten done competing with MiniCDs are now in a losing competition with HD/MP3 players. It's sad but the market conditions do not favor development of high fidelity PCDPs at this time.

 

[kfh227]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Pa My understanding is that the chips to convert SACD and DVD-A are of the variety with too high a current demand for portable devices and that there are no plans to develop the low current variety. Furthermore, PCDPs, having just gotten done competing with MiniCDs are now in a losing competition with HD/MP3 players. It's sad but the market conditions do not favor development of high fidelity PCDPs at this time.

Tis true. It's kinda sad that people arn't demanding lossless compression. Like APE, I think it's called. I'd go for a high capacity storage medium if it was lossless, but I really hope to see SACD supported down the road.

It's kinda hard to believe that the chips for SACD and DVD-A draw alot of power. Maybe in the future as die sizes shrink a bit that will be remedied though, but a big change is probably 5 years off if current technology satisifes the markets.

 

[Czilla9000]

I was going to post on this, too.

In my opinion there is absolutely (as far as I know) no techical excuse for not having an SACD portable on the market. Almost all portable CD players generate their own 1-bit DSD code (because 1-bit is cheaper) internally anyway (Philips laboratory scientist Derfman said this). Their is no reason it could not be done. I have a cheap PCDP that was built years and years ago and it has a 1-bit DAC.

 

[soundboy]

I just think that there's no market for such a player. By that, I mean there's not enough demand. Let's face it, PCDP are considered passe (but not me). Sound quality is not of top priority for the manufacturers or with the vast majority of the consumers.

If Sony can produce a good sounding 5-disc SACD/CD changer for $150.00, they can certainly do a SACD PCDP for the same price. The problem is whether there are enough people who will buy such a machine.