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Thread: Demise of SACD?

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    74

    Smile By the way, I ain't no communist and I do love America

    Sadly, this does not reflect well on our culture in general. We have sophisticated technologies and people with the skills to apply them. High fidelity sound could easily be the baseline and it would not even cost more money. However, music is treated as product/comodity rather than art, at every level. One could argue that American Idol performers and all that stuff on corporate controlled radio should be compressed and streamed into the torrent of useless information that fills cyberspace (with the exception of this thread, of course ). I am all for free markets (if they are truly free), but taken to its logical conclusion, greed predominates. Fundamental things like art and health care are crushed under the weight of market forces that seek only bottom line objectives. Materialism can leave you pretty well impovershed!

    I remember Tom Waits once saying in an interview that he liked listening to music through a store front PA speaker. I think I might prefer that over a high end audio system playing compressed files.

    Thanks for the tip on the Micheal Breker SACD - that sounds like a must have.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
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    913

    Default

    I'd have to argue that the current situation is the opposite of what you described.

    That fact that people are not spending tons of money on crazy high-end audio reflects that materialism is not the dominant force here. In fact, the increasing ubiquity of music (online, on the go, in the car via satellite, etc) means that people actually care more about the content than the delivery mechanism (which is what I expect Tom Waits meant). The three major arguments people have with the industry and 1) crappy music 2) high prices and 3) being locked down with DRM. These all point to people who want good music at good prices that they can use in whatever way they want. This is good for music IMO.

    The lack of interest in HiFi doesn't mean people don't love the art of music, it's just that the modern way of embracing music is to totally integrate it into their lives rather than putting it on a pedestal. Ubiquity over audiophilia. This is where SACD and DVD-A really missed the target on where the future of music was headed.

    Just wait, we're getting to the point where ubiquity is a given, then ubiquity plus audiophilia will become more of a trend. The smart companies are embracing this idea, and those who don't will be left serving a dwindling customer base.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BradJudy View Post
    Just wait, we're getting to the point where ubiquity is a given, then ubiquity plus audiophilia will become more of a trend. The smart companies are embracing this idea, and those who don't will be left serving a dwindling customer base.
    Brad, I really hope you are right about this. I am working hard so my kids understand quality by playing lossless music through my Ascends as much as possible.

    It seems to be working because my daughter asks if she can play music she likes from my Sonos.
    -curtis

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    Default

    BradJudy, I too hope that you are right. I am not so confident that high fidelity will matter, though I will not miss the snob factor in the least. From what I have read, many (not all) recording engineers are producing recordings that match the limited capabilities of MP3 players. If that becomes a trend, the rest of the Hi Fi discussion becomes irrelevant. The artisitic merrit of music is probably best left for a different discussion, but I do feel strongly that rampant materialism eventually leads to a diminishing aesthetic - I see our culture as a testimony. But that aside, the technology will eventually be available to merge ubiquity and audiphilia (those two dreaded diseases ). I hope to see and hear the day.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    466

    Default dvd-a

    I think some people don't like them because its hard to get them to sound right. I use an oppo 971 now which only supports DVD-As, but even with it (as my older pioneer which supports both), I can never seem to get enough bass. In my H/K menu, I +10db the sub specifically for DVD-A, and they still seem to be lacking in bass compared to 2-channel tracks.

    I hear some of the newer HD-DVDs supporting the newer HD sound formats (when using the analog outputs) are having the same bass management issues.
    Sierra-1 - Mains+Center
    Surrounds - HTM200SEs (x4 in back, and x2 Atmos)
    Sub - SVS PB-2000
    Receiver - Onkyo TX-RZ1100
    Oppo Darbee Edition Blue Ray
    Sony 4K blu ray player

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
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    35

    Default

    Me i really dig SACd yet I listen to the stereo mode.

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