Thread: The writing is on the wall/ the emperor has no clothes - the rantings of an SACD fan

Posts: 4

Post by hawk February 29, 2008 (1 of 4)
As a person interested in listening to quality Jazz or Pop in MC SACD format I think the writing is on the wall...I have just been reluctant to read it. We have a choice of 4000-5000 SACDs as listed on this site. Out of those probably more than half is Classical...that leaves about say 1500...again, if half are stereo only (not MC), that leaves about a 700. Of that 700 you will probably be lucky to find, again, say about 100-300 that you don't have and might be interested in buying and they will only be available through different vendors on the net. Most stores have stopped stocking and selling SACDS a while ago. And eventually because there will be no new production, these types of CDs will entirely phase out and become an oddity with only a few enthusiastists like ourselves trying to keep the flame. And this we will do until our equipment gives out and can't be repaired because no one will be familiar enough or bother with the technology in 5-10 years time or due to a lack of spare parts. I know I have taken great liberties with the numbers and others will probably have the right numbers and they may be quite different but that wouldn't change the gist of the situation...we are not getting a steady infusion of quality recordings in Jazz or Pop (I don't know if the same is true of classical)and that means the demise of these types of SACDs or perhaps even the format(classical may save it or extend its life a little further). This is not changed by the fact that Sony decided to put SACD player capability in the old PS3 (the new one,I guess, doesn't have it) or by the occassional release of a title that we may want to purchase. So I think we need to be brave enough and say "the emperor has no clothes". The situation is what it is and it will not get better but worse. So IMHO we (fans of Jazz pop MC SACDs)should collect as much as we can (and still be as selective as we can), and enjoy the format in the music of our choice for as long as we can and hope that we can get some sort of alternative in the future that we will enjoy as much.

Post by Claude February 29, 2008 (2 of 4)
You're mostly right.

Classical SACDs are doing ok (not great, as so much essential repertoire is still not available on SACD), and it's only classical music that keeps the format alive.

For pop and jazz, the audiophile format of choice has become the LP, which is not logical for new productions which are recorded in hi-rez digital and multichannel, i.e. ideally suited for SACD or DVD-A release.

But that's how it is.

I would not worry too much about the future avilability of SACD players. I think a significant number of high end manufacturers will continue to offer CD/SACD players (some only stereo) as long as classical SACDs are being released. It may become more difficult to find a sub-$500 SACD player though.

Post by nickc February 29, 2008 (3 of 4)
hawk said:

As a person interested in listening to quality Jazz or Pop in MC SACD format I think the writing is on the wall...I have just been reluctant to read it. We have a choice of 4000-5000 SACDs as listed on this site. Out of those probably more than half is Classical...that leaves about say 1500...again, if half are stereo only (not MC), that leaves about a 700. Of that 700 you will probably be lucky to find, again, say about 100-300 that you don't have and might be interested in buying and they will only be available through different vendors on the net. Most stores have stopped stocking and selling SACDS a while ago. And eventually because there will be no new production, these types of CDs will entirely phase out and become an oddity with only a few enthusiastists like ourselves trying to keep the flame. And this we will do until our equipment gives out and can't be repaired because no one will be familiar enough or bother with the technology in 5-10 years time or due to a lack of spare parts. I know I have taken great liberties with the numbers and others will probably have the right numbers and they may be quite different but that wouldn't change the gist of the situation...we are not getting a steady infusion of quality recordings in Jazz or Pop (I don't know if the same is true of classical)and that means the demise of these types of SACDs or perhaps even the format(classical may save it or extend its life a little further). This is not changed by the fact that Sony decided to put SACD player capability in the old PS3 (the new one,I guess, doesn't have it) or by the occassional release of a title that we may want to purchase. So I think we need to be brave enough and say "the emperor has no clothes". The situation is what it is and it will not get better but worse. So IMHO we (fans of Jazz pop MC SACDs)should collect as much as we can (and still be as selective as we can), and enjoy the format in the music of our choice for as long as we can and hope that we can get some sort of alternative in the future that we will enjoy as much.

Klaus Heymann from Naxos has said they have recorded all their stuff in MC for years now and will be releasing on Blu-ray. That is PCM though!
Cheers
Nick

Post by mcchuk February 29, 2008 (4 of 4)
nickc said:

Klaus Heymann from Naxos has said they have recorded all their stuff in MC for years now and will be releasing on Blu-ray. That is PCM though!
Cheers
Nick

The writing is on the wall for most forms of music. CD sales were down 35% in Canada last year alone. I spoke with young music fan who pretty well sums it up. She commented that she havn't paid for music for years. Her words were that she downloads everything for free. She has thousands of songs on her I-Pod and she didn't pay for one. The masses who can settle for mediocre sounding music will not save the music industry. They will sink it.

The writing is on the wall for all record companies unless they can find people who will pay for their music. SACD fans are people who do that. What a novel thought.

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