Thread: Worried that we are running out of SACD players?

Posts: 14
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Post by hawk July 5, 2007 (1 of 14)
I don't know the situation in other places, but it seems at least
in my neck o'the woods that there are less and less new SACD players
being put on the market. I am actually getting a bit nervous and I
am tempted to buy an extra SACD player while it is still available
in case the one I am currently using breaks down and can't be repaired.
For other electronic equipment-amps, speakers etc I know I will always
have a chance to buy a new one or even upgrade if they should one day
fail. But I can't say the same about my SACD player. I don't want to
be in the position of having to track down the few SACD players left
on the market from a few specialist dealers who may charge
a lot of money for a player or worse buy something I am not
really happy with or even second hand because of a lack of choice.
Also, is it possible that they won't be available at all?. How realistic
do you think my fears are? Have other SACD fans doubled up on their
purchases in case their equpiment gets irreperably damaged
or reaches the end of it's life span?

Post by dvda-sacd July 5, 2007 (2 of 14)
There is no problem with SACD players in Spain. There are plenty of SACD/CD and DVD/SACD players available, from Sony, Pioneer, Denon, Marantz, Arcam, Yamaha, Krell, Teac-Esoteric, NAD....

Cheers!

Post by The Seventh Taylor July 5, 2007 (3 of 14)
Well, Sony is going to flood the market with SACD-compatible PlayStation3 units so in a few years there'll be tens of millions of these in the market.

Post by Julien July 5, 2007 (4 of 14)
There will always be more all format compatible players than now, not less. SA-CD, for at least 20 years IMO, will be a common format, even if is not mass market. It will be like vinyl in a way.

Post by SnaggS July 5, 2007 (5 of 14)
I sort of know what you mean... there is a lack of SACD only players in the entry level realm.. its either DVD/SACD players or its the audiophile sector.

I hope Sony keep at least a single affordable SACD player in the stable. I think they will, consider that they have just released a SACD car stereo unit recently.

However, I don't think its a crazy idea to vote with your wallet and buy another player if you can afford it.

Daniel.

Post by The Seventh Taylor July 5, 2007 (6 of 14)
Julien said:

SA-CD, for at least 20 years IMO, will be a common format, even if is not mass market. It will be like vinyl in a way.

I hope it will be. It's perhaps interesting to see what happened to LaserDisc -- the first optical disc format ever and the videophile format of choice until DVD came along. Soon after, LaserDisc players became extinct. Only Pioneer (such a staunch supporter of the LD format they are often mistaken for its inventor, which is Philips in reality) had a DVD/LD combi player in their first DVD product generation or two... except in Japan, where to my great surprise I found this player on Pioneer's website this very year.

Post by brenda July 5, 2007 (7 of 14)
hawk said:
Have other SACD fans doubled up on their
purchases in case their equpiment gets irreperably damaged
or reaches the end of it's life span?

hawk, I have a backup SACD player, a stand alone "bedroom" model from Philips, so that at least I can keep playing sacds in some sort of surround if my Denon 2900 needs repair. My ex partner keeps a backup player too, just an entry level Sony, mainly for when his (more expensive) denon (A11 ??) stutters, needs servicing or whatever. neither of us keep them for when the SACD hardware market dies as neither of us expect that to happen. B

Post by DSD July 5, 2007 (8 of 14)
The Seventh Taylor said:

I hope it will be. It's perhaps interesting to see what happened to LaserDisc -- the first optical disc format ever and the videophile format of choice until DVD came along. Soon after, LaserDisc players became extinct. Only Pioneer (such a staunch supporter of the LD format they are often mistaken for its inventor, which is Philips in reality) had a DVD/LD combi player in their first DVD product generation or two... except in Japan, where to my great surprise I found this player on Pioneer's website this very year.

You are correct LaserDisc does have a following in Japan that could explain the new Pioneer model.

LaserDisc also introduced the first High Resolution Video called "Muse LD"; it was only introduced in Japan and has officially failed. But does have the distinction of beating Blu-Ray and HD-DVD by a decade and a half.

MUSE LD

"In 1991, several manufacturers announced specifications for what would become known as MUSE Laserdisc. Encoded using NHK's MUSE "Hi-Vision" analogue TV system, MUSE discs would operate like standard Laserdiscs but would contain high-definition 1125-line (1035 visible lines) video with a 5:3 aspect ratio. The MUSE players were also capable of playing standard NTSC format discs and are said to have superior performance to non-MUSE players. The MUSE-capable players had several noteworthy advantages over standard Laserdisc players, including a red laser with a much narrower wavelength than the lasers found in standard players. The red laser was capable of reading through disc defects such as scratches and even mild disc-rot that would cause most other players to stop, stutter or drop-out. Crosstalk was not an issue with MUSE discs, and the narrow wavelength of the laser allowed for the virtual elimination of crosstalk with normal discs. In order to view MUSE encoded discs, it was necessary to have a MUSE decoder in addition to a compatible player and a MUSE-compatible TV set. Equipment prices were high, especially for early HDTVs which generally eclipsed $10,000 USD, and even in Japan the market for MUSE was tiny. Players and discs were never officially sold in North America, although several distributors imported MUSE discs along with other import titles. Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Lawrence of Arabia, A League of Their Own, Bugsy, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Chaplin were among the theatrical releases available on MUSE LDs. Several documentaries, including one about Formula One at Japan's Suzuka Circuit were also released."

Post by hawk July 5, 2007 (9 of 14)
dvda-sacd said:

There is no problem with SACD players in Spain. There are plenty of SACD/CD and DVD/SACD players available, from Sony, Pioneer, Denon, Marantz, Arcam, Yamaha, Krell, Teac-Esoteric, NAD....

Cheers!

Yes...if I am not mistaken Sony has factories in Spain and that may explain the
relative wealth of players there. Just to illustrate my point though,if we take
the biggest producers Sony/Philips because they have the best shot at reaching
the highest numbers of people acroos the globe...Sony is currently producing
the Sony DAV series. It is your basic 5.1 home cinema package with small
satellite spkrs and a subwoofer. It has a digital amplifier built in. Sony also
ensured that the speakers have the frequency range that SACD is capable of
producing.It seems like this is a perfect way to introduce people to SACD.
And the DAV products from a few years ago did. However, as far as I can see,
the latest Sony DAV series doesn't support SACD playback anymore.
The few that do are several years old now and are being sold off at discount
prices as the new series come in more concerned with playing DIVX.

Philips is no better...It used to produce DVD players like the DVP 720 SA. This
was a wonderful universal player that would play everything you put into it.
More importantly, the SACD playback was so good that reviewers were comparing
its playback quality to high-end products. Philips has since discontinued the
player and none of the the new players that have come out recently play SACD.

So all in all I am a little encouraged by everyone's optimism (yours and the
others who have kindly taken the time to respond) but I am still concerned
that the SACD may go the way of the laser Disc or worse, the eight track.

Thank You

Post by dvda-sacd July 6, 2007 (10 of 14)
hawk said:

Yes...if I am not mistaken Sony has factories in Spain

Well, I think the Viladecavalls factory doesn't produce SACD players.

Some Sony SACD players you can currently find here are:

· SCD-XE597 (€164)
· SCD-X501ES (€499)
· SCD-XA1200ES (€885)

· DAV-DZ810W (€599)
· DAV-X1/X1G/X1V (€599/€699/€999)
· DAV-LF1 (€1,999)

· MEX-DV1000 (€199)

Cheers!

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