The future of DVD-A & SACD?

[Triggaaar]

Read the interesting link from Rob, about DualDisc, which could lead to more DVD-A discs being available.

I'm about to buy a complete AV system, and want to know your opinions on DVD-A and SACD. Personally I'd like a selection of music that's suitable for a surround system, but I'm not sure if much will become avlaible.

Its not as simple as buying a DVD-A player in the future if necessary, as it affects the processor I choose as well.

For those who are interested in multi channel music, have you found much available to suit your tastes, and has it been worth it?

Thanks

[wayne42]

Ive just ordered a sacd / dvd audio player and some discs. Let you know how i get on.
Looking through Amazon, not alot to choose from but haven't really checked out any of the other main sites (had some vouchers to use up),

[Stereo Steve]

I currently have a Pioneer 757 which will play both but I'm erring in favour of SACD. I personally think that Dual Disk or whatever the latest is called, is a red herring. I just don't think people will go for it. Unless they apply the same trick as with Hybrid SACD's of course. For instance, buy the hybrid of DSOTM and you would think you had just bought a CD. There are probably plenty of people out there with a few hybrid disks that don't know it. Dualdisk though, may stand out. Also, I don't like the idea of no label on the actual disk.

I also think SACD sounds better, certainly in my system. DVD-A seems to me to seperate out the music too much and it fails to produce an involving experience. That may be entirely down to my setup though.

I would not yet go out and buy a SACD only player but I believe SACD will win in the end, if either survives.

[Floodedstatue]

An interesting article about DualDisc / DVD-A / SACD:

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/ne...umber=12004614

Some interesting points, particularly this one:

"DualDisc has the potential to kick-start both the DVD-Audio market (some major label insiders have told High Fidelity Review that their release schedules have been on-hold pending a decision on DualDisc) and the music market in general"

- I had been wondering about the lack of new releases

[Philly112]

Interesting. I have been holding off buying a new DVD player for two years awaiting some sort of resolution on the SACD/DVDA situation. My gut feeling is that both will die if CD also remains available. I had hoped that the dual SACD discs would replace CD's but this doesn't really seem to have happened.
And ask ANY non 'hifi ish' member of the public what either SACD or DVDA are and I guarantee they will not have a clue. It will surely be up to the manufacturers to kill off CD without people being aware of it, as the take up for the 'new' discs is just too slow at the moment.
Phil

[Stereo Steve]

That's kind of my point Phil. I think the Sony approach of selling SACDs as CD's will work. It depends on the saturation and how many disks they can get out. Once they have plenty of disks in peoples homes they may start to see hardware sales increase as word spreads.

I think Dual Disk will confuse people and your average Joe will have no idea if they can be played on their system or not. That is, unless they are also sold as normal CD's (with no label and one side that doesn't play in the car etc.)

I'm not biased either way, I just believe SACD will win. I have about an equal number of both and continue to buy both. I do prefer the overall effect of multi channel sacd vs. DVD-A though.

[Sab]

I have a Pioneer 757 Ai and I only have about five SACD and DVD -Audio discs. Simply because I listen to rock and there are not many mutichannel discs that I would like to buy.

At present I have a very good CD player and listen more to CDs than multichannel music. There is much more choice in CDs than DVD Audio / SACD - this I think you will agree with. But my DVD player is Universal so I have greater choice and obviously DVD - A / SACD is designed to sound superior.

[alexs2]

One problem with Dualdisk that seems to have been glossed over is that being a sandwich effectively,the tolerances on disk thickness are very marginal,and in trials( as reported in HiFiNews)it seems a number of disks are over sized,and would not play properly,or simply jammed.

I'd love to find a way forwards from CD,but until this all settles down,I for one won't be changing....properly upsampled CD goes a long way towards DVD-A or SACD,but does require decent equipment...Perpetual Technologies and dCS both have made this work,and since i can't afford dCS....

[Stereo Steve]

Yeah, that's the problem with CD> I have heard it as good as any SACD but the cost to get there........

Apparently dualdisks have been known to jam in car CD players. Great. The would have to be nuts to launch a product that did that.

Anyway, Gaucho on SACD is a sublime experience and, for me, makes the whole thing worth it. Roll on Aja.