A not-so-special reason why SACD is superior

[ronning]

Aside from the fact that I personally prefer the sound of SACD over DVD-A, there is a more logical reason / fact why I prefer to purchase SACD titles over DVD-A. Simply put: CD compatibility. The fact that many/most SACD's are hybrid discs and playable on regular CD players (and thus also downloadable onto an ipod) makes them MUCH more convenient and financially lucrative. If I buy a dvd-a, I can *only* play it on my one player at home - period. Granted, some dvd-a's are playable on standard dvd players but how many people have a dvd player in their car? My SACD's have a lot more value because I don't have to buy a 2nd CD copy of the exact same title.
That said, I obviously am often frustrated by and do not purchase the single-layer discs which Sony seems to love to sell.

[N. Abstentia]

I disagree with the sound quality thing, I prefer DVD-A myself by a slim margin but then again the medium means nothing. It's all in the mix. Both are equally superior formats.

I'm going to have to vote for DVD-A though, because the DVD-A discs I have by Yes, Queensryche, R.E.M., The Doors, and KD Lang dominate the SACD versions...because the SACD versions don't exist :)

There's just a better selection of DVD-A discs, and I like the lyrics and videos that are added but like you if I pay $15 for a disc I want to be able to play it in my car, on my portable, and I want to be able to rip it to WMA on my computer.

I do like the Pink Floyd/Dark Side and Peter Gabriel SACD's, but other than that there are no SACD's that interest me. I also have the Alison Krauss Live SACD, but the SACD lacks the air and punchiness of the regular CD.

So there are two things they need to do to get SACD and DVD-A off the ground.

1) More releases.
2) Better mixes. It's too much of a crap shoot right now because you don't know how the quality will be.

[mtrycraft]

Aside from the fact that I personally prefer the sound of SACD over DVD-A, there is a more logical reason / fact why I prefer to purchase SACD titles over DVD-A. Simply put: CD compatibility. The fact that many/most SACD's are hybrid discs and playable on regular CD players (and thus also downloadable onto an ipod) makes them MUCH more convenient and financially lucrative. If I buy a dvd-a, I can *only* play it on my one player at home - period. Granted, some dvd-a's are playable on standard dvd players but how many people have a dvd player in their car? My SACD's have a lot more value because I don't have to buy a 2nd CD copy of the exact same title.
That said, I obviously am often frustrated by and do not purchase the single-layer discs which Sony seems to love to sell.


Can't you copy the audio from a DVD player to a CD, for your car?

[Woochifer]

Can't you copy the audio from a DVD player to a CD, for your car?

What do you think (or maybe you should try your suggestion out first)? Of course, the poster was referring to the convenience of the hybrid discs as a reason for preferring SACD, and I don't think that having to do an analog to digital conversion from DVD-A counts as convenient.

[ronning]

What do you think (or maybe you should try your suggestion out first)? Of course, the poster was referring to the convenience of the hybrid discs as a reason for preferring SACD, and I don't think that having to do an analog to digital conversion from DVD-A counts as convenient.

Right. of course you could do an analog copy from a dvd player to a cd, but this would require a set-top cd-burner or a complicated computer setup. Regardless you'd end up with a Digital-to-analog-to-digital conversion that would introduce lots of uneccessary noise and filtering. Also, you would lose song tracks / titles and would have to reproduce those on the CD end (again, this would be easier with a set-top cd burner). Anyway, yes, it's not very convenient!

As far as the comments above regarding DVD-A, I will admit that there is a more varied selection of DVD-A titles. However, overall I am not exceptionally pleased with the catalog of titles in either format, but hopefully this will become less of an issue as more and more recording companies and groups make the transition. I personally see the biggest benefit in high resolution audio with classical/vocal/jazz music and SACD is strong in those categories, hence my personal bias.

For now, it is hard to justify the purchase of any disc only playable on my home system.

[kingdaddykeith]

I totally agree with N.Absentia on this, I have come to believe that the recording and mix is the culprit for the good sound. As far as hybrids go, I have no use for them, I only like the MC mixes and the CD layer is most often not even from the same master as the SACD version, In other words it's just the standard Red Book master which is often outdated and the exact same as the original CD. The main reason I buy any old recordings is that the re-mastering and mix often bring out many good qualities the original didn't have.