Recently, at a number of other audio-based websites, there's been a wealth of posts once again declaring the "lowly" CD as the worst possible sonic travesty ever inflicted on mankind. The adjectives run the gamut from A to Z, and the vitriolic condemnations of such a "dreadful" medium are endless.

Yet, amidst all this, I still like the CD. I not only like it, but prefer it to analog. (Making a statment like that on the other sites is enough to get me shot!) First and foremost, I have to state that there certainly are many truly horrible sounding CD's out there, and that most of them are popular music recordings, as opposed to classical. While the style of music shouldn't necessarily dictate the quality of a recording, it's very apparent that a good deal more care has gone into the engineering of a classical CD than a popular one, and that's truly unfortunate.

I listen to classical music far more than to popular music, though I do have a very extensive collection of popular stuff, including some 800 LP's and a similar number of popular music CD's. I also have a disproportionately large collection of Telarc CD's as compared to any other label in my classical collection, and it is the Telarc label that is primarily responsible for my enthusiastic support of this "horrible" medium.

There are Telarc CD's that were recorded as far back as the late 80's that still knock my socks off when I listen to them. Even an old Telarc recording of Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto positively crucifies the sonics (and the performance) of a far newer Naxos SACD of the same piece. So, my point is this: if some Telarc CD's can sound this good, then there's nothing inherently wrong with the medium, but rather, the engineering.

Telarc has used numerous different digital recording devices and consoles over the years, but has now chosen the DSD medium for recording as "the best availalble out there." CD's mastered from DSD recordings sound much, much better than those mastered on other forms of digital recorders, but it is the SACD that is the only playback medium capable of fully capturing all that the DSD process captures.

And yet, the SACD is in danger of extinction.

To me, should that happen, then that would be the most ignominious chapter in the history of this industry. Again, while all SACD's aren't the "best thing out there," several are, and nothing compares to them. The smooth, effortless and robust sound from a well engineered SACD can send chills up one's spine, as a couple new purchases I recently made do just that (Telarc's latest "PIctures at an Exhibition," and BIS's super-spectacular recording of Beethoven's 9th).

Having worked in this industry for over 30 years, I still fondly recall the excitement we all shared whenever some "new" technology appeared, resulting in better sound. The first "Direct to Disc" recording stunned all of us. So did the first Telarc LP, mastered digitally from the Soundstream Digital Tape Recorder. So did dbx-encoded LP's and cassettes. And so on, and so on.

That the SACD's performance tops all of these by the degree that it does, but sometimes, regrettably, doesn't (for the same reasons some CD's sound so awful), and hasn't received the degree of enthusiasm once reserved for far less incremental improvements in fidelity is a downright shame.

And, that's my thought for the day....