Quote Originally Posted by E-Stat
I have perhaps ten dual layer Telarc SACD discs presently and would love to hear them in their native state. I've also ripped my CD collection to a computer server and enjoy the convenience of immediate access and random playback. I think Sony shot itself in the foot by deliberately crippling the medium to prevent that capability. You speak of the *convenience* of a format that still requires the use of handling discs. That is clearly not the direction of the future, regardless of bit depth and resolution.
Yep... another problem is that it is too late for SACD.... Its time to gain popularity with the mass market was back before MP3 became so popular... but it squandered that time in format wars with DVD-A...

Its time to gain acceptance with Audiophiles has now passed as well, since many audiophiles are now seeing the potential for Hi Fidelity downloads.... Crappy low quality MP3s opened the door for high end music servers.... Physical mediums are slowly (or not so slowly) being replaced by Media Servers...

As I've stated a few times before, Vinyl will probably outlive both CD & SACD as a collectors item (and for the few audiophiles who still reject digital)... But CD & SACD can easily be replaced by downloads of the same or even higher quality...

If you are a classical lover, then an SACD player is a good buy now... but give it a few years and you'll likely be able to get the same quality or better from downloads + have access to all other genres of music...