Why are SACD's out of print?

[lovinthehd]

Thanks for that tidbit on the classical SACDs.

Linn ...familiar, my very 1st hifi system was based around a pair in Linn Index book shelf speakers. The sales guy practically begged me to buy the Linn Sondek turntable with the system, but I had recently sold all my LPs and had moved on to CDs.

By many reports I've read on the Linn Sondek tt's, you did well to pass in any case.

 

[lovinthehd]

I hope you don't mind me joining in the conversation at this point.

Are most of those classical SACDs being issued in multi-ch or primarily stereo? multi-channel.
prestoclassical.com currently has 3,934 different multi-channel SACD's in their inventory.

Is it the supposed higher quality that keeps 2ch classical SACDs flowing? Classical SACD's are released in multi-channel. There really aren't 2 channel classical SACD's out there (at least I've never run across any). The only 2 channel SACD's I have in my collection are rock CD's that have been remastered and released as SACD. The "supposed" higher quality and remastering is what is keeping companies like Mobile Fidelity in the SACD market.

At least I don't get a majority of classical SACDs when I search a catalog by "multi-channel SACD" try this link to prestoclassical.com:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/formats/sacd/browse

That seems a crowd that often poopoohs multich audio nor uses multi-channel gear. That is true for many, possibly the majority of classical music listeners. But there are enough classical listeners out there with muli-channel systems to keep many labels in the SACD game.

I was using elusivedisc.com and acousticsounds.com to see what proportion were classical. I didn't try an all-classical site....mostly because I don't think that way (not a big fan of classical generally). I did see quite a few classical SACDs that aren't multi-ch in my searches, and didn't seem close to a majority in any case. Using your site and a search of "multi-channel SACD" I get very few results. I'd also think much of the classical multi-ch stuff isn't due to recording technique but rather magic in the studio just like other genres. Kinda why I brought it up.


ps revisited your link to just sacd and do see quite a few with multi-channel in the sacd description area....guess the search function doesn't do multi-channel well. Still, they're classical....

 

[davidscott]

By many reports I've read on the Linn Sondek tt's, you did well to pass in any case.

N
I never owned a Linn TT but back in the day they were considered the gold standard of vinyl listening. That is as long as they were setup, upgraded, and tweaked as needed. I much prefer my plug and play REGA Planar 3 for vinyl these days. But for a fanatic a properly set up Linn was awesome. I've heard them at dealers with pristine LPs and they were all that.

 

[lovinthehd]

N
I never owned a Linn TT but back in the day they were considered the gold standard of vinyl listening. That is as long as they were setup, upgraded, and tweaked as needed. I much prefer my plug and play REGA Planar 3 for vinyl these days. But for a fanatic a properly set up Linn was awesome. I've heard them at dealers with pristine LPs and they were all that.

What I've seen was it was promoted that way but not a particularly good table overall....like much vinylphilia? Why would they need upgrading/tweaking if they were so good?

 

[davidscott]

What I've seen was it was promoted that way but not a particularly good table overall....like much vinylphilia? Why would they need upgrading/tweaking if they were so good?

Continued income for the company I would guess. Some of the upgrades did seem to be worthwhile at least on paper so one could have an infinite path to keep up with the current model. Like I said I never owned one but have heard them sounding excellent at a high end Audio shop. Believe me the Linns were way out of my price range back in the day. I owned a Technics then a Dual back then.

 

[lovinthehd]

Continued income for the company I would guess. Some of the upgrades did seem to be worthwhile at least on paper so one could have an infinite path to keep up with the current model. Like I said I never owned one but have heard them sounding excellent at a high end Audio shop. Believe me the Linns were way out of my price range back in the day. I owned a Technics then a Dual back then.

Don't know what audio qualities a tt particularly imparts aside from the cartridge in use...assuming it is competent as a tt.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

My player cost me $189.99 delivered.

It plays DVD-A and SACD despite what a certain member on here (not you) believes.

Many SACD titles seem costly too. I guess for experimentation I'd be almost tempted to try and find a cheap player like your $189.99 and a few SACD's to see what all the fuss is about. I suppose I'll have to upgrade my receiver and speakers?

 

[davidscott]

Don't know what audio qualities a tt particularly imparts aside from the cartridge in use...assuming it is competent as a tt.

The better the tonearm the better the cartridge will track. At least in theory.

 

[lovinthehd]

The better the tonearm the better the cartridge will track. At least in theory.

So the stock Linn had a crappy arm or something?

 

[davidscott]

So the stock Linn had a crappy arm or something?

I don't know but I think they came with REGA arms back in the day. I am really not defending Linn here as I never owned one but they did have an excellent reputation according to the Audio mags of the day. Like I said Linn turntables had an almost limitless upgrade path so I never purchased one. The Linn motto was source 1st then electronics then speakers as you can never recover what was lost at the source, Personally Id go one step further and say that the recording was the real source and thus the most important link in the chain.

 

[Verdinut]

Many SACD titles seem costly too. I guess for experimentation I'd be almost tempted to try and find a cheap player like your $189.99 and a few SACD's to see what all the fuss is about. I suppose I'll have to upgrade my receiver and speakers?

You wouldn't have to upgrade your AVR or speakers if you are satisfied with them. The main advantage of the SACD format is the surround audio on 5 channels. Otherwise, SACD don't sound any better than well audio engineered CD recordings.
What makes a good CD or SACD recording is the quality of the audio engineering and mastering.

 

[lovinthehd]

I don't know but I think they came with REGA arms back in the day. I am really not defending Linn here as I never owned one but they did have an excellent reputation according to the Audio mags of the day. Like I said Linn turntables had an almost limitless upgrade path so I never purchased one. The Linn motto was source 1st then electronics then speakers as you can never recover what was lost at the source, Personally Id go one step further and say that the recording was the real source and thus the most important link in the chain.

Supposedly Naim has an excellent reputation like Linn. LOL.

 

[sterling shoote]

That Kind of Blue SACD came with the Sony DVP-S9000ES that I had bought in the early 2000's. Unless your 9000ES was not properly set up which I doubt, I suspect that it was not functioning properly because mine played the 5 channels. Don't forget that the SACD format as jointly developed by Sony and Philips was indeed a 5 channel surround playback format. That is the reason Sony was including the Davis album with the player to demonstrate the new surround playback format then.

The DVP-S9000es does not play 5.1 SACDs, never did. It plays single layer stereo SACDs, dual layer stereo SACDs, and hybrid SACD/CDs, DVDs, and CDs but no multi-channel SACDs. I still have mine and use it daily. As you know, SACD is not carried via IEC 958 or Toslink, only via RCA output and the DVP-S9000es only has stereo RCA output, no multi-channel RCA. So, the only 5.1 output from the DVP-S9000es would be from DVDs via EIC 958 or Toslink to receivers with DTS and Dolby Digital decoding. Later, Sony produced many SACD players which had multi-channel RCA output and even a preamp with 5.1 analog inputs (TA-P9000es); however, their last SACD Player, the 5400es could only output 5.1 via HDMI. BTW, 2-Channel said earlier he could not get his Kind Of Blue multi-channel SACD to play in multi-channel perhaps he was trying to get it to play multi-channel in a Sony DVP-S9000es it won't, just stereo. And yours did not either, just DVDs played in 5.1 from it. You might be thinking of the Sony DVP-NS900V which does play 5.1 SACDs. Here's a pic of the DVD-S9000es, third up from bottom left.

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

Many SACD titles seem costly too. I guess for experimentation I'd be almost tempted to try and find a cheap player like your $189.99 and a few SACD's to see what all the fuss is about. I suppose I'll have to upgrade my receiver and speakers?

My player was a closeout model. And as you know, sound quality depends on how well the music was recorded over the Super Audio CD format.

 

[lovinthehd]

Many SACD titles seem costly too. I guess for experimentation I'd be almost tempted to try and find a cheap player like your $189.99 and a few SACD's to see what all the fuss is about. I suppose I'll have to upgrade my receiver and speakers?

Here's a less expensive one as long you don't mind hdmi only. https://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDPS6700-Upscaling-Streaming-Blu-Ray/dp/B01BTTHXZU/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=sacd+player&qid=1563240136&s=gateway&sr=8-13

 

[sterling shoote]

All,
For sure, it's multi-channel SACDs depth and breadth which is cause to want to get into it. And, with a cheap Sony BD Player which has HDMI output you can run to your Prepro or AVR, it's a no brainer. I think that this scenario might in fact give SACD a second chance, it's now just too cheap and easy for awesome sound to not entertain it. Now, what I don't get is the very expensive audiophile stereo only SACD players out there today. They just seem out of touch.

 

[snakeeyes]

Here's a less expensive one as long you don't mind hdmi only. https://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDPS6700-Upscaling-Streaming-Blu-Ray/dp/B01BTTHXZU/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=sacd+player&qid=1563240136&s=gateway&sr=8-13

Edit

That one is cool for SACD and Blu-ray Audio but if you also want DVD Audio you need the x800 or x800m2.

 

[Verdinut]

Supposedly Naim has an excellent reputation like Linn. LOL.

Yeah! You pay for the "Naim" !

 

[Verdinut]

The DVP-S9000es does not play 5.1 SACDs, never did. It plays single layer stereo SACDs, dual layer stereo SACDs, and hybrid SACD/CDs, DVDs, and CDs but no multi-channel SACDs. multi-channel in a Sony DVP-S9000es it won't, just stereo. You might be thinking of the Sony DVP-NS900V which does play 5.1 SACDs. Here's a pic of the DVD-S9000es, third up from bottom left.View attachment 30141

You are right. It must have been another player, most likely the DVP-NS900V Sony player which I had then.

I find it really weird that Sony which invented the SACD disc playback format released a DVD/SACD player that didn't play SACDs in 5.1 but played DVDs in 5.1.

By the way, you have a nice system that must sound amazing.

 

[Paul DS]

To the best of my knowledge Sony bluray players will only output 5.1 channel sound from a multi-channel SACD via the HDMI output. You cannot get multi-channel over the coax or optical outputs.