SACD is not bad, but DVDA was much better. The only problem is the industry did not support it, well, because of the expense of manufacture. Additionally, you needed a new machine to play it. I have a Denon multi-format player that works with all the ones that have come out, thus far.
The thing that gets me is that the original CD format works really well with a decent DA converter, usually outboard, but those of us who care already have the gear. I can't understand why all this monkey-motion with the "new formats" when, with a little attention to detail during production, the standard Redbook is great.
DCD, box set ...
Put it like this, i only have my music in WMA high rate now, so a CD is a bit of a novelty to me now, I only really listen to music while going to places from my collection, the rest of the time I use Pandora. What I dont get is why they just dont use Blu-Ray discs for a new format, then they wouldnt have to change it again for almost forever, 50 gig of audio has almost perfect quality to it, no1 could tell any imperfections in it really.
Cost of manufacture and the need to convince the public that they will have to buy a new machine .....
It will happen, eventually, but the recording companies are going to maximize profits from their own already-paid-for equipment, before they tool up again.
Besides, I am already talking about a compromise in sound quality I am willing to take by listening to digital to start. Digital music is about convenience, longevity of the media and accessibility of the music, but not fidelity. Maximizing fidelity is a goal, but it can never be any where near "almost perfect."
The problem with any "sampled medium", including blu-ray is that there are times during the music when the music is
not sampled. To those of us who are familiar with the true, live sound of real acoustic musical instruments, there can never be a sampled format that will fool us. I have thousands of dollars worth of high grade digital equipment, but my twenty year old analog equipment leaves it in the dust for fidelity. Don't try the "perfect quality" argument.
(This is not helping my migraine!)
Another thing is that the audiophile segment of the market is almost negligible, compared to the whole. The industry does not care about us.
