Damn am I sick of people ringing the bell on SACD and claiming it dead! Just too many ignorant people! It’s like people claiming that an athlete MUST be on drugs because he won the gold. Shut up man, you’re gonna get a good slap up side the head for belching out such crap! An intelligent (you know, not brain dead) person doesn’t condemn if there isn’t proof to put behind it. It’s like saying it’s time to bury grandma while she’s still clearly enjoying watching Oprah on the tube. You just don’t say things like that. Ok, claiming the death of SACD is not in the same league as claiming that Usain Bolt is on something, but, you get the idea.

Here is the real situation:

Sure, SACD is not going to take over CDs, of that much we can be clear. BUT, there are still great players coming out that are either dedicated to SACD or are multiplayers that include SACD playback. Also, the number of new releases per year hasn’t changed much in the last five years.

The Players of interest

The Pioneer DV48A, DV58A (US) and DV-600AV (Europe) along with the Oppo DV-970HD and 980H are recent players that have finally made digital output of the SACD DSD signal via HDMI to a compatible receiver like the Pioneer Elite VSX-92TXH, the Sony STR-DA5300ES (TA-DA5300ES), the Denon AVR-3808 and AVR-4308 and Onkyo TX- TX-SR805, TX-SR875 and TX -SR905 or the Marantz SR60001, SR7001, SR8001, SR7002 and SR8002 receivers, and the Yamaha RX-Z11, RX-V661, RX-V761, RX-V861, RX-V1700, RX-V2700, RX-V1800 and RX-V3800.
There are also now players and receivers using iLINK that can also transfer the DSD signal to the receiver. A few years ago this just didn’t exist.
If SACD were already dead, we would not be seeing new features coming out that are specifically for SACD! Right?

Pioneer has released an SACD audio player, the PD-D6-J and NAD came out with their first SACD machine. There are loads of high end players that too, like the Esoterics, Ed Meitner / EMM Labs, the dCS Paganini, Scarlatti and Puccini and the Accuphase MDSD SA-CD Player DP-700, and loads more.
Other SACD player manufacturers include Alouette Audio, Audio Aero, Bladelius Design, Bel Canto Designs, Classé, Daisy Laser, Denon, Faroudja, Krell, Lexicon, Lindermann, Linn, Marantz, McCormack, Micromega, Musical Fidelity, Music Hall Audio, Onkyo, Opera Audio, Philips, Pioneer, Primare, Revox, Shenzhen Shanling, Sharp, Sony, Theatris, Van Den Hul and Yamaha.

Doesn’t look very dead to me!

The Discs are Still Coming

Although the majors have slacked off, the smaller labels are still rolling out new titles.
The SA-CD stats show that this year has only rolled off about 10%. RIAA stats are of course bogus as they are for SACD only (non-hybrid) discs. Most SACDs released now are Hybrid SACD and CD playback and are counted as CDs by the RIAA.
And since there are more and more users that have SACD playback capable systems and have invested in better sound, there are new users every day.

The picks at the stores are there too. Arkiv Music has 2030 classical music titles, up from 1428 a year ago, Elusive disc has 3000 titles, one year ago they had 2500, and Amazon.com has 4430 titles up from only 1240 a year ago! OK, there are those who say that 4400 is way to little, but at least it is still growing! That’s a long way from dead if it is still growing!

I’d say that rather call SACD as dead, we need to call it what it is, a baby growing to toddler stage. I think SACD is here to stay, and will slowly continue to grow.

So please people, let’s not bury SACD while it is still alive and kicking.

Linn records will release 5 new classical and jazz music titles during the rest of the year.
Although LINN is primarily known for their exceptional hifi equipment, they also edit audiophile quality music under a label of the same name. Today the label is one of the world’s leading audiophile labels specialising in classical, jazz and Celtic music.

For the second half of 2008 LINN announces the coming release of 5 new titles including works by Ravel, Mozart, Tartini, Veracini and the UK jazz legend Carol Kidd.
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SKU: UDSACD 2035
Originally released in August 1990, most true Pixies fans consider this one of their best. So this is a welcome sight in the SACD window.

A surf-space rock album that touched upon new heights, Bossanova departed from the “unpredictable” signature sound of the Pixies and is considered their first thematic project.

According to MoFi, the disc will be a Stereo and Multichannel Hybrid SACD and the digital transfer is mastered from the Original ½” Analog Master Tapes so we can expect the traditional great sound of mofi here. The packaging will be a numbered Limited Edition Mini-LP-Style. I recently added the Rush “Parallel Lines” MoFi Gold CD to my collection and I must say that the mini LP format really adds a sense of something special.

If you don’t know this album, there is a great review on Amazon By Wheelchair Assassin .

I’ll add links when it is actually available.

Availability

Music Direct 4 – 6 weeks.*
Elusive Disc – Preorder

Disc Details

Works by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Marin Marais, Sainte Colombe, & François Couperin
Montserrat Figueras (soprano); Maria Cristina Kiehr (soprano); Fabio Biondi (violin); Christophe Coin (bass viol); Jérôme Hantaï (bass viol); Rolf Lislevand (theorbo); Pierre Hantaï (harpsichord)

Le Concert des Nations

Jordi Savall

Alia Vox- 9821(CD)
Reference Recording – 1991 issue of same (Auvidis)

The SACD version has a fold out cardboard cover. The original CD from 1992 is the standard jewel box with booklet. The CD version is also available as a 2002 reissue but my example is the original 1992 version.

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History

The Stranger was Billy Joel’s first big hit album. The Piano Man netted only one real hit, but The Stranger rang up four top 40 hits and four Grammy nominations. Phil Ramone’s assistance in this album was certainly of big importance in its success.
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