Re: [ARSCLIST] Longevity

[Don Cox <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 03/07/06, phillip holmes wrote:
> It's a Pioneer I got a year ago. DV-563A. I don't know if it's still
> available. Honestly, I don't think there's much difference between the
> $150 player and the $500 player. They're all made cheaply. They are
> not easily repaired. They don't last that long, in my experience. So
> unless you are going to step up to $1k or better, I'd spend as little
> as possible. Just avoid the off brand stuff. The picture is good on
> DVD, CD is okay (a little brash), DVDA can be awesome and the high
> frequencies on SACD sound like analog to me. That's where I never
> liked CD, the high frequencies, although they made up for it in
> dynamics, bass, S2NR, etc.. The SACD and DVDA are the best formats
> ever, in my opinion, when mastered well (and I've heard some bad SACDs
> due to incompetence). The RCA SACD reissue series really does "blow
> away" every analog copy I've heard. 

I agree. Likewise the few Mercury recordings that have been issued.

All of these were made by directly converting from analog to DSD. It
isn't certain whether recordings made in 24/96 PCM and then converted to
DSD are as good. I think PCM vs DSD is a mystery at present.


> I'd wasted an embarrassing sum on
> one of those 45RPM four single sided ultra premium kick ass reissues
> of Munch/Boston/The Organ Symphony, just to have it knocked on its
> butt by a $13 SACD. Woe is me. The naysayers will opine that SACD is a
> doomed format, but with the specialty crowd (that includes such small
> operations as RCA and Telarc), it's still doing quite well. 

The disappointment is that Universal have dropped SACD. They just
reissued the Monteux "Daphnis and Chloe". It sounds very good for a CD,
but could have been so much better in SACD.

> If you
> think about it, the small labels, after the initial learning curve and
> tremendous investment in the proper equipment, can deal with SACD
> hybrids for not much more than a regular CD. The extra juice offered
> by SACD to their customers gives you "value added" to the product,
> enhancing sales with the audiophile/cognoscenti crowd. Something like:
> "hey Biff, should I buy the SACD hybrid Telarc or the CD only EMI for
> the same price?". "Well Tanner, the Telarc will play in your BMW and
> in your SACD player at the mansion, so get it". You can say the same
> negative things about the regular CD as SACD since it appears the
> music industry is in a deepening crises with downloads, piracy, MP3,
> etc... I really wasn't kidding about MP3 killing off CD. The odd thing
> is, it's getting harder to find a really good CD player. Reviewers and
> buyers have noted that there aren't very many great mid-priced CD
> players like 10 years ago (Marantz, Rotel, Sony ES, etc..). With all
> the extra stuff added like DVD, DVDA, SACD, MP3 playback, etc...., the
> regular 16bit 44K playback has suffered. I concur and I've heard 10
> year old players that sound much better than current offerings.

Regards
-- 
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx