It's not all gloom on the SACD front, though, with Chicago Resound and soon-to-be-released titles from James Levine and the Boston Symphony. In Europe Audité and Harmonia Mundi are keeping the faith - for now at least - but 2L seems to be wavering. The latter has launched a Blu-ray audio disc alongside an SACD, signalling a possible change of course. Interestingly Robert von Bahr at BIS has succumbed to the curse of the bean counters, admitting that future SACD releases will have to be funded by CD sales.
On one or two forums dedicated to the format some idealistic souls seem to think writing letters and proselytizing online will engineer some kind of shift away from bog-standard CDs to audio Nirvana in the shape of SACDs. Many of them seem fixated on the format to such an extent that the relative lack of suitably recorded material matters not a jot. In fact many have openly admitted they simply won't buy CDs anymore, thus ensuring the demise of the very thing they hope to save.
I still find high-res audio to be a worthwhile goal but I suspect many listeners don't. In the present economic climate I imagine the recording companies will have even less of an appetite for what is essentially a niche within a niche. Already alarmed at falling CD sales they will rush to embrace the cheaper option of downloads. Apart from the ubiquitous iTunes DG now offers them at 320kbps, as does Amazon, albeit at a lower bit rate (256kbps).
I wonder what this will mean for us as reviewers? Will we soon be listening to allocated downloads rather than ripping into Len's monthly mailing with childish glee? I can't help but feel a little morose about that prospect but I cheer myself up by saying it's all about the music, so it doesn't really matter how it's delivered.
That usually works, for all of five minutes.
Sigh.
I think the reason SACD has not taken off is that an SACD player is both expensive and rare. I'm not talking about high-end audio shops; I mean the standard locations where people buy hi-fi goods. If they've never heard about the players, they won't be buying the discs. The only way for SACD to gain a foothold is for SACD to be incorporated into middle-of-the-line players, and that won't happen as long as there's licensing money to be made.
ReplyDeleteA while ago, out of curiosity, I checked here in France. The biggest online dealer of cultural stuff - CDs, books, TVs, computers, hi-fi, etc., a company that also has a big chain of stores - doesn't even have any. Amazon FR lists two by a company I never heard of. So there's no point in looking any further: if it has to come from a high-end audio shop, it's not really for me.
Yes availability of the hardware could be an issue but price shouldn't be. My player cost around £400 and that's hardly high-end or big money in hifi terms. Also some SACD manufacturers don't allow their equipment to be sold online.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm inclined to think the war with DVD-A was detrimental and when Universal bailed out that didn't help either. Marketing was half-hearted as well, with many consumers confused about single- and double-inventory discs (ie SACD only and hybrid discs).
Another issue that may have worked against SACD is that it can't be pirated/ripped. As for software Amazon and others stock thousands of titles at competitive prices, so again cost needn't be a factor. It seems too many people want - expect - free music, whatever the quality, and that's probably going to reverse all the advances we've made over the years.
It's odd that music should be the the victim of such a reversal given the mad dash to high-definition video. No problems with availability there, with intensive marketing campaigns everywhere you look. People are quite happy to splash out £2000 on the latest 50-inch Sony behemoth, a couple of hundred for a Blu-ray player and more again for a surround sound setup. And then there's the Blu-ray software, which sells at a hefty premium over DVDs.
But, to appreciate SACD, you need a full system that is capable of playing it back with the appropriate fidelity. You say 400 quid; I'd not spend that for any individual element, so that's high-end for me, and that's probably a very small percentage of listeners (and only of classical and, perhaps, jazz listeners).
ReplyDeleteWell, you don't have to pay that much either. A well reviewed universal player from Pioneer can be had for just £114.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete