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99% confused

What the hell are you talking about?

This newer technology is great stuff, but 97% of the problems with digital audio is in the analog domain. Either going from analog to digital, or going from digital to analog, and the filtering and buffering associated with both. There's no magic technology for doing those well. Its careful implementation and willingness to spend a few bucks. Its been the story since 1983, when CDs were supposedly perfect, and its going to continue.

Sony has a poor track record in the implementation department. Yeah, they design great digital gear and push new technology even while losing money at it, but I've never been impressed with any analog electronic implementation of theirs. For example, I was curious back in the 80's why many of the CDs sounded like crap. So, I ordered the service manual to the PCM-1610 which was used to convert the majority of 2-track analog recordings into digital.

That poor signal went through about 5 NE5534 OP-AMPs, lots of filtering, and a couple coupling caps before being digitized. No matter how perfect digital was claimed to be, such buchery before hitting the digital domain was not going to produce a perfect end result. Thankfully, high oversampling rate A/D converters reduce the low pass filter requirements of that day, but they are still not perfect.

So, if Ric says the SACD-1 has all this magic digital stuff and some not so magic analog stuff, I believe him. Like I said, I've never seen any amazing analog circuity from them.

The 3% not in the analog domain? I think companies like Wadia work on that with their DSP algorithms.

My guess on prices. Well, I think the original CD players were over $1000, and in 1983 dollars, SACD prices are similar. What do CD players cost now? I saw an ad for a boom box with CD, casette player, and radio for $40. DVD/CD players are quickly displacing stand-alone CD players in most audio systems, now at under $150. Those traditional audio systems built around receivers seem to be disappearing in favor of boombox/minisystem or Home Theatre with little middle ground.



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