employee says Best Buy will do SACD right soon

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Grant, Jan 21, 2003.

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  1. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me! Thread Starter

    I talked to a young SACD fan who worked at Best Buy today. He told me that BB is well aware of the increasing popularity of both DVD-A and SACD and that in a few months they plan to move the discs into the regular CD stock. He says they kept them seperate from the regular stock because the average consumer gets confused. They are stocking more SACD titles.

    CC has a DVD display on their otherwise SACD display, and have their SACD/DVD players grouped with the other DVD players, not in the audio department.
     
  2. Jamie Tate

    Jamie Tate New Member

    Location:
    Nashville
    I noticed Media Play has them in with the general CD population. Nice selection too.
     
  3. Pinknik

    Pinknik Senior Member

    Of course, they shouldn't be moved into regular stock for the very reason they didn't do it in the first place (unless they're hybrid). They should make a more prominent, well-stocked display, with a demo next to it. Maybe NOBODY should have made a move (i.e. SONY) until they had the facilities to make ALL SACD's hybrids.
     
  4. MJM

    MJM Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maryland
    DVD-Audio & SACD Education

    It's definitely going to take a little more time & education to ensure that the public at large knows what's going on in the music world. I've just recently given my mother a crash course on DVD-Audio & SACD's, and she was actually somewhat interested to hear about it. She didn't have the foggiest idea what in the world they were, but she saw my Elvis DVD-Audio, as well as an SACD title, and noticed that I was playing them in my "DVD Player." I actually have an SACD & DVD Player, and that allowed me to explain things to her. I wonder if the majority of the public will be as open to learning about these formats. I sure hope so.
     
  5. Todd Fredericks

    Todd Fredericks Senior Member

    Location:
    A New Yorker
    I hate to say this but I think the general public would be more attracted to the idea of the surround mix rather than the higher-rez stereo. A lot of people are now getting those rack surround systems for DVD's and I think they enjoy the novelty of 5.1 music mixes (but will eventually demand videos to accompany the music). I really don't know if an average listener will hear much of a difference on a budget hi-fi...

    Todd
     
  6. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me! Thread Starter

    Actually, DVD-A played in a regular DVD player sounds nice, but it is not impressive the way SACD is. The way I hear it, you can get the same sound quality from DVD playback of a DVD-A as with redbook CD.

    Also, most people do not have a dedicated DVD-A player and will never hear the "advanced" hi-res level. It's also more confusing when a DVD-A disc has stereo, Dolby AC3 surround, and DTS surround. All three modes sound different. There's no standard or stability in playback. If I mastered a DVD-A I would be upset that my mixes wouldn't be heard the way I want them to be heard. At least with DSD, the producer has a better chance of the end-user hearing what was put in.
     
  7. floyd

    floyd Senior Member

    Location:
    Spring Green, WI
    Sad but true I'd have to agree.
     
  8. RetroSmith

    RetroSmith Forum Hall Of Fame<br>(Formerly Mikey5967)

    Location:
    East Coast
    It Is true.

    Most people, on a budget system, wont hear the difference from a Redbook to a SACD.

    However, play a DVD-A SURROUND disk on even a modest 5.1 system, and there WILL be a major difference, simply because of the surround factor.
    Thats a selling point that will work on the general public.

    Thats why, Ive felt, for a long time that DVD-A is going to be for the masses , and SACD for a niche group. Remember those "Direct To Disk" pressings of the 70s and 80s? Same thing.
     
  9. Gary Freed

    Gary Freed Forum Resident

    Hi All,

    I've been to many Best Buys that have a nice selection of Jazz CD's
    but Best Buy near us has a very small Jazz CD selection. Since many of
    the SACD's are Jazz titles I hope my Best Buy starts to carry more Jazz.
     
  10. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan

    Location:
    Atlanta
    "Most people, on a budget system, wont hear the difference from a Redbook to a SACD. "

    I disagree. I just did an experiment with a friends boombox and we could hear a difference and it was not subtle....:)
     
  11. mcow1

    mcow1 Sommelier Gort

    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    There's a boombox that does SACD?
     
  12. GoldenBoy

    GoldenBoy Purple People Eater

    Location:
    US
    That might have been a valid argument if SACD were not also capable of 5.1 playback and there weren't already many multichannel SACDs, CD/SACD players and DVD/SACD capable players with a rapidly growing number on the way. Combined with the fact that DVD-A, unlike SACD, is not backwards compatible in anyway with the players that the majority of listeners play their CDs in.

    I have a 17 year old second cousin who grew up around me as more of a niece, as her mother and I grew up together like brother and sister. I've done the best I can in educating her in music and what have you. She came over on Saturday and we were talking about some new CDs and she asked me to recommend some new albums and so on. Then she told me that she finally got the new Beck album Sea Change. I took this as an opportunity to tell her that Sea Change had come out on SACD a month ago and that I picked up a copy and that I never listened to the CD release of it anymore, so she asked me to put it on. She was impressed with how it sounded and I even put on the redbook version as a comparison and she noticed a difference indeed - of course, this was not scientific - but then I played it for her in multichannel and she was floored. She kept saying 'wow, this sounds so good'. At one point she even said 'it's like a whole new, better way to listen to music...I should get one of these for my room'.

    So I told her to get a HTIB (Home Theatre In A Box) from Sony and that they could be had for under $400. She was very set and excited on the idea. So yes, multichannel is the way to win over the younger music buyers and the average consumer. And it's not limited to DVD-A either.
     
  13. GoldenBoy

    GoldenBoy Purple People Eater

    Location:
    US
    Well it might be possible to hook an SACD player up to a boombox, but I don't think there is actually a boombox capable of SACD playback - unless I missed something. :)
     
  14. GoldenBoy

    GoldenBoy Purple People Eater

    Location:
    US
    Oh boy do I agree with that. DVD-A is just too bloody convoluted for it's own good.
     
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