Sony Music... did they just give up on SACD?

I have the Animals disc. Whats the problem, you don't like listening to these recordings with NO BASS.

It's not the worst though, thats for sure. Just the wrong eq.

 

I think that overly maximized and compressed. They squished all of the life out of these recordings.

 

What's happening with SACD at Sony? In a word, MERGER, as in Sony/BMG. Everyone's probably trying to keep a low profile and not approve anything that's going to show up in the red. Last year's sales figures for hi-rez releases were not exactly encouraging.

 

I don't know whether HDMI theoretically supports DSD or not. The complete specification is not publicly available. I do know that, as I said, SONY's DVD/SACD player with HDMI output does not support it - this is plainly stated in the manual:

http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/documents/specifications/DVPNS975V.pdf

(Page 20)
"Note that Super Audio CD sound is not output from the HDMI OUT jack."

If Sony doesn't support it, I don't know who will.

 

Last year's release figures for hi-rez releases were not exactly encouraging.

How can something sell when it is not in the stores??

 

Dateline 12/06/2004 from "This Week In Consumer Electronics" (TWICE)

New York— Music industry statistics showed plummeting unit sales of SACD discs in the first half, but Sony says the statistics reflect a penchant by music labels to code hybrid CD/SACD discs of big releases, such as Rolling Stones' albums, as CDs to get them in the CD section of music retailers.

“The last number in the bar codes of discs designates configuration” said David Kawakami of Sony's SACD Project. The number two designates CD, he said, and “most labels agree six is an SACD.” He continued, “On the big releases like the Rolling Stones and Sting, with the label goal of keeping it in the CD section, are coding them [hybrids] with the number two.”

SoundScan, which tracks music-software sales, has only recently set up the ability to capture the six designation,” he added.

First-half manufacturer-level sales of SACD discs fell 54.2 percent in the first half to 300,000 units, for a retail value of $6.7 million, the RIAA announced earlier this year.

Telarc's president Bob Woods speculated that the numbers might reflect scaled-back purchases by Best Buy, which he said “jumped on early in the game” but “aren't buying as much as they did at the beginning.” The retail accounted for a high percentage of small market. It will take “five to seven years before it hits,” he said.

For its part, DADC continues to replicate SACD discs and will increase output as demand rises, said marketing manager Shelley Klingerman. Also, Sony BMG Music Entertainment continues to release SACD titles, a spokesman said without providing details

 

Darn...

I think I'll have to start buying SACD's on Amazon.co.uk from now on... is it true Europe gets different / better releases than America?

Darn... first, Beta. Then, MiniDisc. Now, SACD. Will I ever learn not to trust Sony?

 

I know both the Peter Gabriel and The Police SACDs were hybrids in Europe, plus they also get hybrid versions of previous single-layer SACD titles from Sony.

 

Really. I think the disc is a lot of fun and sounds great. It's the only Animals disc I have, though, so I'm not able to compare. Honestly, I don't want any more.

 

I think the figure of 150 titles from Universal is on a worldwide basis.

 

I find the Animals SACD to be infinitely better than the old ABKCO compilation CD.

For those who don't like the SACD, is there a CD that you recommend?

 

Sony never fully supported SACD, ever. I will tell this story one more time, although I have told this story here before. I collect annual finanicial reports from a lot of Fortune 500 companies. These large companies use their annual report as a place to brag to their stockholders and the public in general about all of the "neat" things that the company is doing to possibly make money. I have a really nice collection of Sony annual reports going back to the early 1980's. Well if you look very carefully in all of the Sony annual reports from 1996 through to now you will not find one word ever mentioned about SACD. Not one word. I always thought that was very strange for a company to not mention a new technology that they developed.

 

If Sony only spent as much effort in getting out their great catalog in their great format as they did in getting Capitol to switch DSOTM from a DVD-A release to SACD, we would be basking in some great Sony Catalog SACDs!

 

With the totally opposite viewpoints of various cd/SACD comments on this site perhaps you should let your own ears be the judge.

 

True, so true.

 

It's always best to listen for yourself. System, ears, etc. will vary. It's only $16 bucks or so. What do you have to lose?

 

Hmm. Nobody has yet to mention the real fly in the SACD/DVD-A ointment: The Harry Fox Agency. Hybrid SACDs and DVD-A discs contain more than one version of an album, typically a 2-channel mix or red book layer and a multi-channel mix or hi-rez layer. The Harry Fox Agency, which collects mechanical royalties for ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, wants the labels to pay royalties for EACH copy of a song on any single disc, which would double the mechanical royalties for each disc, substantially increasing the cost of production, hence an increase at retail. Until this dispute gets resolved between the Harry Fox Agency and the record labels, don't expect anything to be released in either SACD or DVD-A format. With SACD, the preferred releases are hybrids, so the labels only have to release ONE copy of any album, rather than a standard red book issue and a single layer SACD release. The labels are claiming that since it's only ONE piece of media, why should they have to pay mechanical royalties twice? With DVD-A, there's a stereo mix and a multichannel mix on one slab of media. Same argument. If you want to bitch about the lack of new hi-rez product, bombard the Harry Fox Agency with nastygrams at http://www.harryfox.com.

 

Harry Fox Agency - this is true....BUT

How the heck does Universal do it?? No one has ever answered that question.

Why can UMG do it, yet WB, Sony, etc cannot?

Y? Y? Y?

 

They should have just kept on cranking em out while the dispute drags on. Chances are it will be one of those "settlement" type deals where the label could have easily paid the agency with a portion of the profits from discs they would have sold by now.

Also, why is this not a problem for Universal? Are they playing ball the Hairy Fox way?

 

Exactly. And what's the deal with US Sony Music?

 

Ryan and I are on the same page at the same time!!!

 

The publishers have the right to adusted royalties on a new format. It certainly looks like Sony does'nt negotiate with anybody but possibly Wal-Mart. Sony's likes to dictate, not negotiate, IMO. The publishers have the upper hand which I'm sure is so-ooo disdraughtful for Sony! Their reaction, stop making SA-CD's in ernest, save a few for show. Sony is like a kid on the playgound who takes his ball home when he can't get his way in the game, IMO.
It all show what a low commitment Sony has to their baby...

 

This publisher rights issue only exists in the US. It would not stop Sony from releasing SACDs elsewhere.

 

I hate that Sony hasn't been releasing more material on SACD!

Having said that, I would think the most important contribution they could make to the SACD format at this point would be to ensure it becomes part of the new Blu-Ray specificaton.