PS3: Final nail in SACD's coffin?
(Credit: Amazon.com)Much has been made of how the PS3 is Sony's not-so-secret weapon in the Blu-ray/HD DVD format war. But I actually held out some small hope--call me naive--that the PS3 might be able to breathe some new life into Sony's near-dead, high-fidelity audio format, SACD (Super Audio CD), which competes with another near-dead, high-fidelity audio format, DVD-Audio.
In case you hadn't heard, the PS3 supports playback of SACD discs. There aren't a whole lot of SACD discs out there, but I happen to own five of them. I made an effort to find them the other night, and actually popped a couple into the PS3.
My fears were immediately confirmed: The PS3 is basically useless as an SACD player. What's the problem? Well, to play back the high-fidelity multichannel tracks, you need to have a multichannel analog audio connection from the player--in this case, the PS3--to the back of your A/V receiver. However, no such connector exists for the PS3. I'm running an HDMI connection to my HDTV and an optical connection to my receiver. Even if Sony allowed for a digital connection, there isn't enough bandwidth in an optical or coaxial connection to pass a multichannel SACD track.
Eventually, Sony may allow HDMI to be the digital conduit for SACD, but even if that happens, you'll still need an HDMI-equipped A/V receiver to process the signal. (I have two calls in to a Sony rep regarding this matter, but no confirmation on whether Sony intends to make the PS3 more SACD-friendly.)
With or without the PS3, it would have taken taken a small miracle to get SACD off its deathbed. At this point, not too many people care about its fate, but from what I've seen of its implementation on the PS3, I don't think Sony cares all that much either. Though the official company line is that it will stick around as a niche, high-end format, I'm ready to stick a fork in it--especially after getting a look at the release schedule on the Sony SACD Web site.
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at 44 kHz sounds terrible. It barely worked when it was introduced and it's not
much better now. SACD is the closest anyone will get to what engineers hear in
the recording studio. It failed because it's not easy to steal. DVD audio, another
vast improvement over CD, failed for the same reason. I'm willing to pay for
something better than a CD, but I suppose I'll have to lower my expectations
even more when the only format I can get is MP3.
--mark d.
If Dave still thinks SACD will achieve mainstream acceptance, Dave must be hiding out in a cave somewhere for the last 5 years or so. However, as an audiophile niche format, SACD is quite healthy. According to sa-cd.net's numbers, 758 SACD titles were added to the site in 2006. That's an average of 63 titles each month. I personally has another 30+ titles that aren't even listed on sa-cd.net, including new releases from labels like EMI Classics. For 2007, new SACD titles have already been announced by Genesis (the beginning of a massive catalog reissue on SACD), Moody Blues, Rickie Lee Jones, and Depeche Mode, with a strong possibilty of a new SACD from Enigma (announced on its official website). Otherwise, classical SACD releases remain strong and audiophile label Chesky Records plan to go single-inventory hybrid SACD later this year. As of today, as listed on sa-cd.net, there are 4,328 SACD titles released worldwide. At the current release rate, 5,000 titles by year end is entirely possible. The titles are definitely out there and if you can't find them, the internet is your friend, Dave.
SACD can be transmitted using HDMI v1.1 already. Perhaps you have heard of the $150.00 award-winning Oppo 970HD universal player? Certainly, HDMI v1.2 and v1.3 can do a better job but such connection already exist. And what's wrong with listening to SACDs in 2 channel stereo using the analog outputs?
The Blu-Ray movies played fine over my 5.1 surround sound speakers. After that positive experience, I excitedly purchased Dark Side of the Moon on SACD at a local store so I could listen to it right away, and then ordered about 20 more SACDs on the internet.
Lo and behold... the SACD will not play! All I get is a cryptic error message from the playstation saying "Use a different type of cable besides optical." Well, there are no other types of cable that will work! The only options are HDMI, which will not work with my amp... and dual (stereo) RCA cables, which obviously won't carry multichannel sound.
I'm completely disgusted that this $599 product won't play SACDs without another $2000+ investment in a new amplifier. Two words for you, Sony: "F--k that." I have canceled my order on amazon for all those SACDs; The pink floyd SACD goes back to the retailer tonight, if they will accept the return. As for the PS3 overall... I haven't made up my mind entirely, but I'm leaning toward returning it to the store as well.
Anyway, there's a new site for people who are interested in augmenting their PlayStation3's hi-def video set-up with high-resolution audio at http://www.ps3sacd.com
This guys is a moron. Do your homework and get your facts straight. Toslink easily supports 3.1Mb/s bandwidth rates and has been expanded to 125Mb/s.
Dolby Digital is usually 640Kb/s;
DTS is usually 1.5Mb/s;
Doly Digital Plus 1.7Mb/s;
(all encoded using a lossy format)
Even the new DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD (on Blu-ray and HD-DVD) audio tracks will be transmitting at 6.0Mb/s (lossy) and up to 18Mb/s lossless.
Uhhh... I think the fiber and coaxial connections will do just fine.
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