Portable SACD Player - Any Interest?

[PMC7027]

The more SACDs I buy the more I'd like to have a portable SACD player to bring to my office.

Anybody share my feelings?

Since portable DVD players with LCD screens can now be purchased for less than $300, you would think that the cost of an SACD player wouldn be similar. If you remove the display and make it 2 channel only (how many people have 5.1 headphones?) the cost shouldn't be prohibitive.

[Sckott]

The DSP's should come down in price, but what I'm afraid of is the consumer "cheapness" effect. I'm hoping they continue to make good Burr-Brown archetecture without putting the technology in a cost-effective affair.

But because the software can be expensive, and sometimes hard to replace, I would rather keep it an @home thing. I say get a real nice CD player and install a tube pre and amp in the office. Makes for a better conversation piece! :D

[Damián]

Originally posted by Sckott
I say get a real nice CD player and install a tube pre and amp in the office. Makes for a better conversation piece! :D
Or get one of those for your office PC and a plexiglas case..

http://www.aopen.com/products/mb/ax4b-533tube.htm

Add a good desktop speaker system.. now there's a conversation piece! :D

[Sckott]

Yep! There ya go.

Truthfully, I just have a lot of Mp3's from Cds I own at home ripped. I can't be seriously listening to music while I work, and to really appreciate SACD, you have to be in front of your speakers, left alone. Otherwize, I'm sure if somoene did a switch on me, I wouldn't be able to dissern between redbook or SACD. I've also learned the bigger and more powerful the system, the better for SACD.

Not trying to be negitive, but SACD doesn't lend itself to a positive portable opportunity when MiniDisc, MP3 players and CD players rule the roost. SACD is for the mind with the ability to concentrate wholly on the music. I can't do that at work, but without having my whole collection here, I have a 60 gig HD full of CDs I listen to. Can't stand the radio anymore. Too flooded with commercials, and that's very distracting!

For work, it works! :) Music I like helps me think around problems....

[PMC7027]

I listen at work (in my cubicle) with my Stax SRX Mk. III headphones. My collection of SACDs is starting to include a number of single layer discs, such as the Red Rose Music discs I just bought at half price ($9.99 each) at Elusive Disc, and the Police titles.

I'd rather not have to spend the time making CD-Rs from the SACDs, which is why I'd like a portable SACD player.

[lsupro]

I'd be intrested if we can get sacd players in the car as well.

[Sckott]

Yeah, that I would really like.....

[lsupro]

not that a car is a very good listening chamber....

[sgraham]

I have almost zero interest in portable music devices.

Well you did ask.

[Sckott]

No... It's not. But something like a real 5.1 hi rez with DTS capability.... :)

[Henry Love]

I think they will be coming for car and portable.Just hope they find a way to keep the sound quality at a reasonable cost.I think Sony needs to go all out if they want mass acceptence.I think SACD is an evolution and shouldn't be just for audiophiles.

[JMCIII]

A portable SACD player would be a nice addition, as would car players. But, they have to keep the price in accordance with other portable/car music players or the great unwashed won't buy. And they are the key. But, I'm betting Sony has plans for these and it won't be too much longer before we see them arrive.

[-=Rudy=-]

I've sometimes found car listening more revealing than anything at home, with the volume being louder and the speakers in close proximity to the ears. CDs I could tolerate at home could turn into a jaw-clenching experience in the car, where something that sounded good at home could sound positively smooth in the car. Even LP to CD jobs at home would have all of the flaws revealed over the car's sound system.

And I'm not talking cheap $3 Delco head unit either--more like 500 watts of power, subwoofer that goes down to below 30Hz, and the sound smoothed out with spectrum analyzer and EQ. SACD might make some titles easier to tolerate in the car. If I don't go deaf first. ;)

[bmoura]

Originally posted by JMCIII
A portable SACD player would be a nice addition, as would car players. But, they have to keep the price in accordance with other portable/car music players or the great unwashed won't buy. And they are the key. But, I'm betting Sony has plans for these and it won't be too much longer before we see them arrive.

Yes, Sony has mentioned in the past that they plan to bring SACD to portable and car products.

And they did show a Car SACD Player at a Tokyo Car Show last year. So I would agree that it is coming.

[lsupro]

Thanks Brian! You are a wealth of knowledge... btw shamelss plug, where is your site with the upcoming releases?

[Metralla]

Brian's home page (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bmoura)

Regards,
Geoff

[lsupro]

Many thanks!

[-=Rudy=-]

SACD might be nice in the car, but I'd almost rather have MP3 playback. I've been carrying around the Panasonic portable and playing it thru the car system...it's nice to have 11 albums on a CD, and not need a changer. :)

[LesPaul666]

I'd be the first to go for SACD in my car...A car isn't really the best place acoustically to listen to music, but after much trial an error with numerous components and speakers, you can actually get a combination that can come very close to a selyrious home hi-fi...even without an EQ and spectrum analyzer.It's just alot of hit and miss, and much frustration...

[lsupro]

Originally posted by Rudy@A&MCorner
SACD might be nice in the car, but I'd almost rather have MP3 playback. I've been carrying around the Panasonic portable and playing it thru the car system...it's nice to have 11 albums on a CD, and not need a changer. :)


OK... I just have to get this off of my chest. Perhaps I'm a freak (don't answer that Rudy), but am I the only one that finds mp3 difficult to listen to? Maybe it is because I liten to radio all day and my ears need a break form bad sounding audio, but I just have a hard time listening to mp3. IMHO .wma sounds better (for a compressed format). mp3 is ok i guess at a 320 bit rate... but still had to listen to.

Back on topic now, though in a car you can not enjoy all of the reproduction that SACD or DVD-A can bring, it has still got to be better than listening to mp3?

[TimB]

I travel alot, and in the evenings, a portable SACD player and my Koss ESP950 portable electrostatics would be nice. A car version with full surround would be nice also. I have always felt that if Sony would promote a car surround version, and encourage some of its artist's on the Columbia label to produce some dazaling pop stuff in surround, they could capture youth interest in SACD.

[JohnG]

Originally posted by Rudy@A&MCorner
I've sometimes found car listening more revealing than anything at home, with the volume being louder and the speakers in close proximity to the ears. CDs I could tolerate at home could turn into a jaw-clenching experience in the car, where something that sounded good at home could sound positively smooth in the car. Even LP to CD jobs at home would have all of the flaws revealed over the car's sound system.

And I'm not talking cheap $3 Delco head unit either--more like 500 watts of power, subwoofer that goes down to below 30Hz, and the sound smoothed out with spectrum analyzer and EQ. SACD might make some titles easier to tolerate in the car. If I don't go deaf first. ;)


Totally agree, a car can be made to sound quite good. If you use the right combo of speakers and amps with good eq, the effect can be 3D-like.

Just the other day I had on a Porcupine Tree song and my 10 yr old son was startled by the sound coming from the rears that washed over to the front. He looked around a said where'd that come from not knowing it was from the speakers and the song (Signify 2).

I find my car to be a relaxing place where I can control the music and not have any other distractions. No kids, no wife, no phones. Just me and the music.