SlashGear Japan
D&M Holdings, the Japan-based consumer electronics corporation that owned several mid to high-end household brands including Marantz, Denon, Mcintosh, Snell, etc, has announced an additional Blu-Ray player by the end of March 2008. The company did not disclose what player will be released under which subsidiaries, but it’s more likely the Marantz BD8002, which is also a rebadge of Denon DVD-3800 BDCI.
The Marantz BD8002 resembles Denon’s 3800 BDCI, it has Profile 1.1 and Silicon Optix Realta Chipset with internal HD audio decoder up to 7.1 channels. But like many new Blu-Ray players revealed at CES 2008 last month, none of them really offered a complete package.
What happened to a good old Universal Player? Let’s not counting HD-DVD, because we know it’s going away and DVD-A is not likely with a Sony’s Blu-ray transport. But can we at least get the SACD back ? Denon and Marantz are known in the past to provide SACD playback with their universal player, but not with their first entries to the Blu-ray market. Owners of high def audio with analogs option are facing with extra set of 5-7.1 analog inputs from a Blu-ray player. The HDMI crowd will have to deal with extra SACD player. I’m sure the limitation relies heavily on the transport, well, Work on it, Sony! There are some of us still buying your SACD disc, give us a complete package and I refuse to spend $2000 on a Blu-ray player without one.
10 Responses to “Blu-Ray, Where is my SACD Option?”
ematcion February 11, 2008
Daniel, Daniel, Daniel….
If you go to avsforum.com and look up Denon/Blu-ray, you will see that a Denon rep has confirmed SACD for Denon’s second generation Blu-ray player. This was a couple of weeks back. Where have you been?
NeutralMd. Fuad Zain February 11, 2008
The limitation is not in the transport. The 20GB/60GB/80GB PS3 has SACD-playback capability. It reads CD/DVD and BD. Since SACD uses the physical layer of DVD, any DVD player can be made to be compatible.
The issue is with the extra watermark verification HARDWARE you need to get SACD playback.
Denon and Marantz are not going to offer a universal player, not until their customers tell them so.
Don’t blame Sony or the Blu-ray Disc Association for things that are clearly not their fault.
NeutralDaniel Lim February 11, 2008
Ematcion,
You got me on that one :), i’m a frequent avs’er but missed the Denon jeff return,did it? :)
Zain,
Thanks for clearing my mistake. Can’t say it’s their fault, but one has to agree their lack of SACD interest on a standalone Blu-ray player, u know.. for a company that invent the format in the first place. The upcoming Sapphires doesn’t seem to support SACD as well.
PS3 is nice, except with pcm conversion and a little too loud for acoustic/jazz delicacy. I have one and love it, but let the oppo 980 handle sacd with dsd bitstream, which also replaced the marantz 8600, served to remove analogs out of my system.
I’m total agreed with manufacturer’s response to market need, this post serves just that (along with few mistakes of my post :)), i want my SACD on BR player.
I wish for better title, it’s sony? Denon, Panasonic? or all other CE that shows no heart in SACD (lack of market demand), Well, they all have one goal, a Blu-ray player, and mine? Blu-Ray, where is my SACD option.
Truly,
NeutralThanks for your comments, information and opinions.
Tony Lauck February 19, 2008
Who to blame if not the perpetrators of SACD copy protection? The RIAA perhaps? The lobbyists and politicians who passed the DMCA? The businesses that paid them?
My guess is that SACD will die and when it does the principal reason will be the proprietary technology devised for lock-in and copy protection. I will never buy players or media for formats that employ copy protection. I wish everyone felt the same way, because it would cause this bad idea to die out sooner.
NeutralAnthony February 20, 2008
It’s interesting to hear poeple swear they’ll never buy a copy protected format. SACD unquestionably has the best sound quality of any distributed digital format to date, that’s the point of it.
NeutralI trust those who are opposed to copy protection are not artists themselves, rather, I suspect people who are only being “ripped off” by artists.
I’d like to put in my vote for the next generation of universal player with Burr-Brown DACs and the whole nine yards.
Your Ipods will fall silent the day the greedy artists are finally brought to heel.
Andy H. February 21, 2008
I fully agree. Don’t let the SACD die. The sound of a SACD playing your favorite tunes evokes an emotional response unlike any other format available. It is positive news to hear that thier next model will include SACD.
As far as copyright protection goes… I am no fan. That being said I could care less about what they put on a SACD as long as they keep producing new media. It is the best audio format hands down.
It’s time that that a truly superior format wins over the mediocre.
NeutralKen Wilson March 9, 2008
“As far as copyright protection goes… I am no fan. That being said I could care less about what they put on a SACD as long as they keep producing new media. It is the best audio format hands down”
Ditto, not sure why they bothered to re-create the wheel when SACD literally crushes any competing format. Even the new audio formats for Blu-Ray fall short of SACD.
The new game is call the formats lossless when they should bite the bullet and move to including DSD on everything. It’s been nearly 8 years and all they have done is waste our time and their’s.
I’ve tried listening to all the other formats
DVD Audio – Flat and alwasys sounded way to close to regular cd to care
DTS (ES or OThers) 5.1 – about the same as dvd audio, slightly better
DTS-ES 6.1 – if you can find any music out there, this impressed me on a Sheryl Crow album Globe Sessions. The vocal comes out different than the SACD version.
Even tried a cd that had a extreme mix of formats available on one DVD
THX, HDS Srround, DOLBY Digital, DTS 96/24, High Def stereo (Monster MUSIC DVD).
Don’t know if it was me or the cd was not actually that great, I could tell little difference between the different versions and the very same album on SACD showed the obvious differences in format capability
The cd Ray Charles – Genius loves company
Depth of the SACD provided sounds that were not noticeable on the other formats
Neutraland represent the artists truer to their form. Why would I want miss any of Bonnie Raitt’s guitar playing or that beautiful voice.
Music Addict September 27, 2008
I add my vote – I’ve become an almost exclusive devotee of the SACD format. Nearly 100% of my new acquisitions are of SACDs, both rereleases of classic recordings and new issues. Its heartening to see so many labels both large and small embrace the format. The sound benefit is unparalleled.
Now that Bluray has matured, I am also in the market for a universal player that includes SACD – to replace my trusty Pioneer, and perhaps be a step up the hifi food chain.
What I have never understood is why SACD compatibility hasn’t been a standard feature of all Sony players? Its your format.. support it! Market demand is frequently created by availability. And since they stopped selling the line of Pioneer universal players, there isn’t a single SACD option available at the large brick and mortar electroncis chains. Not even a bad one…
If people get a player that has the feature built in, the next time they go buy a disc that is available as an sacd hybrid they’ll think… why not? And once the difference is heard, interest will grow beyond audiophiles.
NeutralRogier van den Berg October 4, 2008
The most of the people in the Netherlands don’t know the DSD SACD format. They have never heard of it. Even in records shops most of the employees don’t know where I am talking about when I am asking of the new CD also is available in SACD format.
That’s the main problem. The business has to publish more about the SACD format. And Sony has to put it in every player they make.
Pioneer made a lot of DVD-players with SACD, but they did not install it in the new Blue-Ray players.
Why?
I know a couple of people with Pioneer DVD players with SACD in it. But they don’t know what it is. Then I play a SACD in there player, but I hear only the sound through the Television, because they don’t use a surround amplifier.
Rogier van den Berg.
NeutralDavid Sutherland December 18, 2008
1st Generation Sony PS3 (the one with 4x USB ports) plays BluRay AND SUPPORTS SACD. Note that this was dropped on the current PS3 models. Interesting, no?
Neutral