SACD? CD? Blu-Ray?

[Mickey Richaud]

GEESH! I'm gettin' old.

We have a 5-disk Sony changer that's several years old, and thinking about updating. Apparently, I've been napping, 'cause I've not heard of SACD's. And now I hear that CD's may be phased out...?

Still have a bunch of vinyl that I don't want to abandon, so I'm maintaining my trusty Miracord turntable. Would like to convert some of them to CD's, in order not to have to wear the vinyl out any more.

We have a Yamaha 7.1 receiver and a good speaker system, so I'd like to make the most of that. Any advice?

 

[PC]

Don’t hold your breath on SACD’s replacing CD’s. There’s isn’t even a tiny fraction of the market acceptance needed for that to happen.

What’s eating CD’s market share is downloads. Just as cassettes outpaced records in sales due to their greater convenience (and in spite of their inferior sound), downloads are gaining quickly on CD’s.

I don’t think anybody really has a handle on where it will go in the long run.

How much of a hurry are you in to replace the Sony? Since the HD DVD war has now been won by Blue-ray everybody’s starting to gear for them but the prices are still high.

If you don’t feel a need to commit to HD quite yet and want to buy a unit now you can get changers that play DVD, CD, MP3 encoded files on CD’s, etc at reasonable prices. That will let you play <span style="font-style: italic">most</span> current formats.

Strangely enough, vynil’s making a comback. In a rather ironic twist, turntables with USB outputs are leading the way. Even Costco has them now.

On the plus side, a USB turntable will allow you make digital transcriptions of your existing collection. On the minus side, they’re cheap machines with cheap electronics. They won’t make the best recordings. People who are used to listening to MP3’s on portables won’t miss anything. But if you want to make very high quality transcriptions you need to start with a good turnatable/arm/cartridge, played through a good phono stage and captured with a good A to D converter.

All that is indepent of your playback chain so your current receiver and speakers will be just fine.


PC.

 

[tomshobby]

Hi Mickey,

Same here, I have a couple hundred vinyl and even some 78's. Some years ago I added a Sony ES series tape player/recorder with Dolby filters and a tape test system and now it just sits. I also had a Sony ES series AV unit. A couple years ago one of the amps in the Sony went out and I replaced it with a Yamaha 7.1 also.
The Yamaha has been good but not great. It just does not have the clarity and solid bottom that the Sony had. And I have had problems with the buttons on the remote loosing function. In fact I need to get a new remote, which is about a hundred bucks, because it has gotten to where it is really aggravating getting it to work.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Not in a big rush to replace, as the current changer still works OK. Part of my rationale is that I've recently heard about all the upcoming changes, and am curious.

I've also heard about the interest in vinyl. Still sounds better to me, actually, than anything I've heard on CD.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Hi Mickey,

Same here, I have a couple hundred vinyl and even some 78's. Some years ago I added a Sony ES series tape player/recorder with Dolby filters and a tape test system and now it just sits. I also had a Sony ES series AV unit. A couple years ago one of the amps in the Sony went out and I replaced it with a Yamaha 7.1 also.
The Yamaha has been good but not great. It just does not have the clarity and solid bottom that the Sony had. And I have had problems with the buttons on the remote loosing function. In fact I need to get a new remote, which is about a hundred bucks, because it has gotten to where it is really aggravating getting it to work.

We have a Harmony universal remote control, so all the controls that came with the various pieces have been spared. However, the Harmony is about to give up the ghost and needs replacing. Haven't been too happy with it, so we're looking at options there, as well.

 

[waltesefalcon]

I have a 300 disc Sony changer that I'm happy with, and doubt I will be upgrading regardless of how things play out. I also have a trusty old turntable hooked up to my trusty old stereo and will listen to my vinyl and some bakelite most any day. For my money a good LP played on a good turntable sounds better than any CD.

 

[Guest]

We have a Harmony universal remote control, so all the controls that came with the various pieces have been spared. However, the Harmony is about to give up the ghost and needs replacing. Haven't been too happy with it, so we're looking at options there, as well.

We have the Harmony 880.

It's easy enough to use that I can let the wife use it when I'm away and not worry.
That's a great relief...

 

[Mickey Richaud]

We have a Harmony universal remote control, so all the controls that came with the various pieces have been spared. However, the Harmony is about to give up the ghost and needs replacing. Haven't been too happy with it, so we're looking at options there, as well.

We have the Harmony 880.

It's easy enough to use that I can let the wife use it when I'm away and not worry.
That's a great relief...

That's the one we have. It is a nice piece, but the charging system leaves a lot to be desired. Contacts don't always connect. Also, the volume control and channel control are both getting progressively worse - have to press pretty hard to "make it go".

It's actually the second one we've had; the first one died soon after we got it. I've read some reviews on it, and it seems others have had the same problems.

 

[judow]

We have a Harmony universal remote control, so all the controls that came with the various pieces have been spared. However, the Harmony is about to give up the ghost and needs replacing. Haven't been too happy with it, so we're looking at options there, as well.

We have the Harmony 880.

It's easy enough to use that I can let the wife use it when I'm away and not worry.
That's a great relief...

I'm telling your wife!!!

This is one wife that knows as much about electronics as does HE. I had to explain the Blackbberry and am instructing him in the use of the I-Touch.

 

[Guest]

Do what you want. My wife is less adept with the home entertainment system than I am, and this helps her to the point that she doesn't have to call me to ask how to turn on the TV. It's not because she's female, it's because she doesn't ~want~ to understand it. She does fine with all the other tech stuff in the home, but a TV is white goods to her - it should just work.

Now she's able to use the BluRay, the HD-DVD, the DVD jukebox and all the rest of the stuff that's hooked up and I don't have to worry about which remote control she's got hold of while I'm telling her to push the button at the top...

 

[judow]

Duly noted. :angel:

 

[Mickey Richaud]

With all due respect to techies and non-techies, I find most stuff these days extremely NON-user friendly (at least THIS user). I'm always bemused by the advertising term, "Intuitive Controls" - WHOSE intuition are they TALKING about??? Certainly not mine.

It's frustrating to me, as I can take a car apart, down to the nuts and bolts, put it all back together, and it works - usually :smirk: - But am often bum-fuzzled by the "simplest" electronic contraption.

It's a new world...

 

[tomshobby]

The thing that I find funny is that as my hearing ability and sight clarity decreases with age the A/V equipment is supposedly getting sharper and clearer. Can't prove it by me.

And it is not that I can't learn all the little nuances but I find I have far better things to do than fiddle around with such things.

I think two controls might be the answer. one with all the minor adjustment buttons and one with only a few buttons that turn things on and off and adjust the volume.

 

[ecurie_ecosse]

Here's a simple solution for you both. Hire a 10 year old to operate them for you.

I just don't understand all the electronic gizmos.


Stuart.

 

[tomshobby]

That might be the thing to do. I get accused of acting like a 10 year old all the time so we would probably have a good time. Especially when I get the trains out!

 

[aerog]

"Intuitive Controls" - WHOSE intuition are they TALKING about??? Certainly not mine.

Depends what you're used to.

Years ago I took into consideration what buttons were on the machine. I found VCRs that practically required you to have a remote, others had buttons on the machine that did just about anything.

Now if you lose the remote you can barely do anything with some of these boxes.

I like my blu-ray player for DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, but man is it ever slow. All my music is in my iPod now, the CDs are stored.

As for the age thing, I know a guy - gosh, he MUST be 80 now - he flew B24s in WW2. He's ALWAYS been a gadget freak. Back when HP had fancy programmable calculators with magnetic card readers, he carried one. He always had the latest camcorders (back when they had optical viewfinders), and he always had computers and stuff. I think it's just if you acclimate yourself to this stuff, not the age.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Maybe so, Scott, but for some reason (orneriness?), my pea-brain just doesn't seem to work the way it's required these days. The logic (?) of much of current gadgetry escapes me.

As an example, there don't seem to be any standards among manufacturers of electronics. Too many options. Too much difference in vocabulary. Then once you do figure something out, it's obsolete! Etc., etc.

"Depends on what you're used to" - Well, as I said, once you get used to it, it's useless! Only to add to the frustration!

Definite paradigm shift, as far as I'm concerned.

But at least I'm not throwing in the towel completely...

 

[DrEntropy]

I'm a recovering technofreak. I come by the problem honestly, it's genetically inherited. Me Ol' Fella was horribly afflicted too. I grew up with all the latest things. I'm gettin' better tho. The Beta/VHS and Mac/IBM PC "wars" taught me to sit on my wallet and not succumb to the impulse.


...sorta...

:smirk: