Formats and floormats. (Surveying The Soundscape).(Sony, Koninklijke Philips Electronics' Super Audio CD format)(Brief Article)

Formats and Floormats: The Philips and Sony press conferences both glowed with optimism for the Super Audio CD, which they described as "the music lover's format." It's also the format that does not threaten Philips and Sony's revenue stream from royalties on the standard audio compact disc.

There was even a press conference that focused exclusively on the SACD. Of course the Sony and Philips folks were there, along with movers and shakers from a long list of hardware (Linn, Marantz), music software (Universal Music Group), and music vendors (Tower Records).

The SACD camp is making a claim on the mass market and the hook will be multichannel sound, not sonic purity. After all, the general public has been sold on the idea that "CD-quality sound" is the gold standard for audio. Rather than contradict that notion (not to mention the "perfect sound forever" claim from the early years of CD promotion), SACD hopes to capture listeners' imagination by being the surround sound format for audio.

Currently over 75 percent of new SACD releases are multichannel productions. And in more than 1000 ...