Format wars.(Letter to the editor)

Please refer to your recent issue Number 109; the David Rich article "Skeptimania." I enjoy reading everything that David writes; both in The Sensible Sound and The Audio Critic. However it is my opinion that he missed a point or two concerning SACD. First, it is my opinion that the launch of SACD was wrong; it should NOT have been in the Home Theatre mode. There are thousands or maybe millions of stereophiles out there who are interested in the highest fidelity they can get within the context of their existing systems or in modest cost improvements to their systems. I don't think many of them are really interested in Home Theatre; otherwise known as 5.1.

I agree with David that RCA/SONY is on the right track by issuing CD/SACD discs at about $10 that will play in Red Book Stereo and SACD Stereo and in 5.1. I think but I don't have that kind of system. I am a stereophile. These discs prove that SACD is even better that the original LPs, which many Golden Ears think is the ultimate sound.

The worst kind of deceptive advertising is the recent issues of the San Francisco Symphony doing Mahler Symphonies in Hybrid SACD. I made the mistake of purchasing one. As I closed the drawer of my player the window indicated SACD; what came out of the speakers was the same old dull Red Book Stereo! Reading the fine print on the box I found that the only SACD mode was 5.1! You pay extra and get nothing but a CD. No wonder SACD is having problems.

BIS is apparently going to issue many of their discs in SACD Stereo and CD. I have heard some of the Bach Cantatas and they are wonderful. The sound is significantly higher than Red Book CDs. The prices are not too much higher than normal CDs. Maybe they will ultimately be the same and other producers will follow. In today's, technology one should be able to produce a CD, SACD Stereo, SACD 5.1 disc for the same cost as current CDs. Then retailers will need to inventory only one disc! I am also amazed that Stereophile magazine is not issuing their highly touted discs in SACD Stereo! If they believed in the title of their magazine they would not be pushing Red Book discs as the ultimate sound!

R.H.Baldwin

via e-mail

David A. Rich Replies: Against the headwinds of the Tower Records liquidation, major classical music websites often price import CDs 50% lower than SACDs, and it might even be more extreme in some all-label sales. Let's do some empirical research. Take a peak at the back page of the Arts and Leisure section (Section 2) of the Sunday New York Times to find when J&R is having a sale. Those sales are usually specific to CDs. J&R Music World drops many full-priced CDs, including imports, to $11 (shipping, unlike Tower, is extra), while Chandos SACD (single inventory) prices might remain above $20. That same J&R sale had Naxos at $5, so you could get four Naxos for one Chandos. This is why I still do not have Chandos's recording of Stanford's Song of ...