Thread: Sony wants to “protect the music industry” & “reinvigorate a concern for quality”

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Post by rammiepie October 23, 2010 (11 of 40)
audioholik said:

Posted Fri Oct22, 2010, 4:54 PM — By Michael McCole (Sony)
"I also wanted to point out that our new Blu-ray Disc Players play SACDs, and our new STR-DA5600ES AV Receiver can play DSD files. These are admittedly small steps, but I hope you agree that they paint a picture of Sony making some good decisions for music lovers. The engineers who work on our audio products all love music too, and there is a lot of excitement in the audio division of the company right now. Expect to see more news coming from us over the next year."

^ personally, I don't think that releasing hardware without any new software quite qualifies as "making good decisions for music lovers".

That's why I posted above that Analogue Productions is going to do the "dirty" work for SONY by releasing Sony/Columbia QUAD SACDs in the "near(?)" future....and IMO, they will probably be better than anything the SONY engineers could do with them and will be priced considerably less than the single~layered, Stereo only SHM~SACDs from Universal/Japan.

Reissuing puts money into Sony's pocket for licensing/pressing fees and AP's pockets as well........ There is a lot of money to be made in reissues if their choices are reasonably canny. Just please don't release what has already appeared before in the SACD format unless the sound is greatly improved (and multi~channel counts as an upgrade).

Post by audioholik October 24, 2010 (12 of 40)
rammiepie said:

That's why I posted above that Analogue Productions is going to do the "dirty" work for SONY by releasing Sony/Columbia QUAD SACDs in the "near(?)" future....and IMO, they will probably be better than anything the SONY engineers could do with them

Your assumption that AP editions would be better than Sony/Grimm SACDs mastered by Mark Wilder, Greg Calbi or Steve Berkowitz is unfounded IMO.

Post by airegin October 24, 2010 (13 of 40)
hiredfox said:

If you believe that you'll believe anything. Sony have never supported the High End. They make good quality middle-of-the-road products that are rock solid in reliability no more, no less.

"Rock solid in reliability" has not been my experience at all with Sony since the Trinitron years of the 1980's. I had one Sony Blu-Ray player DOA, a Sony Camcorder that broke in warranty (thank goodness not out of) and my late-not-great Sony ES SACD/CD player (the praised to the audiophile rafters SCD-XA5400ES) went 86 right after the warranty period expired and that unit had been in storage for two of it's five year warranty period. In fairness, my PS3 is still functioning well, although the fan in the unit never was very quiet (and I clean out the dust periodically). Anyway, can't experience the awe and wonder of the Esoteric and EMM Labs players as I've not the play money of bachelor orthopedic surgeons, Goldman Sachs derivatives traders, or greased hand politicians, so for me the budget Oppo players suffice even if rock solid isn't their forte either. Been there done that, but others mileage may vary.

Post by jlk155 October 24, 2010 (14 of 40)
airegin said:

"Rock solid in reliability" has not been my experience at all with Sony since the Trinitron years of the 1980's ... my late-not-great Sony ES SACD/CD player (the praised to the audiophile rafters SCD-XA5400ES) went 86 right after the warranty period expired and that unit had been in storage for two of it's five year warranty period.

I have very good news for you: Your SCD-XA5400ES is most decidedly still within its five-year warranty period, since that model only became available two years ago this month!

Post by airegin October 24, 2010 (15 of 40)
jlk155 said:

I have very good news for you: Your SCD-XA5400ES is most decidedly still within its five-year warranty period, since that model only became available two years ago this month!

You are correct, I sold my 5400 and bought the Nuforce Oppo for the universal play. The 5400 was working fine when I sold it. It was my SCD-C2000ES that died right out of warranty, a unit I had had in storage for two years. The 2000ES was Sony's entry level ES player at the time. My replacement Oppo has had issues too, the firmware updates address a playback glitch and then something else comes up that needs fixing - like the pop between SACD tracks on many SACD's. I do like the sound of the NuForce Oppo as much as the more expensive 5400 I sold. Sorry for the confusion.

Post by Osbert Parsley October 24, 2010 (16 of 40)
jlk155 said:

I have very good news for you: Your SCD-XA5400ES is most decidedly still within its five-year warranty period, since that model only became available two years ago this month!

All very well, but hasn't the model been discontinued now by Sony? It certainly has never been offered for sale in Australia.

Post by junchoon October 24, 2010 (17 of 40)
Osbert Parsley said:

All very well, but hasn't the model been discontinued now by Sony? It certainly has never been offered for sale in Australia.

u can import xa5400es from Germany, has compatible voltage w Australia. i got mine from dnet24.de. Hong Kong same voltage as australia too, u will have to special order thru sony hk, about two weeks times. if u intend to import, it's slightly cheaper thru germany.

good luck!

wps

Post by rammiepie October 25, 2010 (18 of 40)
airegin said:

You are correct, I sold my 5400 and bought the Nuforce Oppo for the universal play. The 5400 was working fine when I sold it. It was my SCD-C2000ES that died right out of warranty, a unit I had had in storage for two years. The 2000ES was Sony's entry level ES player at the time. My replacement Oppo has had issues too, the firmware updates address a playback glitch and then something else comes up that needs fixing - like the pop between SACD tracks on many SACD's. I do like the sound of the NuForce Oppo as much as the more expensive 5400 I sold. Sorry for the confusion.

And the NuForce OPPO is undoubtedly more versatile than the Sony 5400 and will only get better once it's properly broken in. Try placing it on brass footings and put a shakti stone over the transport for even better results.......

Post by trntbl October 27, 2010 (19 of 40)
Interesting to note that Sony Classical released the latest Lang Lang Live in Vienna disc in following formats:

CD
DVD
Blu-ray (with 3D content)
LP
plus downloads in various formats.

So effectively, they released it in every stereo- and mch-format known to man today EXCEPT SACD. I'm speechless.

Post by michi October 27, 2010 (20 of 40)
audioholik said:

Michi, Sony's unflinching support for the SACD format on the hardware side is, of course, GREATLY appreciated, but what about new software? By what means are they going to “protect the music industry” and “reinvigorate a concern for quality”? selling $15000 speakers or $15 SACDs?

Audioholik,

Remember that statement a while back about Sony being more willing to license the catalogue to independent production houses to produce SACDs?

Watch for it.

I can't dedicate 100% to the timing, since schedules always tend to be fluid, but watch AES and then watch CES.

EDIT/ADDENDUM:

Rammiepie is so incredibly prescient sometimes. :)However, all just re-releases? (laughs). No. :)

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