Would you pay extra for an Audio Fidelity Surround SACD?
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Just noticed a typo in my post. What I meant to say is that I have NEVER had any problems whatsoever with the cases on the AF discs. I have about 25 of them. Just wanted to clear that up.
Frogmort
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Would I pay EXTRA for an AF SURROUND SACD? I only buy surround discs nowadays, so I would say I usually do pay extra for surround, but I also don't buy non-surround at all, so I guess I would ONLY pay extra for an AF surround disc and not pay anything at all otherwise. 
I did, I got stung for about £20 by Fed-Ex on my Acoustic Sounds (Blow by Blow) order, they sent me a bill a week or so after delivery, initially I wasn't going to pay it but couldn't be bothered with any hassle so paid it.
I've never had to pay anything on orders from abroad before, so anyone who uses Fed-Ex for shipping won't be getting any orders from me in the future.. Hence the reason why I have not ordered "Wired", I'm disappointed to be missing out I'll just have to live with my ''grey area'' DVD-A quad transfer...
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I did, I got stung for about £20 by Fed-Ex on my Acoustic Sounds (Blow by Blow) order, they sent me a bill a week or so after delivery, initially I wasn't going to pay it but couldn't be bothered with any hassle so paid it.
I've never had to pay anything on orders from abroad before, so anyone who uses Fed-Ex for shipping won't be getting any orders from me in the future.. Hence the reason why I have not ordered "Wired", I'm disappointed to be missing out I'll just have to live with my ''grey area'' DVD-A quad transfer...
I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but if they charged more for a sacd with a surround mix, i would think they would sell less copies because most of the people that buy them are buying them for the stereo mix and don't care about the surround mix at all, and wouldn't pay extra for something they wouldn't listen to. Most of us would pay the extra. Just a thought.
You're absolutely right, and that's the crux of the problem IMHO.
Many of us might be willing to pay a little extra for a surround SACD, but a lot of the stereo crowd would probably not be OK with the price increase, and as a result, less units will probably be sold.
Plus, knowing the buying habits of so many on here who always try to find the absolute lowest price they absolutely can, I'm highly skeptical when so many say they would be willing to pay more.
If that's the case, why not buy directly from Audio Fidelity instead of buying from the cheaper third-party merchants?
(That question is directed more at US buyers. I understand that it's a different situation for folks in other countries.)
Charging extra for multichannel releases would expose Audio Fidelity to a whole Internet full of potentially unreasonable critique. A lot of fanboys spend a nonsensical amount of time picking releases apart ... using scope traces and computer analysis. If that floats your boat, fine ... but most buyers just listen and enjoy. It is about the music, after all. Charging a premium would entitle the fringe to one more thing to critique. Like it or not, multichannel was a 'nice-to-have' afterthought as it relates to SACD. That is why the first releases were stereo-only.
Even though evaluation of MC releases is extremely subjective, the lunatic fringe would still unleash a torrent of unrealistic (remember that some of these multichannel tapes are decades old) expectations and criticism that would make AF think twice about opening up that 'can of worms'. The Internet is full of armchair experts that can cause a lot of damage to a company's reputation ... whether it is deserved or not ... and everybody has an opinion, whether it is valid or not. Let's be thankful for what we get. MC SACDs are not Insulin or Soylent Green.
Even though evaluation of MC releases is extremely subjective, the lunatic fringe would still unleash a torrent of unrealistic (remember that some of these multichannel tapes are decades old) expectations and criticism that would make AF think twice about opening up that 'can of worms'. The Internet is full of armchair experts that can cause a lot of damage to a company's reputation ... whether it is deserved or not ... and everybody has an opinion, whether it is valid or not. Let's be thankful for what we get. MC SACDs are not Insulin or Soylent Green.
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I should think by now that Audio Fidelity is well acquainted with its customer base and will, IMO, do what they want anyway without any 'outside interference.'
Ironically, over the past few months we have seen quality 4.0/5.1 remixes with pricing all over the map [Nosound 'Scintilla' BD~A 5.1/RBCD for as little as $10, Topographic Oceans BD~A/3 RBCDs for roughly $26, Temple of the Dog $119, Mirage $100, Tull's Stand~Up for $30, Dutton~Vocalion two~fers for $20, Beck's Wired for $50, Chicago's QUADIO boxset for $120, etc.] and as we've learned [or should've] over the years....they are ALL LIMITED EDITIONS which means if you want them.....you WILL pay the price or risk seeing them on ebay for outrageous sums.
We've ALWAYS paid a premium for MUSIC (in contrast to BD~V movies) so what else is new? And if we don't buy them, they'll stop producing them. That Audio Fidelity managed to release roughly 30 QUAD/5.1 titles over the past few years in this current market should be a cause for celebration but methinks at this juncture whether they charge more or less what difference does it REALLY make?
And lest we forget, Audio Fidelity [and MoFi for that matter] was charging the same price for 24k Gold RBCDs as they are for their QUAD/5.1/STEREO SACDs so I should think that we're WAY ahead of the game since LOSSY RBCDs have, IMO, been far exceeded by LOSSLESS SACDs....depending, of course, on your respective systems!
Actually the initial SACD releases were Stereo only Single Layer discs (no Stereo CD layer or Multichannel) as the Hybrid CD Stereo Layer and Multichannel SACD features were in the final stages of development at the time.
Hybrid layer SACDs and Multchannel SACDs came out once the development work was complete.
I think you missed the main point of my post.
Surround's so often an afterthought.. unless your name is Wilson, Scheiner, Soord, Jackson, Prent, Tickle, Cadley or Clearmountain (et al) in which case you probably dream in surround.. I'll bet there are many unreleased Scheiner & Clearmountain 5.1's labels like Universal have languishing in their vaults.. doubt we'll ever get to hear them.. oh well.. who's next? I mean, what's next?
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Francois, even you have to concur that 24 bit is better than 16 bit? While RBCDs can sound quite good [even excellent at times} I always find 24 bit to be more "effortless," at reproducing music.....at least on my system. 16 bit as pertains to classical has problems reproducing flutes and strings which sound much more natural in 24 bit PCM or SACD DSD.
Ralphie finally got an Avatar, nice, but I want to see it better. almost looks like McIntosh speaker towers with all those tweeters but I can't tell.
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Yeah, Markie, Ralphie got a brand new avatar but a friend took the picture and it's wasn't the best. Each Genesis 200 Speaker is 6'2" tall constructed of solid Rosewood and what you can't see in the picture....each speaker is flanked by 6'2" matching subwoofers [2] and that amp in the middle on the floor is the 2000 watt Genesis subwoofer amp.
Finally got a new computer [imac] so hopefully I'll start doing my own avatars. I'm still a computer 'nerd' but NOT in the right sense. Was raised on a manual/electric typewriter...which coincidentally kept me out of Viet Nam as I volunteered to type one day in basic training and they kept me stateside because I was such a GREAT two finger typist.
I've always known you to be a hip cat. You can't keep ol Ralphie down.
Maybe someone should go to the a/f website or facebook and leave a link to the poll. I would , but I think I used my golden ticket already . See my Poll links entry.
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