Here's something I've always wondered about since I started collecting OOP surround discs.
It seems that during Sony's short run of producing Multichannel SACD in the early 2000s, they couldn't quite settle on how to package them.
Here are four Sony discs in my collection with the four different packaging style I've identified so far:
The funny thing is, on eBay I've seen all four discs in all four styles! However, certain titles tend to appear more in one style than another.
I originally thought it was simple- Gold= 5.1, Grey= Stereo. But there are some grey ones that are also multichannel. The "52nd Street" disc is European so I assume that style takes the place of the gold in Europe. Lastly, there are some that just have that sticker either attached directly to the disc or the shrink wrap. I would guess those are from a later batch as Sony didn't want to over-advertise the multichannel aspect.
Reminds me of how back in '70s Columbia started off big with the gold SQ packaging and slowly dialed it down until quad died. Audio Fidelity did something similar with their quad SACDs recently. History repeats itself I guess.
Personally I really love the gold ones, and it's a shame that the majority of used discs for sale are missing their slipcovers
It seems that during Sony's short run of producing Multichannel SACD in the early 2000s, they couldn't quite settle on how to package them.
Here are four Sony discs in my collection with the four different packaging style I've identified so far:
The funny thing is, on eBay I've seen all four discs in all four styles! However, certain titles tend to appear more in one style than another.
I originally thought it was simple- Gold= 5.1, Grey= Stereo. But there are some grey ones that are also multichannel. The "52nd Street" disc is European so I assume that style takes the place of the gold in Europe. Lastly, there are some that just have that sticker either attached directly to the disc or the shrink wrap. I would guess those are from a later batch as Sony didn't want to over-advertise the multichannel aspect.
Reminds me of how back in '70s Columbia started off big with the gold SQ packaging and slowly dialed it down until quad died. Audio Fidelity did something similar with their quad SACDs recently. History repeats itself I guess.
Personally I really love the gold ones, and it's a shame that the majority of used discs for sale are missing their slipcovers