The War of the Witless
"But, damn it, it can surely never be right that the
stupid should rule over the clever!"
Henrik Ibsen
I have become used to thinking of the digital future
question as one concerning formats. What's best? Hi-rez digital DADs? DVD-As? SACDs?
But lately, it has begun to sink in that the confusion has
absolutely nothing to do with format and everything to do with software availability.
Check it out for yourself -- go to amazon.com and check out their selection of DVD-As.
What do you see? A bunch of antiques, like Deep Purple's Machine Head and Alice
Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies, and a smattering of titles that have a tad more
relevance, such as Buena Vista Social Club and a series of Beethoven Symphony
performances. Wow! Out of Amazon's total of 48 titles, there are, what? Maybe five
that I'd listen to if I got promo copies of them? Maybe two that I'd buy? Oh goody! Watch
me rush out and buy a player!
And don't get me started on watermarking -- although I did
notice that you can get your Metallica fix on DVD-A.
So how has SACD done? Personally, I think Sony, the
component manufacturer, has behaved just about perfectly so far. Their first two players
were aimed solidly at the audiophile and embodied all the qualities that we hold dear --
and even when they cast their net wider with an SACD changer,
it was a classy, upscale unit.
But let's look at the available SACDs, shall we? Sony's own
output is abysmal -- it leans very heavily toward 40-50 year old analog recordings
remastered for the new format.  Let's see, how many times have
I bought Kind of Blue? And, excuse me for bringing it up, but wasn't one of the
selling points for SACD backwards compatibility? So why are all of Sony's SACDs
single layer, non-CD compatible discs?
If you want to get the full benefit of true DSD recorded
SACDs, you need to patronize the smaller labels -- the guys who have always been dedicated
to good sound. Of the 40-odd SACDs I have at my disposal, only one is a DSD-sourced disc
from a major label; the other 23 DSD SACDs come from Hyperion, Water Lily, Chesky, Telarc,
AudioQuest Music and First Impressions Music. The remaining 20 or so discs in my audition
pile are Sony reissues of Blonde on Blonde, Mingus Ah Um, and assorted Miles
Davis titles -- in other words, many of the same records I owned before the advent of CD.
Shame on Sony Music! All the kudos due to Sony Electronics
for getting everything right have been squandered by the record label's shameless attempt
to turn SACD into one more opportunity to sell their back catalog at inflated prices.
Think that's harsh? Remember, this is a company with gross profits larger than most
nations' GNP, and they have done less to support the new format that their sister
corporation has brought to the market than tiny little Water Lily.
It's a pity. I know people want a major step forward
in music reproduction. Remember, I get letters every week from folks with money burning a
hole in their pockets, begging for a prediction about the winner of the format wars.
People do want better sound -- at least, audiophiles do.
 What about the rest of the
public? Probably not. And who can blame them? For the last year, we've gotten used to the
record companies bitching and moaning about what the public owes them. They aren't
shy about talking about that. But when it comes to advancing the quality of the
music itself, they are strangely silent.
Why should any of us buy any digital format, lacking
the enthusiastic support of the music business itself? I admire the courage of companies
such as Water Lily, AudioQuest Music, Telarc and the other indies who have given us the
best-sounding recorded music format to date. I hope they aren't left holding the bag,
because now that I've heard how good SACD can be, I want more. Just not more of the same.
And so far, that's all that the majors seem to think we
deserve. No wonder all right-thinking music lovers hold them in contempt. And no wonder
millions of people have no compunction about stealing from them.
I have heard what could be the future of audio -- what should
be the future of audio. Too bad the powerful major labels seem to think it's too good for
us.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
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