I agree about the WOTW 5.1 mixes -- absolutely stunning... and you can add me to the list of 721 people with suitable playback machines. I Wonder where the other 719 are!

The analogue-only output from SACD wasn't because of accountants specifically. It was a demand from the music industry as a whole and it applies equally to DVD-A as well.

When these two 'high-resolution' digital formats were being designed the music industry said they would only support them if the designers could guarantee that illegal copying of the source digital audio would be prevented... and that's why the consumer can't get at the digital data at all. Analogue only. Of course, that doesn't stop piracy, but I suppose it would make it easier to prove a disc was pirated content because it wouldn't be a bit-accurate copy.

Clever people (as most industrial pirates are) can easily get at the data stream feeding the converters of course and access it that way if they really wanted to... ho-hum! The hifi maker Meridian proved the point by developoing its own bespoke digital interface to link its DVD-A players to its digital surround processors.

I don't agree about the wires thing! What's six bits of extra spaghetti behind the hifi rack in the grand scheme of things? Doesn't bother me, and no one else sees it so it doesn't matter at all.

It's also worth saying that not all SACD discs are playable on standard CD players -- only the hybrid discs (which a great many are). And yes, A lot of Sony's machines (PS3, some DVD-V players, some Vaio laptops) could also play SACD discs.

hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

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