My recollection is that SACD was first deployed to enable multi-channel audio and sell multi-channel hardware, which quickly fell flat. It was not primarily as a 2-channel format.
Likewise, the iTunes store was essentially to sell iPods and used its own format, and if anything was competing against Walkmans and such mobile devices.
DVD-A was I think a high end 2-channel format from that guy at Meridian presumably to grab new hardware sales, just like he then tried with MQA.
So I think they were all formats aimed at different markets. I used iTunes but never even considered SACD or even heard of DVD-A. I remember going to the second ever iTunes Festival gig, it was in 2007, Travis at the ICA. The reason for going was because tickets were free and each person got a £15 iTunes voucher (remember those?). So they were basically giving you money to use the iTunes store, plus it was a great acoustic gig.
SACD was introduced to replace the CD with higher quality sound, similar to high definition TV replacing standard definition. It failed because consumers did not care/could not hear the difference, and the convenience of MP3 and iTunes met mainstream consumer needs. DVD-A failed for the same reasons.
Yes - this unit was what made me realize there was something better than PCM. Even still at that comparatively late date (almost two decades since the first CD player), PCM gear was still evolving. It sounds a lot less irritating nowadays.
Would not have been on my radar thanks to the price. $5,000, don’t know the UK price but would have been more than my entire audio system. I bought a Primare CD player around 1998, had one young kid and little time for music at home, so the last bit of refinement on audio wasn’t my top priority. By the time it came to change my Primare CD player in 2009 SACD had failed commercially and I bought a streamer. That Primare CD player 22 years ago was the last dedicated audio disc spinner that I bought.
SACD’s troubles were certainly based on timing. In the mid 90’s you had CD and file sharing for digital music options. Into this market comes SACD, DVD-A and finally iTunes. While iTunes did not complete directly with the former 2 formats, it did bring music files mainstream by making them more accessible. Don’t take my word for it look back at all the copycat devices at that time.
To Elk’s point about Consumer preference, music file demand increased and hard file mediums started to decrease in all their digital forms. 942 million CD sales peak in 2000 and the iPod introduction in 2001 is no coincidence.
It intrigues me how visual reproduction is so important to the average person, while sound is not. We are clearly visual critters first with the other senses in a distant second place.
Introduce a new high resolution television format and the masses will spend thousands on new equipment; multi-channel, must have; replace all my existing discs with the new format, of course!