What the heck is "hybrid SACD"???

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I treat old CDs with armor all. No joking. It minimizes or stops skipping.

I've tried that once many years ago, not so much for skipping but simply to make them non attractive to any dust. It was an experiment with Armor all. What I have done from day one with all my CD's is polish them to within an inch of their life using a multi-surface furniture polish. First thing I do with any new CD. It leaves them super slick and shiny and I've had no issues with any discs dating back to when CD first launched.

Also had zero issues with CDR's although they are stored dark and cool. Lots of problems back in the day with Philips DVD RW's suffering rot. They were a total disaster.
 
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And after looking around online, I'm finding widespread reports of problems caused by "hybrid SACD" discs going back to 2006, so I suppose I will simply avoid them.
You had already decided that (first post, second sentence) but indeed it is not clever to invest time and money in 20 year old technology that simply had too many drawbacks when it was launched and started to have serious flaws a few years after it was launched. The older CD format is more reliable. Of course one can also look at current 2023 technology that may offer a few conveniences here and there.

It may be possible that todays sparsely produced SACD and SACD players are of decent quality (once bitten twice shy :)) but they still have lasers, spindle motors and wear-out. Since optical days are over and general production quality of optical mechs it would not be surprising that todays laser mechs won't be around for long. History possibly will repeat itself.
 
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Currently listening to a hybrid SA-CD at this very moment.

Screenshot 2023-06-25 172407.png
 
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I have about 75 SACDs, some are SACD only, most are hybrid, and a Sony 777ES player I've owned since 2004 - had to replace a single sled gear, but I admit I do not use it much since I mostly stream using Roon.

FWIW I don't understand why anyone would purchase a hybrid SACD recording unless they own an SACD player. There must be plenty of CD options both new and used.
 
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278 hours since obtaining the device in 2011 (?) so in 12 years. Not even an hour of usage per week.

That is extremely low usage. It does not count in calculations and it can not be used as a kind of proof with regards to longevity of the device. This one will wear out from not using :) The VCR Syndrome.

The friend that used SACD wore out at least 5 SACD players in 15 years. I recall the media going very bad to the point they were discarded and eventually an upgrade to a Cambridge CXN.
 
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No one will have problems when stuff is hardly used :) My new Cube bicycle that is standing for 20 years in my shed still looks like new and nothing wore out. Never skipped a beat, never had any problem with it. Super brand, best parts too. The chain and gears are still fully within specifications!

The thread is about SACD. Somewhat.
 
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In the past I maintained most of the local group's SCD-777ES and SCD-1, and other than problems early on with the sled gear train they have been relatively trouble free. I did replace the laser assembly on one that had many hours of use, and it also had a rather dim VFD - the owner estimated about 10K hours which seemed long overdue for a laser. I think new lasers for these machines have largely evaporated, but I don't expect an issue in my case since I use it infrequently particularly as I have to run it through an A/D to play it in my system. I doubt I could do a laser replacement successfully at this point in time.
 
Re armor-alling cd's, the skip reduction works, re apply and buff it off a few times.

Originally we performed that on the old Panasonic 16 bit console. Before the Sony and xboxes started gaining popularity.

BTW I'm old school cool with a mid 00s Elite rig. Personally my favorite and Pioneer started winding down the CD tank versions like the dv59avi that beats its predecessors. Only the door started acting up on mone. it still needs to come apart.

I know a Boomer, the ex football morning DJ in NY, Boomer radio.
 
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A significant numbre of the SACD titles are available in high res. I have superseded a number of them with high res downloads from HDTracks, etc. There was a time where you could do it with a PS2 with a specific early FW version and some special software on a linux box. Some Sony laptop drives in the past would play them, but back up was not part of the deal. More trouble than it is worth IMO.
 
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I have many SACDs… but for one reason only ; multichannel.

Just like I did with CDs, they’re “played” once - when I rip them to hard disk.

Ripping SACD is not hard at all. You need a computer with Windows and an older Blu-ray player, that’s all. Software is freeware.
 
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