Should I be investing in upgrading my Arcam CD player? My budget would be around £600.

I'm worried that the tide is turning and media players will replace CDs. Or should I be looking at SACD.

Just don't want to waste my time getting into the whole decision making process if I should be looking forward not back?

I would stick to CD for a while yet if i were you. SACD doesn't seem to be taking off big time just yet. It seems to be DVD Audio that is getting the titles but in my opinion unless you are going into the whole AV/Multi-channel setup then CD is the way forward. The other point you have to remember is that a SACD player wont play your CD's anywhere neer as well as a dedicated CD only machine (especialy if you are budgeting 600 quid)

However if you are going to go down the multichannel road then the choice i think you need to make is SACD v's DVD Audio.

Martin, if you have a large CD collection, then I'd put money on you wanting to be able to play it and with the best sound you can get which as Kyle points out, at the moment is unlikely to be from an SACD player in that price range.

SACD might eventually replace CDs but it's not going to happen so fast that your CD upgrade would be redundant. If you're looking to improve your sound I'd say stick with the CD upgrade, if you're looking to follow up new technology then...

Hi Martin, have you seen this articleon the site?

It's Richard Black's comment piece on the future of the CD.

SACDc have been around for quite a while now and I am concerned that they do not seem to be taking off. Only a few net based retailers seem to be stocking them and there are very few on the high street. Im really pleased with the quality of sound from my SACD system but I just can't get hold of SACDs from my favourite artists. Fo the time being, if I were you I would stick to CDs

I'd have to agree that SACD's aren't taking off and probably never will. I've only ever heard one SACD which was 'The Best of the Police' and whilst it was quite good I'm not convinced it really added that much to the experience of the album. The biggest threat to CD will be when hard drives become big enough and cheap enough to store completely uncompressed music and hence be the same quality. I just wonder if people prefer to actually own a physical copy of a record (CD) over a virtual copy (HD) I know I certainly do.

I for one will always like to have a copy of the record for artwork/lyrics etc... Mp3's or whatever just aren't the same!!

Very true Al, I blame capitalism and its promotion of materialist values!

SACD isn't taking off because people aren't getting behind it. I bought a £300 SACD player a couple of years back to run alongside my Arcam CD93T. Since then i've upgraded the SACD player, spending £800. I don't agree that CD playback on a standalone SACD player suffers. On budget universal players that play DVDA and DVDV this is certainly true but as far as my Sony SACD player goes it's a damn fine CD player too. However, it doesn't compare with my Arcam, which I use most of the time, but then I wouldn't expect it to.
There are actually 3000 SACD titles now available. The 3000th title was released this week, being Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms. A very poignant release bearing in mind the impact this particular album had on the fledgling CD format 20 years ago.
DVD-Audio is technologically not a patch on SACD.
Personally, I am still enthusiastic about SACD. I only listen in stereo but I find the SACD sound to be far warmer than CD as it lacks the compression that affects CD.
Don't get me wrong, I love CD but there is this tendency today to master CDs to be as loud as possible at the detriment of overall sound quality.
If I was buying a new player today I would certainly think very strongly about incorporating an SACD facility.

I am posting from the USA, so the model numbers on my products my be different than those available in the UK:

I have compared my inexpensive Sony SACD/CD/DVD player (DVP-NC650V) with two of Sony's more expensive SACD players (SCD-C555ES & DVP-NS9999ES) that go for more than twice the retail price of mine. I A/B'd them using two inputs on my preamp(B&K PT3 series II), the same CD's/SACD's and the same interconnects (VDH D102 MK III). I heard no difference between the players with either format. I did hear a difference, however, when I added a Musical Fidelity X10-D between the players' outputs and my preamp. Hard for me to describe the difference (I'm not a big fan of audiophile lingo) but the music was more pleasing to my ear. "Warmer" and "more open" maybe, if I had to qualify it somehow. It made my cheapo Sony player sound superior to the more expensive ones I was comparing it with.

So for those looking to improve their CD sound, while still being interested in trying a superior format, my advice is... get a cheap SONY Sacd player and a used MF X10-D (easy to find these on ebay). Its a combo that is hard to beat.