I have 3 Sony SACD players. One is about 10 years old, but it stopped reading hybrid discs about 8 months ago. I had bought a brand new player 4 years ago in anticipation of just this eventuality. I took it out of its box hooked it up and it failed to any hybrid discs and still won't. Needless to say I am not impressed. I bought another player from a seller on ebay, this option was suggested to me sometime ago by Sony Customer Service, as of course once again, Sony not understanding their customers stopped making SACD players (despite SACDs continually being released by many labels including Sony Japan) I played one disc successfully on that and now, like the other 2 it won't read the hybrid layer of the SACD.
Is this something that can be repaired? I don't want to have to go through all the effort and cost of a repair and find it doesn't work. I have been there before! I have little confidence in Sony repairs as I had a top of the range VHS player some years back which had a fault and sent it back for repair, they had it for months and I had real problems getting it back. When it was eventually returned it still never worked properly, but had cost me a fortune. From what I read on Facebook the customer service seems to still be suffering real problems with a lack of customer focus, so it does not fill me with much confidence.
I have a large collection of Surround Sound SACDs ,built up over the 10 years since Sony introduced the format, that I want to continue to enjoy. Sony, in their short sightedness pulled the plug on SACDs. Now though they are now promoting audiophile sound, even though in view that is what SACD is, I won't go down that route at all as I don't trust them not to pull the plug again! Also I enjoy my music in surround sound, I don't want stereo recordings, so I am very keen to make the most of my collection.
Any thoughts on what I can do? I am not a great fan of universal players, having been spoilt with my first Sony SACD, which to Sony's credit was brilliant it cost £100 but has been superb and offered a great listening experience, I miss it! Where might be the best place to look for a repair or is there another dedicated SACD surround player out there? Thanks for any thoughts.
