The new Hybrid SACD releases now coming out allow them to be played on any CD or DVD player- they are "backwards compatible". This could go a long way to making this a winning format. Play them in your car, DVD player or CD player without the need for a dedicated SACD decoder/player. Ya can't do that with your DVD-A disc. As far as SACD sound quality goes, you will find good ones and bad ones, just as in any other recorded format out there. Both of these formats are capable of giving us much better sound (and on fairly inexpensive equipment) when compared to the lowly CD.