I have Telarc's Berlioz Requiem (can't wait to hear those trumpet ensembles
in surround, as they were meant to be heard!), so I'll be quick.

SACD captures music at a higher sampling rate than standard CD.  Many,
including myself, believe that music on SACD is "fleshed out" providing
a more "emotional" listening experience.  Strings, for instance, are
finally tolerable to listen to upon highly-resolving equipment.  SACD
players play CDs, and SACD discs will play in a standard CD player,
though just the CD layer.  The SACD layer has 2 channel info, (stereo)
and 5 chan info, (surround).

You can buy an SACD player from many many manufacturers, for as little
as $150.  The decoding process is much more simple and elegant than
standard PCM, thus the price is less and one gets better sound.  You
plug it into your system just like you would a standard CD player.  There
are a lot of people who don't like this idea because they have spent
tons of money on standard players which do their best with the limited
resolution of the standard CD.

If you have a surround sound system, you may buy a multi-channel SACD
player, (starting at $200), and enjoy classical music presented with
astonishing imagining, impact and breathing room.  No genre benefits
more from SACD surround than Classical, IMHO.

Will this format survive?  The numbers so far show that SACD sells
better than its high-rez rival, DVD-A.  There are tons of universal
players out and coming out, and high-end companies offer SACD players.
I don't believe there are high-end DVDA players.  The standard CD, though
dominant, is still enduring the blahs right now.

Some good sites to visit:

   www.sa-cd.net Lists all releases, has a great forum for questions, etc.
   www.telarc.com: Shows you how to set up surround speakers.

John Smyth
Sac, CA