Remember the first SACD Sony players?
25kg battleship thing that took IIRC about 20 seconds to decide a CD was a CD and not an SACD? While it switched lasers on the head block. You didn't know what was going on- was it broken or just slow? It reminded me of one of those pizza tray CD changers, or an old jukebox. In fact jukeboxes could change records faster I reckon.
We'd been spoilt by the sub one second access times of linear motors and brushless BSL motors in top CD players. I often wonder if the slow transports were a factor in audiophiles being disinterested in the format.
The biggest problem with Sony is that, like Samsung, when they give up on something you are out of luck. You would think that a premium product like the SCD-1 would have a deep set of replacement lasers. Instead, it gets EOL’d really quickly.
In contrast, think about Omega watches or even companies like Vacheron Constantin or Breguet. They are truly “audiophoolery” in that they don’t tell time better than a simple quartz watch, but they are “luxury” items for the concept of craftsmanship and support. Anyway, it’s not the same as semiconductors but one of the reasons they can charge so much for their equipment is that these watch companies will repair or restore anything from their entire history, including watches from Vacheron Constantin that predates the US Declaration of Independence.
On the audio side, McIntosh and Accuphase are known for keeping deep inventory of replacement parts, including semiconductors, for long discontinued products. Of course, you pay for this service upfront though it is captured in the resale values.
JBL used to have a rich parts history for repair going so far as even giving people crossover modification instructions if a replacement speaker driver was different than the older spec. Once Harman closed down Northridge, CA manufacturing, that entire philosophy was gone. Even something like the Revel F50 with the CMMD tweeters lost all replacement driver support by 2011, at least through authorized dealers. That said, I did replace a woofer on the Array 880 center channel earlier this year and that was in stock.