Just got my Sony SCD-CE775 SACD Player! - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

Holy Zoo · #1 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 05:04 AM

There was a box sitting in the living room when I got home! I just love that.

It was $330 from J&R (plus something for shipping, but I don't remember off the top of my head).

I waited till the kids fell asleep, then wired her up. For the moment it's sitting in my bedroom on my nightstand, so I can lie down and relax to music at night, something I haven't done in 15 years. Eventually this unit will move into the living room as part of the home theatre, and I'm thinking of buying either the 333ES or higher end single disk player (if/when the price drops a bit more).

So... my first impressions? WOW. Sounds spectacular. I have 5 SACDs that I bought from Amazon over the last few weeks, so I flipped through them quickly, then settled in with Miles Davis - Kind of Blue.

I'm going to skip the hyperbole, and just say that it sounds wonderful. Rich, warm, etc etc. I don't remember enjoying listening to a cd this much *ever*. Could it be my imagination? Me just *wanting* it to sound great? May be...

So, I did a test... a comparison with my CD version of Kind of Blue that's a couple years old (it's also a Sony, mastered with their SBM technology).

How did they compare? The SACD is, to my ears, a LOT better. In places where Mile's trumpet sounded harsh and shrill on the CD, on the SACD it sounded musical. The piano sounds more real, and there seems to be more depth to the recording. Not sure if I can explain it any better than that.

On the possible down side, I'm using my Sennheiser HD545s into the SACD player headphone jack directly, no headphone amp. Also, it took 15-20 seconds to switch from the SACD to the CD, so there was plenty of time for my "hearing memory" to decay between switching. I'd really love to do this test again set up so that I can do the switching instantaneously, and perhaps even "blind".

joelongwood · #2 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 05:25 AM

Congrats on your acquisition, HolyZoo...........sounds like I'm going to have to give this new format a listen. How much are SACDs? What type/size selection is out there? Enjoy!

frankclone · #3 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 05:28 AM

I've already upgraded some of my older jazz CD's to remastered
ones (20 bit, Sonic Solutions, etc.). Do I have to upgrade to
SACD (or audio DVD)?!?!?

Holy Zoo · #4 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by joelongwood
How much are SACDs? What type/size selection is out there? Enjoy!

Hmmm.. selection is OK. It very much depends on what you like, and how wide your tastes are. Mine's pretty wide reaching, from hard rock to classical, so I'm having an easy time finding things (well, everything *besides* hard rock that is... I have yet to see anything like Rush on SACD.

There are roughly 350 SACDs already. Most of them Sony, but there are lots of Telarc releases and a few other audiophile lables. Price is ranging from $16-18 for the Sony releases, to $25ish for Telarc and other audiophile releases.

Telarc has, of course, lots of recent jazz and classical recordings.

Sony has been releasing the old Columbia staples: tons of Miles Davis, old Szell and Gershwin classical recordings from the late 50s, and then there are several of their "classic rock" strongholds - Boston, Santana - Abraxas, Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow.

Not much modern rock, though, so if Godsmack's your thing, your outta luck.

jeff

Holy Zoo · #5 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by frankclone
I've already upgraded some of my older jazz CD's to remastered
ones (20 bit, Sonic Solutions, etc.). Do I have to upgrade to
SACD (or audio DVD)?!?!?

Well... I think that it...

depends.

I've always been an early adopter.... $330 isn't that much money (to me!), and I buy cds like theres no tomorrow anyways (we're at around 1500 and counting in our collection (not to mention the 800 copies of our debut Holy Zoo CD sitting in my den... ahem)). Anyways, I really wanted to hear SACD for myself, and didn't want to wait forever (forever being: a couple more years till we know if DVD-A and SACD will co-exist together).

So, if your adventurous, and won't mind it if in 5 years you find that DVD-A won the war and your SACDs are obsolete... then I say "go for it"!

jude · #6 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 06:16 AM

Holy Zoo,

Congrats on the new SACD player! Yes, the Kind of Blue SACD does sound phenomenal, doesn't it? As with so many audio nuts, I am very familiar with that recording, and I'll not soon forget my first time listening to it on SACD through my headphones.

Enjoy the 775!

gorgon_123 · #7 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 06:20 AM

reading about SACD and DVD-A the past few weeks leads me to believe that SACD is going to win the war..... although perhaps it might be a bit premature to say.

a quick search on epinions and yahoo shopping turned up practically NO SACD players. I'm looking to update my CD player in the next 6 months or so and I wouldn't mind picking up an SACD player instead - however all of them I've found are in the thousands of dollars! I'm looking to spend between $250-600. Before the SACD option appeared before me I was ready to invest in the much acclaimed Denon DCM370. But now THAT'S out the window!!! Where or where can one find SACD players for less than a grand?

BTW, congrats on your new purchase!! be sure to keep us updated as you get more used to the sound

-g

Holy Zoo · #8 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gorgon_123
Where or where can one find SACD players for less than a grand?

I'm pretty sure that J&R would ship to Canada... but I'm just guessing. They have the Sony SCD-333ES for $600 and the SCD-775 for $330. Not sure what they translates to in Canadian dollars.

The 333ES is stereo, but is Sony's higher end ES line. The 775 is surround, but is pretty cheap looking (plastic front, then metal body).

You might also try giving onecall.com a call - they usually have Sony at a huge discount, but it's not posted on their website.

jude · #9 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gorgon_123
Where or where can one find SACD players for less than a grand?

Go to Oade at http://www.oade.com, find their phone number on the site, and call them tomorrow. See if they still have any of the Sony SCD-C333ES's in stock. I bought mine from them for only $550.00. They were very pleasant to deal with, and they double-boxed the 333, and put enough padding in there to withstand just about anything.

MacDEF · #10 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 06:46 AM

>I'm looking to update my CD player in the next 6 months or so and I
>wouldn't mind picking up an SACD player instead - however all of them
>I've found are in the thousands of dollars! I'm looking to spend
>between $250-600.

jandr.com sells the Sony 333ES (5-disc changer, rated Class B in Stereophiles' Rec Components) for under $600, and Jude mentioned oade.com.

BenG · #11 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 07:55 AM

The other Sony ES SACD players seemed to change over many hours of use, more than usual w/ audio components.

And I'm curious if the CD sound quality would compare well to similiarly priced single Cd players like the Denon DCM370 or Cambridge Audio SE 500

I hate the way bargain basement CD players are kinda flat and lifeless and hope the CE775 is not w/ Cds. It would be nice to have a decent CD player (even if it would become a second player in your house) if the SACD format dies, but at $350 I guess it would not be a big deal. Alot of people are getting it as a second SACD player, just for surround use.

But I'm glad to hear that the SACD portion is a great improvement for you

jeremymayf · #12 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 11:46 AM

congrats holyzoo!
It's funny, i just got my 333es tonight--oades $550, outstanding efficient service--like jude said, double boxed! sacd's are wonderful right out of the box----miles-boston-blood sweat & tears--- like you my tastes run the gamut; I was really taken by the BS&T sacd--i have been listening to these songs since i was little and i felt like i was hearing them for the first time--well, not to overreact but damn, it sounds good, very life-like. redbook is gonna take some breakin in, but i expect good things. Enjoy the 775--jeremy

jude · #13 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jeremymayf
redbook is gonna take some breakin in, but i expect good things.

Jeremy, you'll be happy to know that the 333's redbook playback does get even better than out-of-the-box with time.

acidtripwow · #14 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 04:02 PM

I read in Widescreen Review magazine that Sony is going to come out with a couple new SACD players in September. One of them is suppose to retail for $299. I think I may wait for the new ones before I take the plunge.

mcbiff · #15 (**permalink**) 07-12-2001, 11:11 PM

I'm kinda wondering what a headphonephile would want a multi-channel SACD player for (over a stereo one that is). AFAIK headphones will be 2 channel for the forseeable future, or is everyone hiding something from me?

I also have a couple of other questions regarding SACD, here goes:

1. Where can I find a list over released discs?
2. Where can I find a list over discs that are to be released?
3. Are any of the other record companies gonna do SACD, or is it just Sony and some audiophile labels?