DigiPete
500+ Head-Fier
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Part of the problem for SACD is that the mastering/mixing equipment for DSD was non existent, and many recordings were recorded in DSD, then mixed in PCM, then reconverted back to DSD.
Originally Posted by Max F Wow Welly, that surely is an interesting post. I won't argue with it cause i'm just too lazy too, but i will say this - You CAN beat the sound of a cheap SACD player with a CD player but you are going to have to spend some big time bucks to do it. SACD is great for someone with a limited budget to hear what hifi is all about. |
Originally Posted by Welly Wu At this point, no, it is not worth buying a source component that also plays Super Audio CDs. The biggest problem is that most of the major music labels including SONY have dumped SA-CD so very few new music is being recorded and sold now. |
Originally Posted by Welly Wu The other big problem is that existing SA-CD titles are very limited in selection compared to Red Book CDs, vinyl, and especially legal (and illegal) music downloading services such as Apple iTunes, Napster, etc. |
Originally Posted by Welly Wu Most of the SA-CD and DVD-Audio discs are simply remasters of classic albums; do you want to rebuy existing music titles knowing that the future of DVD-Audio and SA-CD is numbered? |
Originally Posted by Welly Wu I am now a conservative purist (in the sense of high end audio) and I think that the CD sounds best. It has the largest catalog of music, it is very affordable and downright cheap, there is no copy protection (that can't be defeated), and it has the best sound quality (though far from perfect sound forever). Harry Pearson at The Absolute Sound wrote that it generally takes one generation for any new audio format to be fully exploited and to mature. The CD is at that point now. CDs do dynamic range and transient speed changes with greater realism than SA-CD, but lose out to DVD-Audio. Resolution is its biggest fault compared to both, but with an upsampling CD player it is pretty much on even grounds. Immediacy is just right without being too forward like both hi-rez formats that strive to put you at the edge of your seat. The CD format is here to stay for at least the next five years; I can't be sure that either SA-CD or DVD-Audio will. That alone should be enough to make your decision. |
Originally Posted by Sleestack Welly, I wonder what SACD players you have listened to, b/c from my experience, the best SACD players do Redbook just as well as any CD player and the best SACDs sound better than CDs. I think CDs sound great, but I'm wondering if you just haven't spent time with a great SACD player. Of course, I am not questioning your conclusions, b/c that may very well be how it sounds to you. In the end, I actually think it has more to do with the attention given to mastering than the higher resolution of SACD. |
Originally Posted by dpippel CONS:
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Originally Posted by dpippel
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Originally Posted by dpippel
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Originally Posted by soundboy My SACD player is not any kind of audiophile-approved machine with a snobby name brand, but it certainly does its job....and does it very well. SACD is definitely worth it if there's music you like on the format. I went with SACD due to the low entry price and the relatively abundance of available software. Now I buy more SACDs than CDs. |
Originally Posted by Snake And that is why I have purchased so precious few SACD's. The fact is that a MAJOR portion of the SACD catalog is re-releases of "standards"...sometimes 20 to 30 year old recordings? Now I know that we believe, since we are all here as fellow audiophiles, that quality recordings are available...if SACD is "hi-res" WHY ARE YOU GIVING US REMIXES OF 30 YEAR OLD RECORDINGS THAT COULD NOT HAVE POSSIBLY BEEN RECORDED ON THE MASTERS WITH THE MULTI-CHANNEL "HI-RES" SYSTEM IN MIND???? And yes, I prefer to YELL at the !#$% morons! |
Originally Posted by Snake And that is why I have purchased so precious few SACD's. The fact is that a MAJOR portion of the SACD catalog is re-releases of "standards"...sometimes 20 to 30 year old recordings? |
Originally Posted by milkpowder The only problem being, there aren't enough SACD recordings around! Also, like Welly said, most SACDs are remastered CDs or vinyls! |
Originally Posted by bigshot I searched out a 24 bit recorded and mixed SACD... Parvo Jaarvi conducting Stravinsky on Pentatone. The sound quality is amazing... great realistic soundstage, clear separation of instruments, totally natural frequency response... and EXACTLY the same on the redbook layer. Pentatone doesn't sell standard CDs- only CD/SACD hybrids. I imagine that a good portion of their sales would be to people who never listen to the SACD layer at all. That means that they aren't motivated to hobble the CD layer to prove the superiority of the SACD layer. See ya Steve |
Originally Posted by DigiPete Steve I'm curious, what is your audio setup used in the above comparison? Pete |
Originally Posted by bigshot You can find my full report in the archives. I tested it on my own home system and a tweaked out system that belongs to a sound engineer friend of mine. Neither of us could detect a difference. The SACD player we used was a high end Phillips. See ya Steve |
Originally Posted by bigshot You can find my full report in the archives. I tested it on my own home system and a tweaked out system that belongs to a sound engineer friend of mine. Neither of us could detect a difference. The SACD player we used was a high end Phillips. See ya Steve |
Originally Posted by milkpowder Out of pure interest, which Philips player did you use? Was it comparable with, for example, a dCS P8i? |
Originally Posted by milkpowder This indeed is a very interesting matter. Although the differences are detectable using sensitive equipment, the human ear may not be able to pick them out. I think John Atkinson went too much into the specific technicalities and forgot about the actual audible differences. |
Originally Posted by bigshot Listen with your ears. Choose equipment that sounds good. If you do that, you'll find that the only place where money makes a big difference is in speakers. See ya Steve |
Originally Posted by DigiPete Probably the source material is not to the full potential of SACD, a typical studio trick to get a disc out...now. |
Originally Posted by Sleestack I'd strongly disagree there. There are many developments in room correction systems by companies like TACT and DEQx that have an enormous impact on the way a system sounds. |