Separate burn-in for CD and SACD on same player?

[markl]

OK, I was an unbeliever. I've read elsewhere that it's necessary to separately perform burn-in on your new SACDP for both Redbook CD and SACD formats.

Sounded crazy to me, as the CD and SACD chip(s) are generally one and the same device, there is no separate signal path, all those digital bits get crucnched by the same device, whether being fed hi or lo-rez signals. Certainly, the analog output section is identical for both, so there will be no difference there.

How can it be that SACD, which uses the same chipset as CD, could possibly require a separate round of burn-in than regular CDs?

Anyway, with my new SACDP, at first, un-burned in, it was clear that SACD sounded better than CD (as it should and has on every other player I've owned). After buring in the player using Redbook CDs for 500 hours, it's unquestionable that regular CDs sound better than SACDs.

So I restarted burn-in process with SACD, and about half-way through (200-250 hours), SACD is clearly improving, getting closer to the performance of Redbook. I expect within another 200 hours, it will once again trounce regular CDs on SACD playback.


So, is this crazy, or is it possible?


P.S. As an FYI, I know the sound of SACD, I was one of the very first adopters. I've got a stack of SACDs up to my eyeballs. I know the sound of CD, I was also an early adopter in 1987. I've owned quite a number of CD and SACD players, and experienced several of them pre and post modification by outside mod-ers. In short, I have a handle on the SACDP market and the effect of burn-in on those players.

IMHO, it's no longer a matter of my ears getting used to SACD vs. CD. I detect a difference in burn-in on both formats.


Your thoughts?

 

[hYdrociTy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl OK, I was an unbeliever. I've read elsewhere that it's necessary to separately perform burn-in on your new SACDP for both Redbook CD and SACD formats. Sounded crazy to me, as the CD and SACD chip(s) are generally one and the same device, there is no separate signal path, all those digital bits get crucnched by the same device, whether being fed hi or lo-rez signals. Certainly, the analog output section is identical for both, so there will be no difference there. How can it be that SACD, which uses the same chipset as CD, could possibly require a separate round of burn-in than regular CDs? Anyway, with my new SACDP, at first, un-burned in, it was clear that SACD sounded better than CD (as it should and has on every other player I've owned). After buring in the player using Redbook CDs for 500 hours, it's unquestionable that regular CDs sound better than SACDs. So I restarted burn-in process with SACD, and about half-way through (200-250 hours), SACD is clearly improving, getting closer to the performance of Redbook. I expect within another 200 hours, it will once again trounce regular CDs on SACD playback. So, is this crazy, or is it possible? P.S. As an FYI, I know the sound of SACD, I was one of the very first adopters. I've got a stack of SACDs up to my eyeballs. I know the sound of CD, I was also an early adopter in 1987. I've owned quite a number of CD and SACD players, and experienced several of them pre and post modification by outside mod-ers. IMHO, it's no longer a matter of my ears getting used to SACD vs. CD. I detect a difference in burn-in on both formats. Your thoughts?

I was under the impression that some units had discrete sacd and cd motor units, or laser mechanisms. I dont really see the need to burn in the mechanical parts, but then again you never really know exactly what is separated till you open it or something.

I think the "regular" non audiophile cd/dvd/sacd players use the same shebang everywhere so I would just pop a sacd in it at full sample rate and everything and let it roll..

So it depends what you have, and if you are experiencing what you just described, I would guess you had a pretty good unit at your hands,

that seperates some key components inside. Unless it was your brain that got burned..

EDIT

Ok if what you had just described was the scd series model in your profile then im pretty sure lotsa goodies inside are discrete, so yea do burn in separately.

 

[markl]

Quote:

I was under the impression that some units had discrete sacd and cd motor units, or laser mechanisms.

Yes, all my SACD players have had separate laser mechanisms for CD and SACD.

 

[DigiPete]

Markl,

It is possible. You could have separate clocks, decoder chips and dacs for each format in your source (is this the new Sony you got)?

For good measure I burned in both on my Sacdmods Denon 3910 for about 200 hours on and off.

Not sure it made a difference, but then again I was not closely paying attention either.

 

[Carl]

If you have sepperate analogue pathways for DSD and PCM, sure. I can't think of a single player that does, though.

Different digital pathways shouldn't matter, unless the capacitors and resistors in the pathway are affecting jitter somehow or something.