WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY MARANTZ SA8400?

[NINJAI]

I bought it 4days ago, and I've run it for 35HRs,but till now I even can't find difference between the SACD TRACKS and the CD tracks of a hybrid CD.
Have my ears been hurt?Or the Marantz sa8400 isn't a good player?

 

[Fafner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NINJAI I bought it 4days ago, and I've runned it for 35HRs,but till now I even can't find difference between the SACD TRACKS and the CD tracks of a hybrid CD. Have my ears hurt?Or the Marantz sa8400 isn't a good player?

I don't know the SA8400, but I own the SA-17S1...it took a lot more than 35 hours to reach its full potential. At the beginning, the sound was quite opaque and not that impressive at all (especially considering the player's price). It took about 130 hours...now it impresses me much more...

With some good cans (I use HD650), the differences between CDs and SACDs are much evident...it's clear that, like with CDs, there are good SACDs and bad SACDs...

 

[rsaavedra]

Also keep in mind SACD's can be mastered basically with bad input, e.g. resolution no better than the one used for CD's. So regardless of it being an SACD, it has the potential to sound bad. What SACD's are you listening to?

 

[jpelg]

I have a DV8400, and the difference between SACD & redbook for the same CD is obvious. FWIW.

 

[Pavel]

because the differences between SACD and CD layers were none or minimal (to my ears).
Don't know if it was because of the player or because of my ears.
I listened to discs of labels like Hyperion, Pentatone, Chesky.

 

[NINJAI]

　　Thanks.
I found most of the SACDs are not recorded by DSD,just remastered by DSD,maybe that's the reason why I cannot find the difference between the SACDs and the CDs.I'll go to buy some totally be recorded by DSD tech.

 

[Fafner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NINJAI 　　Thanks. I found most of the SACDs are not recorded by DSD,just remastered by DSD,maybe that's the reason why I cannot find the difference between the SACDs and the CDs.I'll go to buy some totally be recorded by DSD tech.

Yes...keep in mind that DSD is a very recent technology, and this technology was logically not available when Karajan recorder its first DG's Beethoven cycle (60's), or Mercury did its well known classical recordings, or Carlos Kleiber recorded Beethoven's 5th and 7th with the Vienna Philharmonic (70's). These are recordings that now have been reissued as SACDs...
Remasterings to SACD still improve the sound somehow, as even in the past these recording's dinamic range reached frequencies that a CD can't have (higher than 20 kHz)...but it's clear that SACD's full potential is here only with very recent recordings. If you like classical music, try for example Rachmaninov's Second Symphony conducted by Ivan Fischer (Channel Classics), or Mahler's Third with Riccardo Chailly (DECCA). Differences are obvious even without going into multichannel mode...