[Chops]

I've been on the Acoustic Sounds, Inc site for the past half hour or so. I'm wanting to expand my CD collection. I'm not a whole lot into multi-channel recordings, not to mention they're useless through cans anyway.

So like I was saying, I'm looking through their site and see all of these different formats, one of which I just learned about, XRCD's!

So what do you all prefer listening to through your headphone rigs, and why?

• CD
• SACD 2-Channel
• XRCD
• XRCD2
• XRCD24
• HDCD
• Gold
• Hybrid SACD Stereo
• Single Layer Stereo SACD
• DSD Stereo SACD

And of course then you get into the different labels such as Dorian, Stereophile, Chesky, Telarc, Original Master, etc, etc...

So please, let's here what you've got to say.

 

[Aman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chops /img/forum/go_quote.gif CD SACD 2-Channel XRCD XRCD2 XRCD24 HDCD Gold Hybrid SACD Stereo Single Layer Stereo SACD DSD Stereo SACD Vinyl

Fixed the list for you.

My choice is in bold.

 

[Digitalbath3737]

oh you forgot digital on there (like lossy or lossless)

I only listen to my head phone on my iPod so it's LAME mp3 for me

 

[jonnywolfet]

lame mp3 here, s'just so conveniant!

 

[wax4213]

I usually listen to CD's, but sometimes it's just so much more convenient to play my FLAC files. Just bought a coupld SACD's, so once I go home for Christmas I'll be trying them in my CE595

 

[Duggeh]

Mike Oldfield accounts for more than half of all of the listening I do I should recon, and I've got almost all of the discography on HDCD. So ill go for HDCD.

 

[jdimitri]

I like XRCDs considerably more than other formats
Brother in Arms and Hell Freezes over had massive improvements, and it's designed for normal cd players (right?)

 

[trains are bad]

I don't listen to headphones much at all anymore. On speakers, I've been listening to mostly vinyl lately, but overall I usually listen to FLACs from CDs with a DAC. I don't even own (or want) a CD player.

 

[Chops]

So out of 7 possible answers, ONLY 2 are usefull. Thanks Duggeh and jdimitri.

I didn't put vinyl or MP3 on the list because those are not options for me. I no longer have my Music Hall MMF5 turntable, nor would I listen to it through headphones anyway since the background noise of the vinyl passing under the needle would annoy me to no end. And I have no need for portable music such as an iPod or any other kind of MP3 player since I only listen at home. Not to mention that I don't want to crowd up my harddrives with a bunch of huge MP3 files.

Now back to the ole' Compact Disc...

I'm glad that jdimitri brought up the XRCD's. These seem to be a good idea as they work on any normal CD player however a bit on the pricey side. In fact, I was planning on getting Brothers in Arms and Hell Freezes Over, but want to see if anyone sells them cheaper than $38 each!

HDCD is another good one, but I have no way of decoding the format. I don't want to put money into a new CD player at the moment as I want to build up my headphone inventory first (at least a couple different amps and cans).

All of the other formats I can do, just not HDCD or DVD-A with my current dedicated player. My Pioneer player out in my main system will play DVD-A, but I don't think it sounds as good as the Sony, and it DOESN'T do DSD like the Sony does.

Well, keep the thoughts coming as I'm all ears!

 

[Thelonious Monk]

320 KB/S LAME mp3
VBR mp3
CDs

Occasionally, my dad busts out the Vinyl.

 

[Aman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chops /img/forum/go_quote.gif So out of 7 possible answers, ONLY 2 are usefull. Thanks Duggeh and jdimitri. I didn't put vinyl or MP3 on the list because those are not options for me. I no longer have my Music Hall MMF5 turntable, nor would I listen to it through headphones anyway since the background noise of the vinyl passing under the needle would annoy me to no end. And I have no need for portable music such as an iPod or any other kind of MP3 player since I only listen at home. Not to mention that I don't want to crowd up my harddrives with a bunch of huge MP3 files.

Then perhaps you should title your thread better, and be more specific with your original post, next time. Sheesh.

 

[soundboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chops /img/forum/go_quote.gif So what do you all prefer listening to through your headphone rigs, and why? CD SACD 2-Channel XRCD XRCD2 XRCD24 HDCD Gold Hybrid SACD Stereo Single Layer Stereo SACD DSD Stereo SACD

Hmmm....all of the stereo SACD versions you listed are the same thing. Unless you want to get into the argument of 2 channel stereo on single-layer SACD vs. 2 channel stereo on hybrid SACD.

As for CD, various versions of XRCD, or gold....they are still regular old redbook CDs. XRCDs are nothing more than extremely well-mastered and well-pressed CDs. Gold CDs differs in the material used for the reflective layer. There are regular CDs out there that sound better than XRCDs, IMHO.

My choice is 2 channel stereo SACD. However, you forgot to add DSD-mastered/remastered CDs to the list. These are excellent as well.

 

[Chops]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Then perhaps you should title your thread better, and be more specific with your original post, next time. Sheesh.

Well, when I said "I'm wanting to expand my CD collection", I figured it was self explanatory.

 

[Chops]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soundboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmmm....all of the stereo SACD versions you listed are the same thing. Unless you want to get into the argument of 2 channel stereo on single-layer SACD vs. 2 channel stereo on hybrid SACD. As for CD, various versions of XRCD, or gold....they are still regular old redbook CDs. XRCDs are nothing more than extremely well-mastered and well-pressed CDs. Gold CDs differs in the material used for the reflective layer. There are regular CDs out there that sound better than XRCDs, IMHO. My choice is 2 channel stereo SACD. However, you forgot to add DSD-mastered/remastered CDs to the list. These are excellent as well.

soundboy, I haven't done a whole lot of research on the SACD formats, so I wasn't sure if there were any differences or not between the stereo SACD versions or not. Thanks for clearing that up a bit for me.

As for the main thing, I am only concerned with 2-channel audio, no matter what format it may be in. Again, I am not interested in vinyl or MP3 at this time.

 

[Uncle Erik]

What sounds good to me? In no particular order:

1. SACD (all varieties)
2. Red Book CD
3. ALAC
4. Vinyl
5. Vintage tube multiplex (stereo) FM tuner
6. Vintage tube AM tuner

I'll be adding reel-to-reel soon enough.

You know what? It's all good. Good music is everything, the format is just a means to an end.