No, I think most people long for the so called best copy of something they love. I have a number of SACD's and like some have said are hit and miss. Sometimes I am happy to take a chance whether SACD,DVD-A, Audio Fidelity etc......
Beware, if you have an Oppo BDP-93 and select DSD for SACD output, no bass management is performed, one can assume no distance compensation either. I guess both are performed on the PCM domain.
Are you talking about the Sony SCD-XE597? US Sony currently doesn't market any dedicated SACD players, but we do get the SACD-capable Blu-ray players.
Couple of observations on this and the whole thread: 1. Not many people would pay $100 extra for a SH/KG mastering as good as it may be so the business model is not there. 2. Is there real evidence on what sources the Warner sources were for the jazz SACDs? Even if there is a problem, these are few in number, the Universal SHM-SACDs were done from original tapes or Japanese masters and sound great! 3. There are many quality mastering engineers besides Steve and Kevin. We need to mindful of other quality engineers like George Marino, Paul Stubblebine, Bernie Grundman, Michael Bishop, Doug Sax, Bruce Brown, etc. 4. Why is there so much talk about Joe Sixpack. I saw Joe today and he was on iTune downloading compressed music for iPod and his $10 earbuds. I don't like Joe and I certainly don't look to him for sound quality opinions. And Joe told me he doesn't buy audiophile CDs and SACDs. He likely doesn't buy ANY CDs. 5. Why all the talk about surround? I love surround but many of us simply don't want to spend the money for more speakers and a multichannel receiver/decoder. Sure I would like those who have it to get the 5.1 layer but if the added cost doesn't make any sense then I'm happy. Really good hirez 2 channel is pretty damn holographic anyway.
I checked my SHM-SACD's for the two Mono Coltranes and unfortunately all the text is in Japanese..I'm sure it says somewhere in there what the source is. Dr Bryant- Do you have any of the Warner SHM-SACDs (ie.COltrane, Ornette, etc)? If so...can you check the liners to see what the sources are?
I'm not surprised. When I bought the Miles Davis - Kind of Blue SACD, I thought it was the beginning of a great technology. I do have to agree that the SHM versions prices are way out of line. In fact, the prices might be the death of the format this time around.
All I know is that most of these SACD's do sound better on my system to my ears, so I am pleasantly surprised at their comeback and am delighted when I get a chance to own a hi-rez edition of a favorite album. I am eagerly awaiting Steely Dan's Royal Scam next month...
I'm currently using a Sony BX-580 blu-ray player with SACD capability to transmit the DSD bitstream layers of my disc library via HDMI to my Denon AVR-4310ci receiver, which has the DSD conversion chip in its arsenal of digital formats. I get the benefit of full resolution multichannel or stereo Direct Stream Digital from a setup that cost me only $1,200.00 to put together as part of the nerve center of my living room home theater. I'm quite happy with the sonic results. As to the OP's question regarding the resurrection of the SACD format...hell yeah, I'm surprised...and happy!!!
This is true and I meant to mention this in my last post. Its good you brought this up . I use DSD for 2CH analog but I have to remember to change the setting back to PCM for MCH analog. If not there is no BM or distance compensation for MCH SACDs (as you mentioned ). Bill
No, I do not. However, all of the Warner Music SHM-SACD Jazz titles are supposed to be DSD transfers from the original US master tapes. This is not necessarily the case for the Warner pop titles that have been announced beginning in August.
I'm happy that Sack-Dee is still out there........ When I see how many people on this Forum that are interested in Hi-Rez, I'm not surprised that Audiophile records in various formats still have a life.
I just got on the bandwagon a year ago. As said in this thread---some are ***** (AIC Greatest Hits) and some are solid Hi-Rez releases.
I never saw any evidence that Warner or DTS Inc. for that matter (the other significant player in the dvd-audio biz), ever intended their titles for hard-core audiophiles. That's mostly based on the fact that for the most part their titles were never typical "audiophile" titles, in other words, they weren't albums that were recorded well but featured bland/obscure/etc music many people would never sit & listen to willingly for pleasure's sake. I've never done a formal survey but it always seemed to me the dvd-audio format featured much more rock, pop and electronica than the sacd format, genres that have a history of, to be honest, being guilty of not exactly using the best recording practices. And: the fact that, as far as I know, except for a few Neil Young titles, all of Warners' and DTS' dvd-audio titles always featured a multichannel mix (and we all know that "real" audiophiles don't listen to surround music). In my opinion THAT'S what they were selling, and the hi-res aspect was more of a bonus. BTW are ALL Warner dvd-a discs compressed in the manner described here i.e. as if they are nearly impossible to listen to? I own several of them but very rarely listened to the stereo mix but as far as the multichannel mix, never noticed any overcompression.....and anyone with some knowledge of rock and pop recording practices knows those genres pretty much always use more compression vs. classical and jazz recordings, but that doesn't automatically mean they will sound unpleasant.
...... Nicely stated, although I think the frequent brown nosing and "group think" @ the forum hampers the objectivity of the discourse.
I'm only surprised that Sony Japan hasn't gotten in on the recent resurgance-but then again given their track record supporting THEIR formats I'm not
Where are you getting this information? My Sony XA5400ES does -not- convert the signal to PCM, and it even outputs the native DSD signal via HDMI. I know some of the cheaper universal players have made the DSD > PCM conversion, but this is the first time I've heard anyone claim that all players except the first gen Sony's do it.
I've bailed out of the Japanese SACD import game. Great titles are being released for sure, but I decided it's not worth the premium price anymore. I'll be happy to collect domestic SACD releases at $35 a pop (which I still think is too much), but if I'm going to pay more than $35 for any album it better be an album that I absolutely love (e.g. Wish You Were Here) and will get heavy rotation. If SACD is truly coming off life support perhaps we'll see more domestic releases of titles that are coming out in Japan, but more reasonably priced. Times are hard. Baby needs new shoes.
It would be the best if records would just be back to stay. Honestly I know it would never happen as the primary format again because it's just too easy to have infinite music with downloads but it still does have the best quality in my opinion.
Where in the world did I say that only first gen. Sony players do not convert? You're not reading what I wrote carefully enough.
I agree as I feel $60.00 for a SACD that could possibly have sub par SQ is not for me anymore either. The only two titles I would possibly be interested in are Steely Dan's The Royal Scam and Dire Straits Love Over Gold. The only way I will consider both is if the reviews are very positive. Then I still might wait to see if cdjapan will offer another almost half off sale for these SHM-SACDs . Bill
Steve, Would you consider that Oppo players (83/83SE, 93 and 95) output direct DSD when that option is selected in the Audio Format Setup of the Oppo setup menu? Bill
