SACD - Are you surprised at the format's recent resurgence?

I sincerely hope so.

I think SACDs, for me as a fan of physical media, are the best of all worlds right now.

But, If I were a betting man, I'd have to go with "no"...

After the Mo-Fi debacle, what I saw from the cheap seats is that a large part of the "audiophile" community is composed of straight-up "analogphiles."

Sure, the sound quality is important, but so is the LP as an "object." I think the LP as "AAA" itself became this sacred or holy object more so than what the actual grooves produced.

 

With Sony's purchase of Springsteen's catalog and recordings, I am hoping Sony will put his catalog on SACD.

 

You can feel sorry for my purse! Some great new titles for sure and for those who find the boxed 45 rpm lps too much a cheaper quality alternative.

 

Yep, there are plenty of high-profile SACDs that have been coming out, or announced to come out, in the last couple of years.

I've also been dipping more and more into Japan SACD releases and enjoying those a lot.

 

That is awesome. I have heard a few Japanese Steely Dan SACD releases. Unlike most SACDs, I did not like Countdown or Preztel (they sounded like they came from multiple generation tapes). I hope that AP does a good job and based on their track record, they will.

 

I would really like to see a reissue of Romantic Warrior (Return to Forever).

Also:

Another Green World (Brian Eno)

Beatles (especially the mid and later period)(yes its cliche)

 

Iconoclassic said they are putting out their first SACD as well, although it's not yet clear if that will be later this year or some time next year.

 

This. I noticed quite a few LPs are being sourced from PCM, even 16 -44 redbook. Buyers don't seem to care. More power to them I suppose.

I still play my few remaining records every so often mainly so my turntable does not break down from too little use. I probably should do that with all my old electronics but I am too lax.

 

An article on the Dan releases:

Go Back, Jack, Do It Again: Steely Dan's Discography Gets Overhaul from UMe, Analogue Productions - The Second Disc

 

Does anybody know the lineage of the Japanese SACD of Aja by Steely Dan. I heard it once and thought it was quite good. I wonder if that came from a back up copy also or from an original master tape.

 

That’s cool, SACD

 

All the liners state (that I can see) is "DSD Transferred from analogue master tapes by Hitoshi Takiguchi (Universal Mastering Studios)".

 

It will be interesting to see how the Japanese SACD of Aja compares with the new one coming out soon. I suspect that of this particular set of upcoming new Steely Dan SACD releases, the one that may be surpassed by the existing versions would be Aja.

 

yeah it's a flat transfer of a japanese master copy.

 

What is a Japanese master copy?

 

It should just be a copy tape of the master that was sent to Japan to allow them to press local copies of the album.

 

I would presume that this would be a similar generation to what the new AP release will use?

 

I guess we'll find out when it's released, but yes, it sounds like it.

 

As we enter the last 3 months of 2022, there were 14,672 SACD releases listed at hraudio.net. That's a gain of 414 new SACD releases since the beginning of the year.

From all indications, 2022 will see new SACD releases worldwide exceeding 600 titles....possibly exceeding 2021's total of 625.

On November 2, Japan Universal Music will unleash 50 classical music releases on SHM-SACD (i.e. stereo single layer SACD) on the Deutsch Grammophon (DG) and Decca labels, which will be followed with a 21 title J-pop "Best of" SACD compilation reissue campaign in the middle of November. Still possible for the last three months of 2022....Michael Jackson's "Thriller" on MoFi, the first 6 Van Halen studio albums on MoFi, the last 2 Eagles studio albums on MoFi, Analogue Production's Steely Dan "Can't Buy A Thrill" SACD, etc.

 

I'm hopeful that with the apparent revival of fortunes for CDs in general some labels will take this opportunity to relaunch SACD as a quality luxury niche Hi Fi audiophile product similar to the model applied with the vinyl revolution. Streaming is OK but we have a very different relationship with physical artefacts that we can hold- it's a far deeper psychological emotional connection and investment. When I catalogue my music collection I only include vinyl and CDs, never have I ever included any digital downloads even though I've paid for them.

 

I'm wasn't overly impressed with the SQ of Countdown To Ecstasy or Pretzel Logic JSACDs either. I'm hoping the new APO Steely Dan SACDs will be an improvement. Hoping Katy Lied SACD will be the new definitive digital version.

 

Listening to the Cardigans SACD, on first listen, level-matched with the original CD, I don't hear an obvious difference. I know it's just the first listen, but even the DR values are the same

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: The Cardigans / First Band on the Moon [Universal – 5396310 Hong Kong SACD 2022]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR11 -7.75 dB -20.00 dB 3:55 01-Your New Cuckoo
DR9 -6.43 dB -16.47 dB 4:05 02-Been It
DR9 -6.20 dB -17.60 dB 3:42 03-Heartbreaker
DR9 -6.07 dB -17.31 dB 2:36 04-Happy Meal II
DR9 -6.78 dB -16.71 dB 3:21 05-Never Recover
DR8 -6.61 dB -15.77 dB 3:48 06-Step on Me
DR10 -6.13 dB -17.28 dB 3:14 07-Lovefool
DR7 -6.15 dB -14.70 dB 3:17 08-Losers
DR9 -5.95 dB -16.15 dB 4:20 09-Iron Man
DR8 -9.25 dB -19.32 dB 3:16 10-Great Divide
DR8 -5.99 dB -15.54 dB 3:26 11-Choke
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR9
Samplerate: 2822400 Hz / PCM Samplerate: 88200 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 1
Bitrate: 5645 kbps
Codec: DSD64
================================================================================

 

Agw and Eno’s other big solo albums were done in dsd back in 2004 already but unfortunately those dsd masters were only released on cd, not sacd. I keep hoping they’ll be released on sacd someday, fingers crossed

 

I will be having dinner with some friends next week. All of us are set up for SACD 5.1 and more.

 

I was impressed by the JSACDs. I liked them a lot more than CD versions I've owned. Wasn't expecting them to win any audio awards, so they met my expectations. I'm also tempering my expectations for the APO SACDs. Expecting the worst. Hoping for the best.

Yes, but consider the source--you're one of the biggest and best proponents of SACD 5.1 and the fact that your friends are set up for SACD 5.1 is not representative sample of the broader audiophile community. But it should be!