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rastus
1391
Jan 24, 2018
If you do wish to continue to have physical (digital) media such as CD's; I would recommend to get a player that also accepts SACD's, so that you can enjoy collecting and listening to both levels. The SACD is the quality that CD's were meant to have, they just came later, and the market was not accepting of another shift at that point with consumers already heavily invested into hardware and media collections. You can get some good deals on quality used multi-format SACD players on eBay etc.
adartzt321
13
Jan 24, 2018
rastusall music cd's are SACD?
rastus
1391
Jan 24, 2018
adartzt321Really the opposite, as many SACD's have a CD layer built-in, a "hybrid". The SACD data is stored at a higher areal density in DSD format, than on a CD in PCM format. A single SACD (layer) is capable of having 4.7GB vs a CD of 780Mb, just over 6X the data, necessary for DSD, the format that brings the music alive again. Of course you need the rest of hardware up to the task of benefiting from SACD's (DSD). Many SACD's are hybrid 5.1 multi-channel so they will not offer benefit in a two channel stereo system, you will be listening to the built-in standard CD layer then. My recommendation was that if I were going to re-invest in discs again, I would get a nice used SACD player to be able to utilize both.
adartzt321
13
Jan 24, 2018
rastusbut do I have a way to know if I have sacd version cd? I don't want to invest in a such a player without having ant benefit from it.
all my cd that I bought are from last 5 years.
must say I don't have an expensive speakers each speaker cost me at least 1000$ (probably cost in usa 500$)
rastus
1391
Jan 24, 2018
adartzt321 You would likely not have bought any SACD's, as they were limited release from the start and you would have questioned the price, as compared to a CD, in a somewhat choked voice... The disc would be labeled as SACD, and state also if it is a hybrid etc. My recommendation is only that going forward, you may want invest in a player, to collect some SACD's, if you desire to continue investing in physical discs, for your most favored artists.
search
adartzt321
13
Jan 25, 2018
rastusokay. hope that there are SACD on heavy metal lbums
bquisp
13
Jan 25, 2018
rastus"Many SACD's are hybrid 5.1 multi-channel so they will not offer benefit in a two channel stereo system " - This is INCORRECT. According to the Scarlet Book (SACD standards,) ALL SACD's have a stereo (dual-channel) mix on the SACD layer and an OPTIONAL surround sound (multi-channel) mix. I have never heard or seen a release that was surround/multi-channel ONLY WITHOUT a corresponding stereo mix.
rastus
1391
Jan 25, 2018
bquispThanks for the notice, you are essentially right, as almost all did come out with both. I never bought into SACD or DVD-A, could not afford it,, we were only making the equipment, so just heard all the early yakking about what to or not to put on them.
The funny one; was when someone told the music industry, who were then pumping out CD's in a flood $$$, that we could put a weeks worth of music using this new capability, on a single four layer disc. So that an average customer could fit all their stuff on one disc... compressed crap yes, but this put the brakes on this high density disc technology, sell just one disc!!!, they shit their pants, was not in that meeting, but heard about it... the shit that we did end up getting, the germ of the idea was in their pants now... was exactly that,,, MP3 itself...
Some SACD's were made with 5.1 and no dedicated two channel stereo; the rules were amended to require stereo later. I do wonder at the compression required to squeeze it all in one layer...
No stereo example: http://www.sa-cd.net/showtitle/2744
So both of us can be correct, you more so;) better?; I was just trying to warn as these things cost so much.
Regardless, look for this in a Multi-ch:
search
Thanks for making me look, as I now see new SACD's coming out that are noting that they were recorded in DSD, nice, but still think I will be directly downloading master DSD files. I saw too many defects on the discs, all of them, to make me go back, knowing they are still there.
bquisp
13
Jan 25, 2018
rastusYes rastus - there are approximately 20 titles on SACD without a stereo mix but they are mostly obscure titles but with all things, buyer be aware!
LOL - not worried about being correct, just want to help and have the right information out there. I've been buying & listening to SACD's (and DVD-Audio) since they first came out in '99 and currently have 250+ titles in high resolution. Not having a dedicated stereo mix is MUCH more of an issue/challenge with DVD-Audio.
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/any-dvd-audio-discs-without-a-dedicated-stereo-mix.129151/
rastus
1391
Jan 25, 2018
bquispWhat to say, I'm old, saw the last bubble memory production line running, got yelled at by T. P. "Peter" Brody and framed a photograph for and handed it to Ansel Adams...
Shouldn't have stepped into SACD tech mish-mash, a format that I passed on owning, was never happy with CD and saw the faults still remaining in SACD/DVD-A production quality. I would, as I said, buy a nice, used SACD player, if I were to continue investing in physical (digital) media.
I really only got the bug, to get back into this, when I found out that I could buy digital "studio files"; thus having no in-between media.
Factoid: They were not planning on printing full face labels on the discs themselves, that only came about to hide the pinholes in the coating, due to the poor cleanliness level that the old vinyl squishing factories could maintain. The learning curve was horrendous for them (and us;).
Question: the 20 stereo recordings that are alone on the SACD layer, are they larger files than the identical tracks on an identical recording mixed disc?
adartzt321There was an opeth release or two in surround format but I don't think it exceeded 24 bit 48kHz... Only the ones involving Steven Wilson as he jumped on the DTS Surround Audio/DVD-A bandwagon hard core. He's also super anal about his mixes so they truly are some of the best mixes around even if they don't have high resolution... Porcupine Tree's in absentia in DTS Audio disc format is phenomenal.
If you receiver can handle high resolution PCM conversions or native MLP PCM (dvd-audio) or DSD (SACD) the Sony X800 is a universal player for a decent price, it will not output analog 5.1 channel audio however...
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