All about the source.

[warviper]

This is amazing first off I would like to thank F1nut aka Jesse, last week I received two gold cd’s and they amazed me. My cdp is a pioneer 45a and it has sacd capabilities so that way I can play cd's in two channel my ls90s have never sounded so good. The base response is full, clear, I am always standing up to check to make sure the sub is not on. Before I had those cd’s my main source for music was my computer from mp3s. Since them I have purchased two dvda’s and another sacd returned the dvda’s because the sound was different not better. Long live two channel and please invest money into the source because it all starts their cant wait for Frank’s cables to come. I got signal2s with the bullet plugs. And I gotta hand it to Polk the bass in the 90s are superb. And in my opinion sacd's seem to be of higher quality sound too bad there are not many of them out.

Titles that I listined to :

DVDa Linkin Park, Disturbed

Sacd Three doors down, Yoyoma

[F1nut]

Nice to hear that you've discovered music again and that you're enjoying the gold cd's.

[therockman]

Yes, SACDs do sound very good, but that statement about "too bad there are not that many out" is not a factual statement. Right now there are over 2,800 titles out, I myself own over 100 titles. There is music from every genre out on SACD, with more titles coming out everyday.

[warviper]

I went down to best buy there were like twenty of them. Heck Sony's website has like 50. Are you counting the hybrids?

[F1nut]

Retail stores suck!

Here are some sources for SACD's.

www.amusicdirect.com

www.redtrumpet.com

www.cduniverse.com

www.towerrecords.com

www.elusivedisc.com

This is a good reference site, http://www.sa-cd.net/

[Loud & Clear]

Originally posted by warviper
I went down to best buy there were like twenty of them. Heck Sony's website has like 50. Are you counting the hybrids?

I count the hybrids, is there a reason one shouldn't?

Nice reference for audiophile recordings (http://store.acousticsounds.com/sacd.cfm?section=sacd)

[shack]

Our Best Buy has 200± SACD titles (including hybrids - why wouldn't you count those?)

[therockman]

I must appoligize about my inaccurate post earlier. Right now there are over 1,800 SACDs on the market, and that does include hybrids, (after all, even a hybrid has an SACD layer). This sie has the actual number that are available today,


www.sa-cd.net/

[therockman]

Also, I have a friend that operates a site that details all the multichannel SACD releases. He tries to update the list regularly, so you have to check the list regularly. Try this link:


http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bmoura/msacdnew.htm

[therockman]

And there also record labels that specalize in SACDs. My favorite is

www.audiofidelity.net/sacd-catalog.html

I own every single one of their SACD releases, and are all very fine. Check out Deep Purple LIVE AT THE BBC.

[warviper]

Are hybrids sound quality wise as good as sacds? I was under the impression that they were not.

[F1nut]

A hybrid disc contains both SACD and CD layers, the SACD layer is exactly the same as a non-hybrid disc.

[warviper]

Thanx for setting me straight.

[F1nut]

No problem bro.

I should have mentioned that pure DSD SACD's do sound better than other SACD's. It seems though that the only pure DSD recordings are classical music. Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks Water Music is awesome! It's on Telarc SACD-60594.

[therockman]

To get back to what warviper was saying, yes it is all about the source. If you have the dedication to the audio hobby to buy good elctronics and good speakers, all that high end audio equipment can still sound like crap if you play a compressed, digitally maxed out, mass produced CD. Hence the reason for audiophile CDs and other source material. My love affair with SACD began about 2 years ago, but I did not make the big leap to surround sound SACD untill last year. But whether you like straight 2 channel sound or 5.1 surround sound, SACDs offer the best commercially available sound on the market today. I feel that the sound quality beats black vinyl, and it is as close to analog as the digital world will ever see. The DSD recording technology utilizes 2.8 million bits per second of information, versus a CD's 44,100 bits per second. The SACD has 64 times the resolution of a CD, and the sound is superior. F1nut is right that only certain discs are true DSD recordings, from studio to final product, but even a well mastered SACD that goes straight from the original master analog tape to a DSD medium offers a much higher resolution playback than does black vinyl or even CD. When it comes to down to a high resolution playback disc for my favorite music, count me in with SACD.