Home Theater Forum - View Single Post - Why bother with buying SACD/DVD-A in stereo?

John Garcia · 06-13-2006, 09:35 PM

It depends on what you are listening for. IMO, I don't need every album and every song for that matter in hires, but there are definitely recordings where SACD really shows what they are capable of. Having said that, the ability is present on regular CD already to reproduce a very high level of detail even without very high end equipment. I have Jazz at the Pawnshop on CD and I have to say it already rivals the best SACDs I have. It is available on SACD also, but I'm still not ready to drop $60 on it (2 disc set) because I can't imagine it is that much better. I have some albums that I double dipped on and I have to say mostly with newer releases that if the original was already a good master and they used the same one, there isn't a huge difference. On Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue, I can hear the difference between the SACD and CD layers though, and to me, that is an album that is worthy of SACD (2ch only). Sorry to say, there is no way I'm going to carry around my expensive SACDs to listen to in the car...I burn the CD layer on hybrids and carry around the copies.

06-13-2006, 09:35 PM	#8 of 111
John Garcia Member Location: San Jose, Ca. Join Date: Jun 1999 Local Time: 12:56 AM Local Date: 12-03-2008 Posts: 11,228	Re: Why bother with buying SACD/DVD-A in stereo? It depends on what you are listening for. IMO, I don't need every album and every song for that matter in hires, but there are definitely recordings where SACD really shows what they are capable of. Having said that, the ability is present on regular CD already to reproduce a very high level of detail even without very high end equipment. I have Jazz at the Pawnshop on CD and I have to say it already rivals the best SACDs I have. It is available on SACD also, but I'm still not ready to drop $60 on it (2 disc set) because I can't imagine it is that much better. I have some albums that I double dipped on and I have to say mostly with newer releases that if the original was already a good master and they used the same one, there isn't a huge difference. On Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue, I can hear the difference between the SACD and CD layers though, and to me, that is an album that is worthy of SACD (2ch only). Sorry to say, there is no way I'm going to carry around my expensive SACDs to listen to in the car...I burn the CD layer on hybrids and carry around the copies. "The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so." - Mark Twain HT: Marantz SR-8300, MA500 monoblocks x 2, 5X GR Research A/V-2s, Adire Audio Tempest sub, Denon 2900, Oppo 980H, Toshiba HD-A2, RC2000MkII remote, Panamax 5100, Panamax Max2 sub, Slim PS2, PS3 60G + 320G USB Bedroom: Marantz PM-7200 Integrated, GR Research A/V-1s, Sony 222ES SACD, RC3200 remote, Panamax M8EX Audio: Audioquest * Video: Bluejeans My DVDs My HT