Lee Scoggins

Re: SACD flawed to begin with? S&V David Ranada's article:

"You have to take into consideration of the quality of the source and how it was mixed/produced before it is converted to PCM 16/44"

??? On an SACD there is no 16/44 which is why they sound so good. Most SACDs are pure DSD or analog to DSD transfers and BOTH of those sound great.

"Is Chesky still in business?"

Of course, in fact they are working on a jazz series in Super Audio right now.

"In fact, it remains true that building a suite of recording or reproducing equipment which will actually use the dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratio of even 16-bit linear PCM is beyond difficult, and most studios, not to speak of listening environments, do not have -96 dB noise floor, much less 144 dB!"

This is not true Chris. First, most mics and recording equipment now can easily record extended frequencies from DSD. Second, the noise floor on redbook is not inaudibly low. That is also part of the benefit from the hirez formats. That's been shown in several AES papers.

Takeo Yamamoto's work with 24/96 has used RXY blind testing to prove the preference for hirez among normal listeners as well.

no fears alone at night she's sailing through the crowd
in her ears the phones are tight and the music's playing loud
~skateaway

JeremyErwin

Re: SACD flawed to begin with? S&V David Ranada's article:

Frequency response is not measured in dB

ChristopherDAC

Re: SACD flawed to begin with? S&V David Ranada's article:

Did I say the Redbook noise floor was "inaudibly low"? Nope. I said it wasn't, but that the combination of environmental noise and equipment noise factor in most situations adds up to a higher level — usually considerably higher — thus making improvements perceptible only with difficulty. I didn't say there was "no improvement", I said that under most conditions, and with most people's hearing, the improvement is not too noticable.

Resources for :
Anime on LaserDisc
Everything on LaserDisc

LanceJ

Re: SACD flawed to begin with? S&V David Ranada's article:

Christopher G said
Bingo.

This applies to me also. If a recording is really good to start with AND the music is important to me, I will buy the hi-res version (this includes stereo-only recordings). Otherwise........

Lee Scoggins

Re: SACD flawed to begin with? S&V David Ranada's article:

"If a recording is really good to start with AND the music is important to me, I will buy the hi-res version (this includes stereo-only recordings). "

That seems perfectly reasonable to me. I do agree that a quality mastering really lets the hirez formats shine through best...

" I didn't say there was "no improvement", I said that under most conditions, and with most people's hearing, the improvement is not too noticable."

I don't think people's hearing is the limiting factor though, I think it is their critical listening skills and the overall resolution of their system.

no fears alone at night she's sailing through the crowd
in her ears the phones are tight and the music's playing loud
~skateaway

Rommel_L

Re: SACD flawed to begin with? S&V David Ranada's article:

Huh?

PaulDA

Re: SACD flawed to begin with? S&V David Ranada's article:

I don't know about anyone else, but proper time alignment is certainly a crucial factor, as it proper bass management, in my system. In fact, having experimented with a number of setup options, I ultimately chose to deliberately (gasp!) take my DSD signal from my universal's analogue output and DIGITIZE it (my receiver applies time alignment and bass management to the MCH analogue input) as I prefer the steeper slope of my receiver's bass management settings (as well as the flexible xover point) AND my room makes it impossible for me to have my speakers in the ITU configuration. Without the time alignment, the echo effect described above is most certainly bothersome in my room. Moreover, I do ALL of my critical listening in that room. And with that critical listening, I've discerned that coverting the DSD signal to PCM is indistinguishable to my ears (I've A/Bed it many, many times) whereas not adjusting the time alignment is noticeably inferior.

Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes time, and it annoys the pig.

Phil A

Re: SACD flawed to begin with? S&V David Ranada's article:

Here is an interesting review/article that covers some of what has been discussed above:

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue26/dsd.htm