Pioneer 47Ai first impressions (1 Viewer)

[Bill Law]

If you have the 49TXi/47Ai combo then AVOID SACD with the STEREO label. Most older ones are and the newer Stones release is.

Make sure it says MULTICHANNEL if it's an SACD! Otherwise you will ONLY get sound from the 2 front speakers thru the i-link.

 

[KeithH]

Ron, to each his own. I run my 'C555ES changers in direct mode to avoid extraneous processing. So, if the 'C555ES does perform a conversion to PCM in the bass management process, I don't have to worry about it.

 

[KeithH]

Bill said:

If you have the 49TXi/47Ai combo then AVOID SACD with the STEREO label. Most older ones are and the newer Stones release is.

Make sure it says MULTICHANNEL if it's an SACD! Otherwise you will ONLY get sound from the 2 front speakers thru the i-link.

Bill, I don't understand your point. If an SACD only has a stereo track, then you will only get sound from the two front speakers when using the analog outputs on any SACD player. It's stereo after all. What do you expect to get from stereo SACDs?

 

[Ron Newsome]

I think he means that you can't apply any type of Surround Sound Field to stereo DSD coming through the iLink.

 

[Bill Law]

Correct, Ron. There is NO way to force ANYsound out of any other speaker thrrough the i-link.
Stereo SACD's aren't exactly the next big thing anyway.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I personally prefer 2 channel stereo for all music, SACD and DVD-A included. Maybe someday, producers will get surround sound "right" for music, but IMO, it isn't there yet for most current releases...

 

[KeithH]

Kevin,
I'm with you. Stereo is still king as far as I am concerned.
Bill,
O.K. I don't like processing stereo tracks into surround sound or collapsing surround sound into stereo. I just don't think either process works well at all
You said:

Stereo SACD's aren't exactly the next big thing anyway.

Maybe you haven't heard them right. Based on a lot of the gimmicky surround mixes out there, I would hardly say that multi-channel music on any format is the next big thing.

 

[Tom Grooms]

I personally prefer 2 channel stereo for all music, SACD and DVD-A included.

Strongly Agree!