CD vs SACD (1 Viewer)

[gychang]

waiting for my Pioneer Elite DV-48, which can also play SACD, among host of other formats.

I have 2 channel front speakers but have a Pioneer Elite VSX-33TX Hometheater receiver, which has clean sound.

1. Some state SACD is clearly better particularly on the more recent recordings, what is your experience?

2. where is a good place to buy SACD?

thanks,

gychang

 

[Will_B]

Yep, SACD blows away regular CD. Very smooth sound, I don't know how else to describe it. But as far as where to buy SACD discs, half.com and ebay.com since they aren't being made anymore. Try to get David Bowie's Heathen SACD. Besides the best sound quality, five of the songs are longer on the SACD than they are on the regular CD.

 

[gychang]

SACD are not being made any more?
am into classical and jazz..., but thanks for the recommendation.

gychang

 

[townsend]

CD vs SACD isn't just a matter of superior audio format. There are several other matters to consider:

1) The original recording--how well was the music originally recorded?

2) The remaster--how well was it done?

There are some mediocre SACDs and there are some excellent RBCDs (= redbook CDs), and vice a versa. Generalizations are inaccurate.

3) Availability--you mention that you are into jazz and classical. Then I suppose that you will enjoy SACD. There are good number of smaller labels still producing classical music in SACD (I think this holds true for jazz, but to a lesser extent). However, if you are into rock music, there is not a lot happening in SACDs. Sure, we have a few titles forthcoming (Emerson, Lake & Palmer's BSS; Black Sabbath's Paranoid; and the early Genesis material), but overall, rock SACDs are a vanishing breed, perhaps not going extinct, but becoming rare.

 

[Citizen87645]

If you want to try SACD somewhat inexpensively, you can sign up with yourmusic.com which has 28 SACD titles in its catalog. The site is basically an offshoot of the BMG Music Club, but is much more straightforward in its commitment. Create a queue of music titles and each month a title from that queue gets mailed to you for $6.99. You can also buy at that price (for single disc titles) however much you want.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Gregory,

You might wanna follow this ongoing thread to see what (mostly) SACDs people are buying these days:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...cently-59.html

If you're just starting out on the format, you might wanna pick up some classics like:

* Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet
* Various Miles Davis classics
* Michael Tilson Thomas' Mahler Symphonies cycle, if you like Mahler
* Violin works performed by one of the current/new gen of (primarily) female concert violinist, eg. Hilary Hahn, Julia Fischer, maybe Lara St John (her Bach sonatas and partitas), etc. or there's also a small handful of old classics by Heifetz, Stern, etc.
* Some of the old classic RCA Living Stereo records
* For opera, seems like Blu-ray looks more promising going forward

But yeah, I can't say I've seen too many new SACDs for jazz or classical either. And it's quite possible for Blu-ray to supercede SACD in these areas (well, at least classical anyway) as that format grows...

_Man_

 

[gychang]

Great!, thanks, will look into trying to get some SACDs.

gychang

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Here is a good list for classical and jazz fans:

sacd

 

[BrettV]

Has anyone heard any of the genesis SACDs yet? Particularly "Selling England by the Pound" and "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway." They carry a heavy pricetag -- around 45 dollars a piece. Anyone know if they're going to come down any time soon? I'm really interested in these.

Also, I notice that the product descriptions (via amazon) state SACD 5.1 and standard CD. Do these include stereo SACD as well? (like Dark Side of the Moon)

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I have the Genesis box set and think it sounds great. Trick of the Tail is especially good.

Look around for pricing. There are deals out there on ebay. ImportCDs sold this on special for $10.95 for a short while, I'm not kidding, and that is what I paid.

 

[BrettV]

Wow! That definitely gives me hope. Thanks alot for the reply.

Would you mind checking to see if the discs have a stereo SACD mix available, particularly the two discs I mentioned above.

Thank you!

Brett

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I only have a stereo SACD setup so indeed that is available. Each album title comes with a second disc of NTSC video.

 

[BrettV]

Thank you, Lee!

 

[Jeff O.]

BrettV,
Lee is talking obout the first batch of Genesis SACD releases of their later material. These do not include Lamb or Selling. To the best of my knowledge those are not released yet but should be soon.
Jeff

 

[robynbrock84]

im so lost...what is SACD?

 

[Danny Tse]

See Wikipedia entry on SACD

 

[MielR]

SACDs aren't being made anymore? I just got an email from Mobile Fidelity listing their new SACD releases.....?

 

[Mark_TS]

This July Warners/4AD released all 9 DEAD CAN DANCE SACD-Hybrid, Made in Japan, mastered by MFSL, in LP card covers and a rather thin info booklet.
Humorously, in their effort to exactly reproduce the original details of the originals-this leads to a a couple of 2 LP sets being put on one CD-but including the 2 UK sleeves-one with CD -one empty; These all have repros of the paper 4AD inner sleeves, whether blank wallpaper art, as some were or an extra, with those clear japanese sleeves inside. There is an OBI, largely in english, with some Kanji for the Japanese market-the UPC is on the obi-as well as the EU "LC 3656" 'tube' -always wondered what those were

The initial worldwide run of 6000 sold out in a couple weeks.
Look hard and you still may find some-
I guess with that demand they will have to do another pressing-even though listed as Limited Edition.

For the longest time Amazon listed 'out of stock' on all of them-then listed "more available Oct 2" Whether they did or not is moot-they are not in stock at this time-though some are selling theirs privately.

REMASTERED CDs will be available in November. Brendan Perry wanted them in Super Jewel Cases, but I dont know if they will be in the US

 

[Will_B]

Ok, a slight exaggeration. There are still 2 factories on the planet that can make SACDs.

 

[Danny Tse]

At least 2, if not more.