Finally got an SACD player. (1 Viewer)

[Philip Hamm]

Well, Best Buy finally ran out of the DVP-NS500Vs. With only a floor model left I asked what they could do for me. There was no remote so they said 25% off the clearance price of $149.50. Some digging came up with a remote and I ended up getting the player for $111.99. Not bad I think, now my compatability is complete. Only bad thing is now I have to wire back up my old multichannel jury-rig with two Radio Shack A/V switches. And of course I have to dig up wires, I'll cannibalize my other systems which aren't critical and I have 5 good quality wires.

My first SACD is Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser. More to come eventually I'm sure. I hope the new Bruce Cockburn comes out on SACD for me.

 

[John Geelan]

Good luck with the player. Burn it in a bit and enjoy!

 

[Philip Hamm]

(1) I don't really believe in "burn-in" with this kind of stuff.
(2) It's a frickin' floor model. Probably pre-burned in (perhaps pre-burned out! ). Though this particular unit I don't believe was ever hooked up to anything so it may have never played.
I am now ready for SACD software, but there's very little now that interests me enough to buy. This Monk disc for sure and Miles' "Kind Of Blue" multichannel if that's good. Anyone got it? Also the Bruce Cockburn retrospective is tempting, but the CD sounds like total mega-compressed ultra-limited garbage. It's unlistenable it's so bad (just the new "remastered" tracks and the new tracks are bad). I wonder if the SACD is just as bad.
One other minor nit with my set-up: I can't set digital inputs to "Video 2". I can, however, set "6-CH in" on in video 2 mode and the Sony will decode everything. This means that I can watch a 2 DVD Set (Like the Lord Of The Rings) in full 5.1 (DD or DTS) without ever getting up from my couch. All I have to do is switch from one DVD player input to another and use the internal decoders. Woo-hoo!
Actually the real substantial advantage is that I no longer have to use my Pioneer Elite CLD-99 for CD-R play. I've read that playing CDs on LD players is bad for the mechanism.

 

[KeithH]

Philip, congratulations on the purchase. It's about time! Seriously though, run right out and grab the Kind of Blue SACD. It's a must-have! Since you like jazz, you should note that there is a lot of good jazz out on SACD.

 

[Rachael B]

Must have SACD's according to me:
Junior Wells - COME ON IN THIS HOUSE
Bryan Ferry - FRANTIC
Grant-Lee Phillps - MOBILIZE
CCR - COSMO'S FACTORY & WILLY AND THE POOR BOYS
Eden Atwood - WAVES
Joe Satriani - STRANGE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC
Cowboy Junkies - OPEN
Alison Krauss - NEW FAVORITE
The Coryells - S/T
Jorma Kaukonen - BLUE COUNTRY HEART
Vivino Brothers - LUES BAND
Ana Caram - BLUE BOSSA
The Anthony Wilson Trio - OUR GANG
Jacintha - LUSH LIFE & AUTUMN LEAVES & HERE'S TO BEN
Manfredo Fest - JUST JOBIM
Sonny Rollins - SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS
The Rolling Stones - LET IT BLEED & BEGGAR'S BANQUET & HOT ROCKS and any others you like
Mighty Sam McClain - SOUL SURVIVOR
John Coltrane - STANDARD COLTRANE
Chet Baker - CHET
Monty Alexander - MONTY MEETS SLY AND ROBBIE
Patricia Barber - CAFE BLUE & MODERN COOL
Laura Nyro - ANGEL IN THE DARK
Tower Of Power - SOUL VACTION T.O.P. LIVE
...and if anything by Root Boy Slim and The Sex Change Band with The Rootettes comes out on SACD be sure to buy it!

 

[Marty M]

If you are a James Taylor fan, Hourglass is very good. I have also heard Chris Botti's SACD is good. KeithH has this one, I believe.
Rachel,
Where do you purchase your SACDs. I didn't know Laura Nyro's, Angel in the Dark was available in SACD. Is this a hybrid? I have a redbook CD of this and really like it.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

If you are a James Taylor fan, Hourglass is very good.

I'll second that recommendation. Yesterday I picked up this title, along with Diana Krall -- The Look of Love. Both these titles sound incredible (I've only listened to the two-channel mixes so far).

 

[KeithH]

Marty, yes, I have Chris Botti Night Sessions on SACD, and it is excellent if you like smooth jazz. Actually, the CD sounds very good as well. It comes quite close to the SACD, but the SACD is better in the usual ways.

On a sidenote, I saw the Night Sessions DVD the other day, and Sony put a subtle plug for the SACD in the description on the back cover. I thought that was pretty cool.

 

[Rachael B]

Marty, I proably got Laura Nyro at Acoustic Sounds or Elusive Disc. It has extra cuts on it over the CD and it's a hybrid like all Rounder titles are. You know you want it! Best wishes!

 

[Philip Hamm]

Not much interesting.

I ordered Miles Davis "Cookin'..." and the Bruce Cockburn Hybrid (guess I can give away that CD now...).

Also, I made an analog CD copy of my Monk SACD so that I could listen to it in the car, etc. using the same technique that I use for LP records and it sounds fantastic!

 

[KeithH]

Philip, have you, by chance, compared the sound quality of the Monk CD-R to the SACD? I am curious whether there is a significant loss of fidelity in the analog-to-PCM digital conversion process. How did you make the CD-R? Did you use a computer or stand-alone CD recorder?

 

[Philip Hamm]

I haven't compared yet, but I may some time. I use my MDS-JB920 for analog-to-digital conversion, run the optical out into a sound card on my computer (ATRAC is not introduced on the "monitor" A-D signal as per the logic diagrams on the 920 that I've seen on www.minidisc.org). Works fantastic for any analog source, LP, tape, SACD. DVD-A may be a problem due to the watermarking, I haven't experimented with that yet. The only DVD-A I've done this with is Queen's "A Night At The Opera" which has the stereo PCM track 96/24 which dithered out of a DVD-V player to 48/16 then sample rate converted in the MDS-JB920 to 44/16 sounds fantastic as a CD also.

 

[KeithH]

Philip, O.K. Thanks. That makes sense.

 

[KrisM]

Keith, I've made copies of some of my SACDs with a stand-alone recorder(the Monk disc included) and when I compare I can hear a difference, but since I only make these copies for use in my truck, it doesn't make much of a difference to me. The CD-Rs sound really good to my ears. I would like to compare my CD-Rs to a regular CD of the same title and hear the difference. All the discs I've made are ones that I didn't already own on CD.
I know every SACD fan here wants hybrids, but after picking up some Stones SACDs(which finally came into Canada), I find they don't play worth a damn in my truck cd player. If this is the case with all hybrids, I would rather have a single layer SACD and make copies for portable use. Other than the Stones discs, which are a special case, most hybrids up here are more expensive.

Regards
KrisM

NP - Blues Review Sampler Disc(Dec./Jan.)

 

[KeithH]

Kris, thanks for the information. I know that some car players and DVD-ROM drives on computers struggle with hybrids. That certainly is a bummer. I wonder how many people who have bought the Stones remasters have had compatibility issues. I'm sure it's a small percentage, but there would be no such issues if the discs weren't hybrids. I'm not complaining, just stating a fact.

NP: Penn State-Indiana football game

 

[KrisM]

Keith, I don't know what it is about the Stones discs. My truck CD player tries to read the disc and stops and starts. My player is a Sony ES unit that is only three years old. When I got Beggars Banquet I just left it in and after about 20 minutes it played fine. Very strange. After all the waiting to finally get some hybrids that I want(all my other SACDs are Sony) it won't play in my truck. And to add further insult my SACD died on me 2 days before I got the Stones discs. What is an SACD lover to do? We can't all own mutiple SACD players like some on this forum.
Regards
KrisM

 

[Philip Hamm]

Funny this is the first problem I've read about with Hybrid discs. Everyone is totally up in arms about incomatabilities with "copy protected" CDs but if hybrids screw up it's not a big thing.

Things that make you go "hmmmmm".

 

[KeithH]

Philip,

Incompatibility of hybrids could be a major problem, but is a problem that has only recently gotten a lot of attention. Furthermore, it does not seem that the problem is very common. Most players seem to handle them just fine. I have never had a problem playing a hybrid disc, be it in the car, on home player, or on computers.


Kris,

Sorry to hear about your SACD player. Which model do/did you have? Has it been fixed? What exactly went wrong?

 

[KrisM]

Keith, I have the Sony DVP500NS(I think thats the #). I went to open the disc tray and the standby light would go from red to green and quickly shut off. It went in for service about a week ago and has not been fixed yet. Maybe they won't be able to fix it and they will have to give me a replacement.
Regards
KrisM

 

[KeithH]

Kris, your 'NS500V could have a bad IC chip. About two-and-a-half years ago, I went through three brand new Sony DVP-C650D DVD changers that would turn off automatically a couple seconds after I turned them on. I found out from Sony that some units had a faulty IC chip that could be replaced under warranty. I decided to get a refund on the third 'C650D and wait for the next model to come out, which was the 'C670D. It is still going strong.