Question About SACD (1 Viewer)

[Stan T]

I purchased the Pioneer Elite DV-47A DVD player about a week ago so I could finally get into SACD along with DVD-audio. I have a question about SACD. I'm new to SACD & just purchased Carole King's multichannel SACD "Tapestry". It sounds like air coming from the speakers. I'm thinking that since this is an older album it might be the tape hiss of the original analog recording. The other SACD discs that I bought were stereo & older albums also. It seems like all of these have the same sound as the Carol King album. They sound great don't get me wrong. I was just wondering if the air sound that I was hearing was the tape hiss on the original recording.

It's strange that on Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" DVD-audio album I don't hear the "airy" sound and that's a pretty old album also.

Anyone have any ideas on this. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't my new player. Like I said I'm new to SACD so I don't have any experience with it like I do with DVD-audio. I've had a DVD-audio player for about a year now & haven't heard any tape hiss or air sounds on my DVD-audio discs & some of them are older albums like the Fleetwood Mac album.

Thanks for your replies.

 

[Michael_T]

I just got the Carole King MCH SACD about a week ago, and I noticed that there is quite a bit of hiss coming from this recording.

What you could be hearing with SACD, depending on the discs you purchase, is the higher resolution and definition given to SACD recordings though the DSD process. I have both an SACD player (Sony XA777ES) and a DVD-A player (Technics DVD-A10), and I would have to concede that SACD provides a higher quality sound overall. Many SACDs that I own, which are mastered from older recordings, do have hiss. Many of the DVD-audio discs I listen to never seem to have the same level as hiss as an SACD that might be made from tapes that are of the same age.

Without hearing your system, I would surmise that this might be one of your problems.

There also might be some issues with the Pioneer DV-47A that have yet to overcover themselves regarding SACD playback - and might do so as more people begin to purchase this player.

 

[John Tillman]

I own the stereo sacd version of Tapestry and I don't hear hiss.

When I first picked up Tapestry, my system lacked the ICBM and this album just didn't sound good. After going with the ICBM, It sounded cleaner, tighter with better vocals.

 

[Michael_T]

John,

There is actually quite a bit of discernable hiss from the MCH mix on the Carole King Tapestry SACD. There is less to non-existent hiss on the stereo mix, depending on the volume you might tend to listen at.

The Tapestry SACD is definitely not one of the better sounding SACDs ever released.