Suggestions to test the SACD ability of the 47Ai? (1 Viewer)

[Ron S]

Hi all! Just got the 47Ai, and am quite happy with it. DVD-A sounds outstanding. SACD was quite ugly until I enabled multichannel output for it in the menu (geez).

The only SACD I have is Alice In Chains' hits, which I understand is possibly not the best SACD to reference to? Any suggestions for a more suitable one?

 

[John Geelan]

Well I like the James Taylor SACD's. They sound real nice.

 

[Bobby T]

Stevie Ray Vaughn and Alison Krauss would be good to start with. I would pick up Metallica, Queensryche Empire, and The Corrs In Blue DVD audio disc's. Rachael B listens to a lot of SACD and would be good person to get recommendations from

 

[KeithH]

Ron, you didn't say what genres you like, but along with the excellent suggestions made already, here are some of my favorites, both musically and sonically:

* Rebecca Pidgeon The Raven
* An Introduction to SACD (Chesky stereo SACD sampler)
* Chris Botti Night Sessions
* Keb' Mo' The Door
* The Isley Brothers 3 + 3 (older recording, but sounds great)
* The O'Jays Ship Ahoy (older recording, but sounds great)
* Rolling Stones Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (recent remaster; sounds wonderful for older recordings)

 

[Lee Scoggins]

SACD was quite ugly until I enabled multichannel output

Ron,
There is likely some breaking in of the unit to be done so do what reviewers do: leave the thing running for a few days with a disc or two on repeat. Circuits take a while to break in. This is even more true with Pioneer in my experience based on their DVD players.
As far as reference SACDs, check out the Mahler cycle by Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony or Red Rose Music Sampler Disc which are both recorded in pure DSD so you really hear what SACD is capable of. I second Keith's recommendations of Rebecca Pidgeon and Keb Mo also. The First Impressions Music Sampler IV is quite beautiful as well as J.T. by James Taylor which I like even better than Hourglass. I also like much of Rounder's Allison Krauss collection, particularly New Favorite and Now That I've Found You.

 

[KeithH]

Lee said:

There is likely some breaking in of the unit to be done so do what reviewers do: leave the thing running for a few days with a disc or two on repeat.

I feel this a bad way to go about breaking in a player. It seems to me that this would put a great amount of wear and tear on a player. My suggestion is that people break in their players as they listen. When not listening, give the player a break. What's the rush?

 

[Lee Scoggins]

It seems to me that this would put a great amount of wear and tear on a player.

Keith,

This won't harm the player; in fact it may help the player break in easier. This is standard operating procedure for high end reviewers and for manufacturers, some of whom do this burning in before they leave the store.

If leaving a player on for 2-3 days harms it, then one has more serious reliability problems.