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Fly in the SACD Ointment?

Yesterday, I almost got tears in my eyes going through the new audiophile format bin at Tower Records in New York. Spotting some old favourites in the SACD section, I was blissfully imagining throwing my CD player out my 17th story window and sitting down at a new system enjoying the best of analog AND digital. Then, it hit me -- even in the good old days, when I when I wouldn't dream of listening until I had Nitty Grittied my records, carefully cleaned the stylus, adjusted VTA, switched off the phone and dimmed the lights -- A LOT OF RECORDS STILL SOUNDED PRETTY BAD. Not nearly as bad (or as often) as a bad CD, but still pretty bad and ultimately unsatisfying which is what lead to my neurosis with this hobby and a never ending quest for great recordings in addition to great gear. So I am wondering -- maybe a $5000 SACD player and a new collection of software at $25 each is just going to take me back to bad analogue?!?!? Or is Sheffield Labs going to painstakingly remaster every title in the SACD catalogue? Has anyone thought about this or is there some magic to SACD that makes it all worthwhile, nonetheless. Maybe bad "analogue" without background noise and with greater dynamic range is still pretty special, but I really don't want to listen to Mannheim Steamroller in any format. Thanks for your thoughts.
cwlondon

Showing 1 response by artmaltman

artmaltman
769 posts
 
I borrowed the Sony 777es and a stack of SACD's and found that the SACD's varied from barely better than the original cd to absolutely extraordinary. The Red Rose demo cd and Telarc demo cd demonstrate the potential for the medium when combined with DSD recording techniques and the liquidity, continuousness, detail, life were all staggering. But as I have discovered painfully upon returning from a great day of purchasing old used LP's, some old stereo LP's are recorded wonderfully and some are real stinkers too.

For me the biggest format question is no longer whether SACD will take off, nor whether it has the potential to be a huge improvement, but whether the recording engineers will bother to optimize the sound quality.
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