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I auditioned SACD today

After reading all the positive reviews and posts on SACD I decided to take a serious look at this format. I have 22 dual layer SACD in my collection so I took 4 SACDs of music I know the best. To my surprise one of the local dealers still had a demo Sony SCD 1. The sales person led me to the room and said take as long as I would like and left. Since I read all the reviews on the SCD 1 I was able to operate it without difficulty.

There was no question that the SACD layer had a bigger soundstage and better detail than the Redbook layer but the difference were not as great as I expected. I wondered how the Sony compared next to my Audiomeca Mephisto 11.X CDP. Then a strange thing happen, I noticed a Linn LP 12 turntable to the side of the equipment rack. I cued up one of the lps and played it. As a former owner of 2 LP 12 over the years I had a good idea what to expect, the sound was full , warm , detailed and most of all musical. I should add that I have over 7000 lps and 5000 cds and listen to both, prefer the sound of vinyl but love the convenience and catalog selection of cds.

To make a long story short I decided to forgo the purchase of a SACD player and continue to ad to my vinyl and cd collection and just enjoy the music. I may look at SACD again in the future as the hardware improves and the software growa in numbers.
rec
rsbeck
887 posts
 
If the SCD1 can make redbook CD's sound almost as good as SACD, I
would say that is a point in favor of the SCD1. I have the Emm Labs Dac6. This CD/SACD player also makes redbook CD's sound almost as
good as SACD -- that's one of the reasons I bought it. But, almost as good is never quite as satisfying as the incremental step upwards -- that's why the word "almost" was coined in the first place, isn't it?
timchen
93 posts
 
dear Rec

if you are looking for new home for some of your Lps(7000 lps is way too much, pls let me know).
happy listening.

Tim
kchahoc
85 posts
 
Just a few problems that vinyl still has: 1) Surface noise that completely smashes the virtual reality when a quiet passage comes along. As a composer I know that silence is also part of the music. And 2) changing sides every 30 mins. really sucks and I do not care how good it sounds for individual instruments, with wow and flutter pitch is never spot on like it is with CDs or SACDs or even DVD-As for that matter. Analog and vinyl is akin to some hooky old religion whose proponents never shut-up;) And I'll bet you listen to mosly rock, pop, and jazz?
trelja
3,223 posts
 
Rec, I agree that vinyl done right is superior to SACD.

That being said, SACD offers the convenience of silver disc, with improved sonics over CD. You are also right that SACD is not the night and day improvement over CD, that you and I were perhaps expecting. However, after getting my bearings, I sort of came to the conclusion that my expectations for the level of improvement possible were unrealistic.

As has been said, for those listening on a boombox or clock radio, SACD is irrelevant. I cannot go along with the manufacturer's assertions that people can hear the benefit in these low resolution systems.

What SACD has proven to me, and the reason I am hoping the format takes root, is beyond the convenience, the "incremental improvements" are not only real, but important to me. Perhaps a bit difficult to detect at first, but they become more apparent in the confines of my own system at home. Two of my main complaints with most of the non - exotic CD players are the failure to deliver convincing response below the midrange and the chopping up of the music(digititis), destroying the flow of the music. SACD seems to correct these two complaints, in my mind.

Again, I have yet to hear a serious vinyl front end be approached.
rec OP
328 posts
 
I have to agree that 7000 lps is too much, just ask my wife. I have been collecting since I was 10 years old and I am now 55. I have about 5000 lps in storage and keep the rest to play. Thank you all for your offers and I will keep you all in mind if I ever decide to reduce my collection. That aside,I do agree that SACD is an improvement and I didn't hear it im my system. The store system was ss (Krell preamp and amp) and my system is tube so it may not of been a fair comparsion. I was just expecting more of an improvement over cd. I think if I had a choice of new releases and reissues that were duel layer I would pick the duel layer on the idea that I would someday purchase a SACD player. I really don't have the space(or money) to start collecting everything again on SACD but would purchase new releases and reissues if they came out at the same time. Thanks for all the responses, it's always great to hear other views, it's a part that makes this hobby so much fun. Good listening to all.
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