MULTI-CH SACD'S on 2CH SOUND STRANGE?


I HAVE A 2CH SACD PLAYER. SOMETIMES SACD's sound pretty good, but in several cases, usually with orchestral pieces, for some reason the melody carried by the string section gets drowned out by the horns/brass instruments. the effect is unnerving, like i am hearing the background or supportive musical lines as the dominant voice and the theme as the supportive or background voice. i have tried switching the phase, and even going to the redbook layer (if there is one). Naturally these are Hybrid Multichannel Discs that can be played on a conventional, 2CH SACD, and 6CH SACD. I have even updated the firmware on my SACD player (EMM Labs) but to no avail. Am i the only one who has this problem? Funny thing is, the redbook cd's i have always thought sounded great still sound that way, and small ensembles/chamber music on SACD sound amazing. but it would seem i am getting some of the other channels mixed up with the main-front-L&R channels.
WHAT is wrong with this picture? Thanks for your feedback.
french_fries

Showing 3 responses by kr4

I doubt it has anything to do with multichannel mastering since both French_fries and Stereo5 are listening on 2 channel players. Their machines should not ever access the multichannel tracks.
This thread is strange.

First, the comment about SACDs not sounding as good on SACD
players is nonsense. There are good and bad players but CD
players simply cannot play SACDs at all. They can play only
the CD-compatible layer of hybrids (which is really just a
CD).

Second, DSD-capable DACs have been implemented in SACD
players for more than a decade so anyone who has an SACD
that forces PCM-conversion bought the wrong player!
However, that conversion will still provide high resolution
signals well more advanced than on CD.

Third, the Brandenburgs on the HM SACD are superb in MCH
SACD and pretty good in stereo (the latter only briefly
auditioned), so if you are having problems you need to see
if you player is really accessing the stereo SACD track or
if you are hearing (1) only the FR/FL channels of the
multichannel track or (2) an ad-hoc mix-down of the
multichannel track.
Isn't there a readout on the EMM that tells you what track/format is being played? My players do.