my experience with both SACDs and CDs, compared with LPs, is that they are simply highly variable - you really have to judge each release on its own merits. hence the importance of forums like this to deflate the hype and tell it like it is. some SACDs are amazing (e.g. the Band's Music from Big Pink), some are clearly inferior to a good LP of the same title - and the same goes for CD.
Prestige Miles Davis on SACD vs. vinyl
I have several Miles Davis recordings on the Prestige label on both SACD and vinyl (it is 120g 33 RPM - nothing fancy). I find that the vinyl recordings have much more 'body' - much more upper-bass, lower-midrange energy. (To most ears the do sound qualitatively 'better'.)
Some may say, "Well, duh - that's vinyl vs. digital". But, that's not usually the case on my system. My digital (Marantz SA-7) and analog (Basis Ovation/TriPlanar/Ortofon Rondo Bronze/Herron phono) front-ends are actually quite similar-sounding on a lot of recordings that I have on both formats. So, I think what I am hearing here (and it applies to several recordings, "Relaxin'" being one example) is on the recordings, to some extent at least.
This really leads me to wonder about the mastering process. Did the engineers who mastered these recordings compare the two formats and hear what I'm hearing? I doubt it! If they didn't compare them - why not?
Are the digital recordings just "poorly mastered" or are they actually closer to the master tape??
Thoughts?
Some may say, "Well, duh - that's vinyl vs. digital". But, that's not usually the case on my system. My digital (Marantz SA-7) and analog (Basis Ovation/TriPlanar/Ortofon Rondo Bronze/Herron phono) front-ends are actually quite similar-sounding on a lot of recordings that I have on both formats. So, I think what I am hearing here (and it applies to several recordings, "Relaxin'" being one example) is on the recordings, to some extent at least.
This really leads me to wonder about the mastering process. Did the engineers who mastered these recordings compare the two formats and hear what I'm hearing? I doubt it! If they didn't compare them - why not?
Are the digital recordings just "poorly mastered" or are they actually closer to the master tape??
Thoughts?
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