SACD


Just got a CDP that can play SACD. I do not have one SACD. What would be some good one to get started? I like smooth jazz and classical. Thank you for your help.
sabrejet
Acoustic Sounds and Music Direct sell SACDs. These are the online stores for Analogue Productions and Mobile Fidelity, both of whom produce SACDs, but not very many of them.  Music Direct has sales 10 - 15% off around holidays.
Any specialized SACD online store in US you guys recommend? I am aware of Elusive Disc, but that's about it. Amazon's SACD catalogue is not good at all. And I try to avoid buying from eBay as you never know what you'll get.
sabrejet
where is Safe and Sound located?
How is the SA-10 settling into your room/system?
Happy Listening!
I enjoy multichannel playback if instruments are distinctly separated or a more holographic image is created, but the latter can be achieved in stereo with a proper set up; The former occurring mostly in smaller bands or groups.

For that matter, has anyone perceived an advantage in using multichannel with large orchestras or symphonies?
Is it just me or does it seem that Amazon only has garbage sacd titles in classical?

Who wants to listen to some ancient recording in sacd? ie living stereo stuff. The rest seems to be samplers and recordings or performances that were not well regarded in the first place.

Has all the good stuff been taken? Or something else?

@twoleftears ,You can pick one of the following Sony players from eBay/Amazon for $50 and rip your SACD, as .dsf files.
BDP-S390 (or BX39), BDP-S490, BDP-S590 (or BX59), BDP-S4100, BDP-S5100 (or BX510)
I did this over the past couple of weeks. Did not realize that over a few years I had collected about 140 SACDs.
sabrejet

The SA-10 is very fine indeed. This player was on my short-list, except, I could not score a demo here in the Southeast U.S.
Keep me posted as it settles into your room/system.

Happy Listening!
A major pitfall with SACDs since they can be so much more revealing with much deeper noise floors is the rest of the system.


Last night I played Moody Blues, Blood Sweat and Tears and Elton John Madman Across the Water (I have Gaucho but it's DVD-A). Lots more to play before going back to red book


My system is simple; Oppo 105 with DIY eBay aftermarket Linear Power Module, Rhodium IEC with heavy gauge pure silver wire to the LPM (these are well known weaknesses in the 105)and 2 days ago I removed the cover, WireWorld Series 8 XLRs straight into my RIc Schultz EVS 1200 (dual mono 600/1200 wpc class D with lots of tweaks to the surrounding parts


To get the full experience, I cranked my volume to a point where I quickly learned my speakers are now my weakest link

hth
arctikdeth,

You may need to go to the menu and set SACD default layer to "SACD". Sometimes it defaults to a CD layer. It may also depend what output you are using.

Page 71 of the manual explains it. Maybe that is the problem.

https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pio/pe/images/portal/cit_11221/278097930DV79AViOperatingInstructi...
My player plays the sacd, but it’s not an actual sacd player it says?
i don’t think.?”

   Picked up a nice used pioneer elite dv79avi spinner.
lots features.

 Says plays sacd, but won’t give the full sacd sound? Or range?

  Strange

dont own any sacds either.
just a handful of the Japanese Blue-spec II CDS. 
Marillion Fear  was not expecting to read that around here

Great stuff @ oiche_shamhna


I second The Steely Dan Gaucho. What I have found is understanding the many types of SACD helps. Also that not all SACD's are created equal.(Journey Sounds about the same as the cd version) So ones that I found that made a huge difference are in this list  that when played on SACD in surround really caught my attention:

Fleetwood Mac Rumors 
Dire Straits Brothers in arms
Eagles Hotel California
Moody Blues Days Of future Past
Stevie Ray Vaughn The Sky Is Crying
Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon
The Doors - L.A. Woman
Yes- Big Generator 
Yes-Fragile
Chet Baker Bakers Holiday
Miles Davis Some Kind Of Blue
Miles Davis Bitch's Brew
Donald Fagen Nightfly 
Marillion Fear
Alan Pasrsons I Robot
Jazz at the Pawnshop
Dimeola,Mclaughlin,Delucia One Night in San Francisco Not Multichannel but amazing

If you like female jazz vocalists pick up Rebecca Pidgeon’s The Raven from Chesky Records. Her rendition of Spanish Harlem will blow you away.  This is my go-to track for demonstrating my system.  The whole album is good, IMO, and it will also show off your new CDP
You can find 268 SACD titles (as of today) at Berkshire Record Outlet to choose from at heavily discounted prices. I've ordered many titles from them over the years, they're a great resource for classical music collectors. Audite, Chandos, CSO Resound, BIS, Channel Classics, Harmonia Mundi, Hyperion, Linn, & Pentatone are all labels that have excellent SACD audio quality in my experience. 
MOFI is having a clearance of SACD's at present, also EBay you can get some great deals, enjoy!
jgreen19,

You are right. Most of the SACD players will not output DSD to an outboard DAC via optical/coaxial/USB connection. There are ways to circumvent that by transferring the .dsf file from SACD onto a hard drive and then playing it via a DAC of own choice. Some, probably universal, players may do it via HDMI. I have heard of a few SACD machines that would output DSD digitally but not via HDMI and those have been, I think, in the upper tier of price and performance. I have never heard one.

So, for OP, it is probably SACD played via internal DAC and output analog via RCA connection. Good news is that many SACD players are just fine with their own DACs. This being an audiophile forum, that statement may be a blasphemy, though.
Maybe someone else can verify, but I believe you need to make sure you are not using an external DAC with your sacd player. I believe if you do go digital out of your player into your DAC it won’t send the DSD information. I think a company or two migh make a work around for this but not sure. Maybe others here can jump in and clarify. 
What kind of classical music do you prefer? What composers?

Classical is relatively common on SACD so this would narrow the recommendations down.
I have a good amount of the iving stereo catalog released on sacd, most of which sound pretty good to me. 
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I am a fan of SACD. My suggestions are:

Patricia Barber - Companion
Roxy Music - Avalon
Jennifer Warnes - The Well
Weather Report - Heavy Weather
Something Else - Cannonball Adderley
The most ear appealing, for me SACD, is Gaucho by Steely Dan.  The music erupts from a very black silence and surrounds you with crisp clear sound.  Steely Dan has always been known for some of the best studio to record/disc sound quality.  Fleetwood Mac Rumors also stands out as sound quality better than the CD version.  Need to get some Greig SACDs.  The quality of the studio mix determines the ultimate sound quality.  For me, SACD sounds so much better than the 1970's four channel or quad sound.
Nick Drake - "A Treasury"
Renaissance - "Scheherazade and Other Stories"
Steely Dan - "Gaucho"

The first two should be reasonably priced; but, I have not checked the current prices on Gaucho lately.
I’ve got dozens of SACDs but these are my recommendations:
For smooth jazz - Najee (the only sacd he has).
For classical. - Micheal Tilson, Mahler recordings.
My favourite SACD, however, is Brothers in Arms. Fantastic and relatively cheap.
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@sabrejet

I have 3 SACD Disks I would be happy to send you at absolutely no charge. They are all on the Telarc Label.
1. Copland, Hindemith Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
2. Classical Brubeck London Symphony Orchestra
3. City Scape Concerto Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Disk 2 is still sealed. The other two are not. They have never been played. Please send me a PM with name, address and zip And I will send via USPS.
Junior Brown -- Down Home Chrome, on Telarc.   I saw him live!

Dmitry Shostakovich -- Preludes & Ballet Suites, on Caro Mitis.
Giuliano Carmignola -- Late Vivaldi Concertos, on Sony Classical.
Anna Moffo - Arias from Faust, etc., on RCA Living Stereo.
I went thru the same thing, finally tried SACD, including new SACD versions of some I already owned, i.e. Oscar Peterson,

https://www.amazon.com/Exclusively-My-Friends-Vol-Really/dp/B0000C435I

already owned this non sacd version

https://www.amazon.com/Exclusively-My-Friends-Box-Set/dp/B0000046LU/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3MDOO08LDQYWI&dchild=1&keywords=oscar+peterson+exclusively+for+my+friends&qid=1588343393&sprefix=oscar+peterson+for+my%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-2



some (all?) are hybrid, (standard and sacd versions same disc), like this Billy Joel, but you need to have control of your player to keep it from automatically playing the SACD version, or, use your old player to hear the standard version, new player for SACD version.

https://www.amazon.com/Piano-Man-BILLY-JOEL/dp/B004OKFIYU/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=billy+joel+sacd&qid=1588343252&sr=8-3

Eventually, concentrated comparisons, I decided the difference was lowering the noise beyond dark dark dark dark gray to black if that makes any sense. Music from nothingness. When not concentrating, not listening for that, there is no readily apparent difference, I stopped buying them.

So, don’t leap in, you might find the difference so slight, and taking too much concentration to hear the difference that is actually detrimental. buy a few, of discs you already own, or two layer ones that can play either CD or SACD quality.

you may hear differences that escape me.
.........................................

after all is said and done, I stopped buying CD’s, I buy LP’s! A good clean used LP sounds better than CD or SACD, and I properly clean my many old ones now.

Robert,

Thank you. Were did you purchase that set. Checked ebay, and the two listers have not the best feedback. There must be a good shop in the US.

Congrats if your system is revealing you should notice a big improvement. Pure SACD recordings are best, but a lot of music is hybrid, meaning the music is available on those discs in multiple layers. The deeper layers MAY not play back as clearly as one would like

hth
Here's an excellent 10 - SACD box set: Mahler Symphonies 1 - 9 Valery Gergiev/London Symphony LSO0730. Recorded live! I have it in my collection!
sabrejet

Nice score- which player did you purchase?

SACD, as a medium, has a strong Classical music catalog. Jazz titles as well.
For smooth Jazz, check out Bob James 'Espresso'.
For classical- start with your fave composer. 
I am a big fan of SACD with around 200 titles in my collection.
Have fun and enjoy the Music!

Happy Listening!