We who love classical music and have enjoyed the fruits of both remastered analog recordings, say from Pentatone and RCA Living Stereo don't find there to be any disappointment with the sonics of SACD.
In the classical market, I find the trouble is probably with a lack of interest on the part of record reviewers who (this is Grammophone) will review the redbook layer of an hybrid SACD and mention that its an SACD. They don't apparently even have the gear to listen to SACD in stereo much less in multi-channel. Stereophile has about two classical reviews per issue and never have they reviewed an SACD in that section. There is something called Music in the Round devoted to multi-channel but that is not even a monthly feature. Absolute Sound does much better with several SACDs reviewed by their classical reviewer each month. But with this kind of inattention from the magazines, how is the public to become aware of the wonderful sound now available from multi-channel SACDs? .... And I am here to tell you it is truly amazing! My home setup sounds like I am in a concert hall when I play good recordings which means anything by Telarc, PentaTone, Harmonia Mundi, Hyperion, Tudor, and several others that should but don't come to mind immediately.
In the classical market, I find the trouble is probably with a lack of interest on the part of record reviewers who (this is Grammophone) will review the redbook layer of an hybrid SACD and mention that its an SACD. They don't apparently even have the gear to listen to SACD in stereo much less in multi-channel. Stereophile has about two classical reviews per issue and never have they reviewed an SACD in that section. There is something called Music in the Round devoted to multi-channel but that is not even a monthly feature. Absolute Sound does much better with several SACDs reviewed by their classical reviewer each month. But with this kind of inattention from the magazines, how is the public to become aware of the wonderful sound now available from multi-channel SACDs? .... And I am here to tell you it is truly amazing! My home setup sounds like I am in a concert hall when I play good recordings which means anything by Telarc, PentaTone, Harmonia Mundi, Hyperion, Tudor, and several others that should but don't come to mind immediately.