2. digital
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SACD & other Formats

I'm a vinyl guy and have invested lots of money in my TT rig and listen primarily to vinyl because it can sound so much better than digital.

I want to buy a CDP that will satisfy and understand a well mastered CD can sound good as well. I abandoned red book play back 10 yrs back because it was very frustrating finding satisfaction. Too many poorly mastered CDs that could not communicate the music. Have things improved? I know you can get better digital sound for less $$, but has the quality of mastering improved?

Looking through stores online I see SACDs are getting a lot of new mastering attention, gold CDs are available, XRCDs, etc. Is SACD the direction to look? are the current SACD issues of titles living up to the marketing hype/price? sonically? the key is in the software, availability and mastering.
128x128musichead

Showing 4 responses by ptss

ptss
1,964 posts
 
High end Bob. Could you describe the improvements with your EMM XDS1.
ptss
1,964 posts
 
The digital sound was due primarily to playback equipment. Enjoy cd today. Check out Alpha dac reviews.
ptss
1,964 posts
 
Musichead, heed ZD. SACD was/(is) just a blip on the radar.
It will imminently be out of date as hi-des downloads are going to provide stunning audio quality -- it's happening now. That's where you should be investigating. Don't waste money. People are buying and praising the OPPO 105D for many reasons, and it may help you with SACD's as well. I haven't used one but people I've come to know on this site are using it; and some pf them are used to listening to $25,000 CD players through excellent systems. P.S. They are already streaming SACD's at double speed- I think that says it all.
ptss
1,964 posts
 
Hello again Musichead. I haven't heard and don't own the OPPO 105D but is sounds like THE very safe bet for you. By all accounts it plays SACD very decently; as well as all other formats(wow) and it will also do downloads (including hi-res) when you want to use that feature. It supports HDMI IN and OUT and numerous other inputs. It upsamples audi and video. By accounts here on Audiogon there are upgrade paths available for $2600 and less that transform its sound to that of $10,000 to $15,000 players. What else do you need?
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