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Sony 900ES SACD sound vs CD - Help

I now have a little over 120 hours on my 9000ES DVD. Here's the problem: When I use the Sony as a transport (The digital output fed into an MSB Link Dac 2) the sound quality is MUCH better than the Sony supplied SACD music played through the SACD internal decoding circuits and output form the analog outputs on the Sony.

How can this be? I thought the SACD was supposed to be much better than the CD. Is it possible that the SACD circuits need much more time to break in?

The Sony when used as a transport is almost as good as my SimAudio Moon Eclipse cd player (when also used as a transport) which has a floating suspension.

I have the Sony on a magnetic levitation system which I designed that floats it 1/4 to 1/2" off the shelf.
This isolates the transport and circuitry from low frequency vibration. The result is: better bass, more open midrange, and clearer highs.

I just don't understand why the SACD part of this doesn't sound as good as everyone says it does. Maybe the sampler sacd is very good?

Any ideas??
128x128darrell

Showing 2 responses by mikeam

mikeam
122 posts
 
I agree with everyone else that it has to burn in, but... I noticed right away that SACD was far better than CD. The comparison was made to CD's being played on the Meitner Super Bidat being fed by various high end transports. You shelf sounds way cool, but I wonder if you have taken into account the shielding of the magnetic flux field. I would aussume this is a fairly strong field if it can hold the weight of your player which I think tips the scal at 20+ lbs. I am guessing that the player was on the shelf being levitated and the dac was on another shelf? If so you may want to try the unit as a player away from the mag field.
Regards,
Mike
mikeam
122 posts
 
The cool thing is that if you don't like a format, no one is forcing you to buy the player or even listen to the unit. I bought my SCD-1 in Nov of 99 and I am very pleased with the CD playback quality. I have about 20 SACD's and it is growing. The analogy between the player and the computer is IMHO not realistic as the unit is fully backward compatable with the old PCM format, and despite what some have said, the player does a much better than average job on CD. My SCD-1 drives +$50K worth of amps/pre/speakers and I am very pleased with the level of playback. One thing I have noticed is that power cords make a difference. I use the FIM Gold with great results.

Regards,

Mike
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