I agree with most of people above, what really matter is how the CD or SACD is being mastered. I have experienced before with CDs on the same title but mastered at different time or technology make a big different in sound quality. Attention to details is key to have good sound from the whateven media is being used, regardless of CD or SACD. "Garbage in garbage out" is still true. For obvious reason that SCAD technology will be better than red book CD, but if it is not done correctly then SACD will sound worse than red book CD. This is not the fault of the SACD technology but the human factor.
XRCD vs. SACD
Having listened to several JVC xrcd's on some state of the art redbook gear, I am of the opinion that most that I have heard sound more natural to me than SACD on a budget Sony SACD player. I have not, however, listened to any higher-end SACD players in my system. I would be very interested to hear from those who have made this comparison and can provide some input with regard to how the XRCDs compare.