SACD's to stay away from

I agree on the Journey Greatest Hits and would also Suggest you stay way from TRAIN Calling all Angels. Horrible sounding SACD disc...

Chris

Any Chris Botti.

I found the Norah Jones about the same as the CD. That said, it still sounds pretty good. I just remembered another one I have that's no better than the CD. Santana - Abraxus

First, I disagree with Macdadtexas about DVD-A. My experience, all Classical BTW, is the opposite--ie DVD-As generally sound better than SACDs...BUT...both CAN sound fabulous!

Here are some I've bought and put quickly in my SELL stack:
1. Williams--Close Encounters...Kind, soundtrack; Classics HDAD 2005. This is a 192/24 and 96/24 2-channel DVD-A. I love this music but forgot how bad--multi-mono-miked and compartmented--the original recording was.
2. Shostakovich Sym. #7, 'Leningrad'; Gergiev cond. Kirov and Rotterdam orchestras; Philips SACD # 470 623-2. Again, too compartmented. Doesn't sound like a real orchestra playing in a real concert hall.
3. Mahler Sym #3; Chailly cond. Royal Concertgebouw, Philips SACD #470 652-2. Boring performance. I like my Mahler played more strongly than Chailly's.
4. Stravinsky 'Firebird' and more; Dorati cond. London SO; Mercury SACD # 470 643-2. This is a 3-channel conversion of an original 3-channel recording. Unfortunately for me, it's from Mercury's 'fierce' period, when their Living Presence recordings were done with the microfones too close to the orchestra. It sounds very hard and strident. PROBABLY it's a very accurate representation of exactly what's on the analog tapes.
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Junior Brown's - Down Home Chrome on Telarc. This surprised the hell out of me. I love Junior Brown. He's one of the masters of the unexpected and can sincerely play his ass off. I also generally really like Telarc's stuff. This recording is a flat out dog. Washed out midrange, wiry highs and a soundstage that is 2ft. tall, 3 ft. wide and 2cm. deep. Sucks, sucks, sucks. In fact, unlistenable.