SACD & other Formats

Things are way better even in Red Book than they were in the first decade of CD playback. I have a couple of pretty good turntables/arms/cartridges and phono preamps mainly because I have a lot of LP records from back in the day.

Although I definitely enjoy vinyl playback on a decent audio system I mostly play CD's these days. The better of the CD recordings sound very impressive--musical and dynamic if you have a nice DAC or CD player.

I personally like the DAC route because these days they include all kinds of digital inputs and you can play from either a CD/SACD player or a laptop, music server or tablet. It's just more flexible and the DACs have more features.

For a CD player you could buy one of the Oppo players like a 105D to start with. The Oppo's will also play SACD and Blu-ray concerts too. Believe me, you need to get with the times... Good Luck :)

I already have the flexibility with a Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 V2. Great for playing from any source, my questions has more to do with the software than the equipment. Has the mastering behind a lot of the newer releases improved, the CD market seems to be promoting the SACD format. Or is it all just the same, little change and the gains and improvements are in the equipment.

I have older cds the SQ of which is quite pleasant. I found that I needed a heavy solid transport and high quality digital cable. These two components are essential for good cd SQ with older and newer recordings. I'm talking HEAVY.