SACD Demo

By comparision, I recently listened to a system, at someone´s home, and that system consisted of a Pass X-350, Pass Aleph P, Wilson system 6,Naim CDS II,SME 20 with Ortofon 7500. Did it sound good? Not at all!Or more correctly, hard to enjoy or evaluate. Conclusion made:Money isn´t enough, skills, knowledge and experience play an important role in our hobby. We always have some expectations when auditioning someting new. And sometimes, our expections are driven to high, which makes a foundation for disappointments. In the example above, I strongly belive that the main reason for the rather mediocre sound of that system, was a nearly acustically undampened listeningroom. I can not make that conclusion though, that the gear in that system was inferior.BTW, I have listen to a Sony SCD-777ES in another system, in an acustically treated room N.B., and that system sounded much better,altough it costed a fraction of what the above system costed.Another conclusion made, all salesmen don´t have the skills or time needed ,but some do have them!

I am 1st and foremost a vinyl fan but have quite a CD collection and and have tried to maximize that format. I drive Eidelon speakers with Pass Aleph 1.2 mono's with XLO limited edition interconnects and speaker cables and previously had a Theta Jade transport and Gen V DAC that I recently replaced with dCS Delius and Purcell which upsamples to 24/192. The sonics were superior to the Theta and quite good. On a whim and thanx to a great deal on Audiogon I purchased a Sony 777 Sacd player and in my particular configuration the SACD sounds fabulous, arguably as good as vinyl on a very good turntable, arm and cart. I must say I was surprised, pleasantly so. But even more amazing was the regular CD playback on the 777, as good or better then the dCS upsampled material. I actually like the 777 better to the extent I'm selling the Delius and Purcell. I went into this endeavor with no expectations, high or low and objectively find the Sony an extraordinary product, especially given the 777 has been reduced from $3500 to $2500. I have a Basis 2500 TT, Graham 2 arm and Miyabi cart with a Klyne phono pre, and the SACD is unequivocally right there, and the regular CD playback is as good or better than the $13000 upsampled dCS gear. Go figure. I'm cautiously optimistic about the SACD format, hoping it won't go the way of Beta, but at the price is definitely worth serious consideration considering the , in my opinion, astounding sonic benefits.

I have had my Sony 777ES for about 11mos. now and I think it is a great player for both CDs and SACDs. I have a decent vinyl collection which I have not sold, although I have sold my TT and phono stage. I never bought many CDs because I never liked the way they sounded overall. I bought music I had to have that was not available like the Mosaic Count Basie live collection (my most prized recordings). I tried various CD players the last being the Wadia 860 which I sold to buy the Sony SACD player. Right away I new that this new format was what I was looking for. There was a wonderful relaxation about the sound that reminded me of analog, but without the distortions of analog. I now have about 50 SACDs and am just hoping this catches on. I still buy a CD here and there for the music but I really don't want to. And I don't want to ever fool with vinyl again. But then I'm 58 and not as patient as I used to be. My system is: Joule LA-100, Clayton M-100s, B&W 802Ns, PS Audio P-300, Harmonic Tech and Analysis Plus wire, and all Shunyata power cords with a King Cobra on the Sony 777 (the cord makes a big difference.)

Seniorm and Allie have hit upon what I consider to be the biggest difference I've heard with SACD, which is the ease and openness of the presentation, particularly when compared with red book CD. For lack of a better analogy, with CD I feel I'm listening to music in a box, with SACD the box is gone. I used to get that feeling only with vinyl and analog. In addition, the highs may seem at first listen to have less energy than their CD counterparts (some people may prefer CDs for that reason, on an initial listen and with particular types of music), but to my ears they are much more natural, extended and fleshed out on SACD (same observation with 24/96 as well). The stock Sony is a very smooth player too, which helps in that regard, although I found it a little too polite, hence my going for the mod mentioned above. One thing I do note is that SACD, and for that matter 24/96, seem to get you much closer to the master tape in your playback; this may not always be a good thing, especially where the master tape isn't all that good. My hope is that Telarc and Delos and Hyperion can get time at the SACD plant to give us future releases in that format.

I, too, was at the Audio Unlimited demo in Denver (I live here) and have counted AU's owner John Barnes as a personal friend for a number of years--so there's no holds barred between us when it comes to audio. I heard the new Accuphase DP-75v 24/196 player (reviewed by S'Phile's J-10) at length in Barnes' reference system: Avalon Eidolons, Accuphase A-50 amps, 290 preamp, Accuphase power conditioner and assorted cables and ICs in his largest dedicated and acoustic-treated listening room. I will say the 75v is spectacular and far above any other RED Book player I've auditioned, including Wadia, Levinson and Krell, among others. The weekend of the audition in question, Art Manzano of Axiss, distributor of Accuphase, brought in the new 100-101 SACD, CD, DVD transport-dac combo for demo. The pair were new and running with minimal breakin, as was the Tara cable and associated wire. I told John later that I felt as Keis and a number of others did--I heard things I liked, but I felt there wasn't enough there to drive me to SACD Nirvana and I felt the lack of break-in time contributed to a less tha top-drawer experience, as it should have been. As an owner of Accuphase equipment (after lengthy auditions of other "name" gear over the years), I can attest (with the usual owner bias) to the incredibly musical presentation associated with that make. Our speakers are Avalon Arcus cabled with SYMO; ICs and PCs are NBS. Quite stunning and most listenable in a non-dedicated living room of 16'x16'-8"x8'--hardly the classic Golden Dimensions for "the serious audiophile" as laid forth by George Cardas and others. That said, my wife (a serious listener and component critic) and I spent more than an hour after most had left Barnes' listening to and through the 100-101 and the 75v. SACDs recorded specifcally for the format were heads and shoulders above anything else, including 24/196, but only if they were SACD direct--they weren't 16-, 20- or 24-bit masters remastered once again for SACD. This is critical, IMO: the SACDs out there NOT freshly done, but reengineered precanned stuff done earlier and maybe more than a few times. Take a look at what's available; it speaks for itself. In the final analysis, I believe the format is valid, but I'd sooner buy the 75v, which immediately upgrades every Red Book CD I've heard into another audio realm, and add an SACD transport later (expensive), or preferably, wait until Accuphase comes out with an SACD, CD one-box player (they're working on it). With all due respect, I'm not buying any SACD gear that needs to be modded to upgrade the sound--I've done that and find it no longer worthwhile. I'll save for better gear and to see what's happening with software. Remember guys, most of our CDs, let alone vinyl, ain't gonna be available in SACD or DVD-A. In the meantime, our system gives us many exceptionally enjoyable hours of music. And I can live with that, especailly when I'm not payong $25 a pop for a disc. Enjoy the music!