sacd,vinyl, and rebook....


Just to echo some common remarks:

"sacd is like vinyl without the clicks and pops"

"sacd is a marginal improvement, if any, over redbook"

"sacd is a smoke and mirrors ht campaign designed for multi-channel use and copyright protection agendas"

at any rate...which of the above best describes this format?
128x128phasecorrect
My take is...

"SACD is a needlessly complicated way to improve the marginal resolution of Redbook digital recording. The same result is obtained simply by increasing word length to 24 bits, and the data rate to 96 KHz, (called DVDA)".
The benefits of SACD are most obvious with large-scale acoustic music, IMHO. SACD just gets strings and suspended cymbal--that audiophile favorite--right. FWIW, I'm an orchestra musician. Not genre bashing, but by the time pop music is pushed and prodded into its final form, it has most likely been processed in so many ways that the original acoustic is tainted beyond recognition. Hi-rez can't help here. Those who hear no appreciable difference don't have good equipment, are just parrotting what they're read, or haven't listened to pure DSD or analog to DSD recordings. Heavy-hitter recording engineers the world over have chosen SACD over hi-rez PCM almost every time, even though SACD costs more. What more proof does one need? 2500 issues and counting, the Berlin Philharmonic just started its own label in SACD, right under PCM-happy EMI's nose. (They haven't released any Classical SACDs.)If you don't like Classical or Jazz, stick with redbook. IPOD and Bono/U2 have just started a major add campaign for IPOD with pics, (and soon video), so the IPOD people have stolen the would-be DVDA consumer once again just as the first dual discs have been recalled for bad editing. DVDA is...well, it's too ugly to describe.
SACD is like vinyl in that both discs are round.

SACD is a marginal improvement, sometimes, not all the time.

About smoke and mirrors, I don't know. But another gimmick to get a collector to buy their 15th copy of “Reiner Conducts Bartók,” yes.

Then there’s is vinyl. Yes. Thank God for that!
SACD is not just marginally better than redbook CD. If SACD is recorded properly and using DSD master. To my ear it is a huge step ahead redbook.