SACD vs. Vinyl


I've not jumped on the SACD bandwagon. I listen mainly to vinyl via a Marantz TT15 Benz Wood SH MC combo. I've a Sony XA7ES cd player that has served me well over the years, but even it doesn't get enough play to justify moving up to a SACD player.

Since I've yet to convert to SACD over the past decade what have I missed? I should add that I've 8 or so SACD discs that I've played via my Sony BR player that didn't sound much different than standard digital, but granted that playback was observed through my HT only system.

Can someone whose a huge vinyl fan establish a case for SACD as well? I just can't imagine anything getting close to the dynamics one hears on vinyl, for sonically vinyl seems to blow digital playback out of the water.
128x128coltrane1
Coltrane1, IME with a highly modified CDP the grip on the room and effortlessness and scale of SACD approximates a high-end vinyl rig. However RBCD on the same modded player is not far behind, and easily surpasses SACD on the same player with stock circuitry. Dynamics of both RBCD & SACD on the modded CDP surpassed my TT until further strokes to TT. To echo Grateful, YMMV and wars between the formats become an arms race.
In my experience the dynamic range of most SACD's is superior to vinyl ...........
I believe that the problem is that people, perhaps even the original poster, get dynamic-range and "dynamics" confused. There is no doubt that digital formats of 16 bit depth or greater have more dynamic range than both vinyl and magnetic tape (reel to reel) playback. What is happening here is that due to psychoacoustics, people hear increased dynamics due to compression of the low-end (low frequencies) and high-frequencies. I listened to some very high price SET monoblocks at a local audiophile's home a couple of years ago and was amazed as to how much bass energy his 22 watt tube amps could produce; upon deeper thought it was clear that what was happening was low end compression and thus a thickening of the low frequencies that manifested itself into the aural sense of greater bass energy. This is not unlike the results that one gets from compressing the low end in the studio, or with a mastering set-up like the one that I have at home. At the time I quickly noticed and informed the system owner that although there was plenty of bass energy to be heard, that the bass sounded monotone. Do not mistake perceived dynamics for dynamic range as they are actually the antithesis of each other!
Carlos269, Seems to me that LF quality(as opposed to undifferentiated quantity of LF) is a result of issues particular to the formats and also the relatively high level of LF distortion found in typical audio systems. In my anecdotal experience, a very good SACD player delivers in all areas of LF control, authority, and extension. Vinyl offers a generally high level of LF delineation & tonality, but in the average set-up often lacks LF extension and the big dynamic envelope of SACD or even some of the better RBCD players. However, even high-performance RBCD players are nagged by slightly undifferentiated and monotonous LF. For me the escape from LF slurring is what leads back to the LP.
Dgarretson, We are in complete agreement regarding SACD and its ability to deliver low-frequency information, extension and low level details. As far as the "LF delineation & tonality" that leads you back to the LP is concerned, I would characterize it as enhanced low frequency "intelligibility" caused by increased background noise and an enriched harmonics spectrum caused by the mechanical nature of the tracking by the cartridge's needle on the vinyl.