sacd vs xrcd

Dandreescu, in answer to your question, I've now heard the Pines/Fountains of Rome, Sheherezade, and Heifietz Mendelssohn Violin Concerto XRCDs on my system, and will probably get some more, as they are very good, giving up some ultimate ease and bloom to the Classic Records reissues on vinyl but not much more. Easily some of the best CDs I've ever heard, far better than the major labels' efforts. But following them up with the new Linn Poulenc Organ Concerto SACD, the SACD was much better in the retrieval of ambience and analog-like ease of presentation, and easily more than a match dynamically (keep in mind that my Sony has been modified and is far better than the stock version; stock ones are decent, but really can be improved in the analog stages). And the SFO Mahler 6 is better in similar ways. Mgottlieb's post is interesting; if only I liked that title better. And I agree with him, the vinyl is better, that's why I've been holding off on buying many xrcds.

On my system (Sony SCD555ES TAP9000 Adcom 7400 Dynaudio Contour1.8II with Nordost Solarwind cabling) I find the SACD XRCD to be a push. I'll take either one. Old Jazz chestnuts sound great on both. Rock and Roll SACDs don't seem to sound to much better than Redbook CD's for the most part.

Haven't heard the new Stones SACD's yet.

I agree that the mastering is the key for the XRCDs, along with care to reduce jitter throughout the process.

BTW Music Direct has an XRCD sale on a whole pile of titles, buy 5 or more for $20 each. I plan on stocking up, plus grabbing some Stone's SACDs. There goes my slush fund for October.

Jpharris, are you sure that the whole XRCD catalog is on sale? On their site, was mentioned just a 'back catalog sale'[??] and there are only few listed options...I tried to order from the big list and I got no deals...usualy I avoid music direct as their prices are quite steep. Elusive disc seems to have better deals and I got many Prestige "20 bits k2 jvc" -not called xrcd but with identical sound for 15 bucks. Anybody knows good XRCDs offers?

Dandreescu,
The sale was in their demo sale flier, and it seems you have to call in to get the deal or enter code DSO2 in their comments section. Their web site is not the most robust. Yes it was back catalog, but they had about 100 listed . I have a few of the prestige 20bit k2 discs, great sound and cheaper.

I have picked up some interesting little doodads from the demo flyer in the past. Express machining heavyweight and tonearm lift both at about 30% off and $15 off the wallytractor for my rega tonearm. Pricy but they seem to be good folks.

Sorry bout any confusion.

This is a comparison of two different recordings in two different media of the same piece of music. I just finished listening to XRCD and SACD versions of Dvorak's New World: Reiner/Chicago and Szell/Cleveland. Both recordings are 50's vintage, but the similarity ends there. The SACD is technically the superior medium in every respect: image, spatiality and projection of 3D, soundstage, smoothness of high strings and loud passages, inner clarity, high frequency detail, air around instruments, timbral accuracy. However, there is a warmth, a fullness in the XRCD recording which the RCA engineers captured that the Sony guys couldn't touch. The Sony sounds clinical, while the RCA is musical, even though the XRCD upper strings are slightly harsh. SACD presents what is on the recording better than XRCD, but the original RCA recording is clearly superior. Also, the Chicago Symphony makes a convincing argument that it was, at that time, the finest assembly of musicians on the planet, and maybe of all time. Everything about their performance, phrasing, intonation, ensemble, is breathtakingly beautiful and balanced. Not only that, but Reiner is by far a better conductor than Szell. He points the rhythms and leads the orchestra at perfect speeds in every phrase of every movement. I have had probably twenty recordings of this work, going back thirty years, and this is simply the best in every respect. The XRCD version is much better than the regular CD, worth every penny, but if they ever issue the Reiner recording on SACD, it will probably drive me over the edge.