Hybrid SACD Question

There is no reason why SACD or DVD-A players, as a class, should have CD performance inferior to a plain CD player. Any variation is just the result of being a different model player.

However, I have serious reservations about Hybrid discs. In my engineering profession there is a saying "Don't be clever". Hybrid CD's are clever. I have heard others remark about difficulties they have experienced with Hybrids. I never use the "redbook" layer of my SACDs, but the only SACD that I ever had a problem with was a Hybrid. It would quit playing at the same spot every time. Visual inspection of the disc showed no evidence of a scratch or other damage.

'Does a hybrid SACD disc compromise the fidelity of the Redbook section?'

- Not that I have heard. If I remember correctly, the SACD information is on an entirely different layer of the disc than the 16 bit CD information. One of my best recordings is a SACD/CD hybrid.

'For that matter, do SACD players also compromise the performance of the Redbook section?'

- It all depends on what SACD player you end up with. As with CDPs all SACD players are not equal with any/all formats. You have to really be more specific and name some SACD players to analyze because of their many differences.

Before going with SACD, consider the following:

- Hi-rez formats account for less than 5% (I think it is closer to 3%) of total music sales.
- Vinyl is outselling all hi-rez formats put together as a whole
- Hi-rez formats will most probably be a niche market with the public moving to compressed formats (I hate admitting this, but if there is an elephant sitting in your house, at some time you gotta feed it peanuts).
- Even though hi-rez formats will most probably be a niche product, it could be with us a very long time. Sony only about a year ago quit making Betamax VCRs. Sony could very well support SACD for 20 years+.
- The only SACD reproduction I have heard that I thought was just insanely good was the Meitner DAC6 fed via the Meitnerized Phillips transport. Native DSD SACD recordings through this Meitner gear sounds closer to great analogue than any other digital I have heard, period.
- Most older recordings (say earlier than 1970) on SACD that I have heard sound about the same or worse than the 16bit versions. SACDs do not seem to be made with the kind of care say JVC XRCDs are made with.

KF