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Sacd/dvd-a, The Hype Is Dead, For Me At Least...

SACD, DVD-A....

I purchased a 2000.00 Universal and about 10 titles mostly SACD

SACD- Nice on surround, actual 5.1 disks, Stereo SACD well if you can get a Re-mastered CD or a Hybrid then its just as good on an awesome Redbook player as thru an SACD decoder... It is interesting.

DVD-A- Most of them ended up very UNDERWHELMING.... as stated earlier, and just a PAIN IN THE A$$...

Vinyl- I am only mentioning this as it seems viable for the discussion, as much garbage as it takes to turn on a DVD-A disc half the time I can put a LP on my VPI record cleaner, and Que it up just as well and it BLOWS away the DVD-A, and Most SACD's... I am not an Analog protector, as a matter of fact I bought My Analog RIG after ATTEMPTING SACD/DVD-A universal world.

CD- Bottom line Re-mastered Cd's and SACD Hybrids sound superior on a good old 16x BIT WADIA 4000.00 player than the SACD on the top of the line Marantz SACD player(this was borrowed)... This will catch much Heat I am sure, but drop the drama, invest Redbook, You can't buy anything on SACD or DVD-a in comparison to well recorded Redbook on a Very good redbook machine unless you are looking for the true benefit of surround SACD's. 2 channel I do not see the point.

Now let me back up, I am irritated only because, I am young, never had vinyl, and I started my High-end(audiophile) Life right in the Middle of SACD/DVD-A War about 2 years ago, so of course I had to have it... I will never go back to the headach of it now that someone was kind enough to show me the true sound of a Wadia player and a Vinyl rig in comparison to it.

I sold all Hi-Def Audio Software and Hardware and took all that money to the used market and Purchased the Wadia and Vinyl rig with YES an old fashoned Record cleaner to get the most out of it, and could not be Happier! Plus 90% of everything you could want is on Vinyl and CD, including New bands, many re-issues, etc...

Don't get me wrong, If you are into the titles that are in abundance on the SACD format GO FOR IT! It sounds VERY VERY good, but if you like maybe 10 CD's that exist on it, take the extra Money and purchase at least a Theta, Wadia, Maybe even Krell Machine(but I do not like the sound as much)... Okay don't take this as bashing, this is Truly my opinion on what I have heard and spent much time testing, And these were all done in home comparisons with Equal cost equipment for the most part for many months. And done in a very good room, good cables, speaker placement, power supply, and acoustic treated room that sounds excellent and does not lie....

I have nothing against the Hi-res music, hell I wanted it, I tried it as a newbee, and there is some definate impressive stuff, the MAIN thing I love about using Hi-res is When you can get your favorite guys in concert with DTS up on the HDTV in front of you, that so far is the only worthy format I have found worth the money and the cause, So I have a Seperate MOVIE / Slash / Concert DVD system that is a lot of fun and phoenominal results... But 2 Channel, get the best CD's or Hybrids, because the Hybrids do for some reason sound better than the originals probably due to they are Re-mastered very well, and a rewarding CD player will show this as much as the SACD counterpart if in a correctly setup system. And Vinyl, Ha well lets just say coming out of college recently my friends laugh until they here it cranked and can't believe it, especially if you have some good stuff to back it, but there is "DOG" recordings on ALL formats so don't think any sytem will Turn coal into a diamond in front of you.

But this all costs money No doubt, I only threw this little thread in here to maybe help some people save some cash... We can't have it all, but you can have it better if you know the direction to go in, I did not, but I found it, and it was full circle all the way back to the begining.. Don't let Hype rule your ears.
matrix
henryhk
648 posts
 
We as audiophiles tend to over-exaggerate our own interests' importance, i.e. sound quality, when they are far bigger concerns in the consumer elec durables market. I strongly beleive the whole SACD or DVD-A or even Blu Ray DVD etc as CD's heir apparent are misguided hope on our part. Most commentators, including those in the audiophile mags, completely misundertand the previous transition from LP to CD and thus make errors in judgement in discussing SACD or other hi rez formats. CD did NOT win the war because "perfect sound for ever" but it offered a new value added proposition: easy storage, easy use, flexibility (easy to stop, play, pause, access to tracks), and later on portabability among other things. The value proposition was one of convenience not sound quality per se and that regard it was revolutionary and epoch making.

However, SACD, DVD-A etc only offer an marginal value proposition: better sound quality which interests only a few, us. Yes most will be people ablew to tell the difference in well done demo of LP vs CD vs SACD or DVD-A, but they are not willing to endure the switching costs nor is that important to them...

As such, the more I think about it the more it is likely that the new digital formats will remain as a niche market, just like LPs. Not dead, but not thriving either.

The implication is that yes I still will continue along with SACD path, but my playback system cannot compromise on CD play quality in the process as a audiophile (who doesn't have LPs...and too late to start).
dennish
7 posts
 
HAVE YOU GOT A WIRE LOOSE ?.....SACD and DVD-A cd's open up a whole new level of listening BUT ...if the rest of your equiptment isn't up to par...well then you are not going to hear a difference....I'll bet cassette tapes and cd's sound alike to you!....The Marantz dvd-9500 that you dumped on is one of the finest sounding players in the market and HIGHLY recommended by people that own them....NOT borrow them.....you probably didn't have it hooked up correctly.....Upgrade the rest of your system and you WILL hear what all the hype is about.
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Guidocorona ever thought you could fight your corner passionately?
I've been relaxed the whole time but obviously you know better.
Send me a list of rules on how you think I should conduct myself MrKnowitall.
matrix OP
305 posts
 
I have to interject.... SACD is better, fine but agains a 5000.00 Ultimate redbook player??? It may even better it still in certain aspects, but lets go back to the ORIGINAL premise of my thread, I said there are some distinct advantages of SACD, but just in my opinion not to the MUSICAL sense extreme... So Untill you can put a TRUELY excellent dedicated Redbook machine with Recent CD' Quality recordings or HYBRID SACD, Not something from 1988, and A-B directly to the Same system you would be very surprised at the redbook development and comparison in sound... Hey ,SACD could still edge it out, especially in certain Genre of music, but in General, I find the Redbook an excellent format, Cheaper and way, Way, Way, sorry, WAY more Material and in turn Capability in the long run... But that is not to say the investment for those special recordings on SA' are not worth it... And Again I Gave up on the SACD journey only after Truly Hearing the Advantage of VINYL as everyone agree's in the end.. Yes it is a little more finicky, and truthfully I do not get bothered buy this, I listen maybe to one side of vinyl just for Kicks and really bringing back that natural sound and then Simply move on to very good Redbook and maybe get bored again and throw another side of vinyl in the mix... Its all about habits and enjoyment in the end, not the Superiority technically of each format... YES DVD-A could be super good for conveinence as you could fit from what I hear 10 albums on one disc with Excellent sonic results, its nice, but I don't mind getting up every 45 mins to play with the equipment.
matrix OP
305 posts
 
My guess is up to about the 1500.00 range SACD will get any player from redbook, you do have to advance quite a bit to grab the magic from a redbook Cd a little more.. So in the long run you could say Redbook actually cost more money to get right than SACD I can just about agree with that. A cheap CD player will not compete with SACD even in a Modest SACD player, so if you guys are basing on that then we are definatly comparing apples to oranges then.
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