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MULTI-CH SACD'S on 2CH SOUND STRANGE?

I HAVE A 2CH SACD PLAYER. SOMETIMES SACD's sound pretty good, but in several cases, usually with orchestral pieces, for some reason the melody carried by the string section gets drowned out by the horns/brass instruments. the effect is unnerving, like i am hearing the background or supportive musical lines as the dominant voice and the theme as the supportive or background voice. i have tried switching the phase, and even going to the redbook layer (if there is one). Naturally these are Hybrid Multichannel Discs that can be played on a conventional, 2CH SACD, and 6CH SACD. I have even updated the firmware on my SACD player (EMM Labs) but to no avail. Am i the only one who has this problem? Funny thing is, the redbook cd's i have always thought sounded great still sound that way, and small ensembles/chamber music on SACD sound amazing. but it would seem i am getting some of the other channels mixed up with the main-front-L&R channels.
WHAT is wrong with this picture? Thanks for your feedback.
french_fries
french_fries OP
815 posts
 
well here's a specific example to demonstrate my point-
HARMONIA MUNDI- BACH BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS 2 DISC SET.
HYBRID MULTICHANNEL SACD (compatible with all cd players).
i already had a great redbook copy on Archiv which sounds great, but
i wanted to see if i could get an even better recording. while i am not out by $30 it is still aggravating that i have still ANOTHER CD (along with a couple of dozen others) that sound weird instead of outstanding. Is this some kind of a hoax or what? i looked through the Archiv but this topic was discussed way back a number of years ago, before my CDP was even marketed.
i am going to call EMM on monday but i would suggest that anyone reading this be forwarned about which SACD's you might want to pass over this passover...
zd542
5,339 posts
 
Sorry about that. I guess I don't see bold print very well.
goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot
1,380 posts
 
I remember saying to a record store guy that I've known for years just how wonderful SACD's sound coming from my computer' hard drive. He totally agreed but then stated that SACD's sound great unless they're played from an SACD player. He went on to explain that every customer that he knows of who owns a SACD player has told him that SACD sounds bad in a SACD player but great in a standard CD player. It doesn't surprise me so much seeing that SACD playback is still relatively new and may require some intense research.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,899 posts
 
There was a review of sorts, actually more of a rumination, at another online site (PFO?) not too long ago and the reviewer couldn't get his SACD player to sound good despite buying 3 different units, each one more costly than the previous one.

He tried it one more time after finding out that the latest Marantz used an SACD capable DAC that recently came out (or was it just properly implemented?) and now his SACD collection sounds great.

Could it be that the advances made in DSD capable DACs are now being fitted to SACD players and are just overlooked as everyone is going the computer route?

All the best,
Nonoise
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,689 posts
 
This thread is strange.

First, the comment about SACDs not sounding as good on SACD
players is nonsense. There are good and bad players but CD
players simply cannot play SACDs at all. They can play only
the CD-compatible layer of hybrids (which is really just a
CD).

Second, DSD-capable DACs have been implemented in SACD
players for more than a decade so anyone who has an SACD
that forces PCM-conversion bought the wrong player!
However, that conversion will still provide high resolution
signals well more advanced than on CD.

Third, the Brandenburgs on the HM SACD are superb in MCH
SACD and pretty good in stereo (the latter only briefly
auditioned), so if you are having problems you need to see
if you player is really accessing the stereo SACD track or
if you are hearing (1) only the FR/FL channels of the
multichannel track or (2) an ad-hoc mix-down of the
multichannel track.
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