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

Yashu,

I don't know what model Arcam you have, but I have an FMJ 33. Its not my main CD player but I do listen to it on occasion. I think its a great CD player and don't see myself selling it. Your description of your Arcam is pretty close to how I would describe mine. I can give you 2 recommendations. 1. Don't get rid of your Arcam until you actually have another CD player that you've had a chance to listen to for a while, and you know for sure that selling it is the right move. 2. I normally don't recommend expensive cables because I feel the money is almost always better spent on active components, but this is an exception. On my Arcam I use an Audioquest Cheetah IC, which is a solid core silver cable, and it makes a very big difference. I find that silver, most of the time, doesn't sound better than copper. On my FMJ 33, it sounds great and is definitely worth the cost. If you look at the model that replaced the Cheetah, its almost the exact same cable. If you find a good deal on a used Cheetah, I think you'll find it money well spent.

Play back the SACD "Wish You Were Here" on a 2 channel only SACD and there is missing information. Such as when the guitar intro starts in one channel, you can hardly hear that sound when played back.

The regular CD has the intro in the right channel.
On my OPPO 95 that guitar intro comes from the rear channels.

Thank you zd542,

My Arcam is the fmjcd23. I love it, but it's getting long in tooth, and I do want a new one. Will never sell it though......

Was interested in EMM, but after French fry comments are no longer interested. Have narrowed it to Cary 303t pro or Ayre c5xemp. Have also posted this under digital for comments. Have Dynaudio c1 speakers with a Roland integrated.

Think either of these will add to the attributes of the Arcam, with even more musicality?

Thanks.

I have an Ayre QB9 DAC and I use High Diamond 'Black Diamond' Interconnects. Anyway, if this Ayre Universal Disc player is of the same sonic quality as my DAC, then there is no reason to not buy the Ayre. However as stated previously but in not so many words, a bad recording is just a bad recording. If you get to test out the Ayre, will you tell us what your impressions are?

UPDATE******
OK, an interesting thing happens when i keep pressing the "M" button on the EMM player. one mode is rebook, next mode is 2CH SACD, and there is a THIRD MODE not mentioned in the manual- MULTI-CH SACD. WHICH WORKS- SORT OF.
you get the front 2 tracks of the multi-channel layer. the REDBOOK layer is quite a bit louder than either of the SACD choices. but i found that the player NOW sounds quite a bit better after having experimented by switching amongst the THREE choices. this has to be done while the disc is not moving of course, and SLOWLY to give the machine a chance to perform this function. so anyway, on 2CH SACD the discs i used to have issues with (indistinct sound) sound much better NOW. PRIOR TO THIS i refrained from monkeying around with the switches and just let the player make its selection automatically between redbook and 2ch sacd.
Customer service at EMM didn't know about the multi-ch selection either.