patricia barber - diana krall - holly cole

@immatthewj , I think the SACD UN-Mastered version is class A+, the CD version is class A.

I think the SACD UN-Mastered version is class A+, the CD version is class A.

@tomcarr  , I'd put the SACD "Cafe Blue Unmastered" on the best-of-my-best list, for sure.  Have you heard the MFSL SACD of "Cafe Blue"  (not unmastered)?  I go back & forth on those two.  I think I am going to do the MFSL tonight.  (I've already got the CDs picked out in my mind for this evening.)

Did you know that Impex (sort of recently) released a gold reissue of "Cafe Blue" on red-book (not the original HDCD release that I believe you sere referring to)?  I hate to say it, but I haven't even taken the plastic wrapper off of that one yet.

On an aside, is HDCD a pretty noteworthy listening experience?

@immatthewj , I have a few HDCDs and all of them are class B. I don't have the standard CD versions to compare the to. 

With regards to Pink Floyd's DSOTM, there are some good YouTube vids comparing and rating SACD releases. 

@immatthewj , my experience has been there is more difference between redbook CDs than between the other formats, and it's all dependent on the recording/mixing/mastering chain that produced the album. To my ears, the other formats can make an album sound better, but it's definitely not a guarantee.

That's just my opinion, with my ears, my system, my setup, my room.

YMMV...enjoy the music :)

@tomcarr  , just some commentary which is off of OP's original topic, but I do remember reading about HDCD in Stereophile when it (HDCD) was a new thing, and I was intrigued.  I was always thinking I should have ordered my Muse DAC with the HDCD chip which was an option back then.  But I'd say HDCD must have fizzled?  By most standards, I have A LOT of CDs, & HDCD was never a factor that caused me NOT to buy one.  But with all these CDs, I can only off hand think of four that are HDCD and I probably own a few HDCDs that I am not thinking about, but not many.

But SACD, in my opinion, is a different animal.  A good SACD (and admittedly, not all of them are, for example I am most disappointed with the Japanese SACDs I have bought) truly does, to my ears, sound a cut above everything else I have heard in my system.  (But s I previously noted, I don't have vinyl.)  I'd almost go as far as saying that, although some are better than others, I have not (yet) bought any of the MFSL crop of SACDs that have disappointed me.