@irjones
You asked for my opinion, so my apologies for the delay in replying! I have not had time to write a short answer, so please forgive me for a long one.
I absolutely support buying a SACD player. Results are far better than any current streaming service I am aware of. SACD is alive and well. I counted over 6000 titles currently available from Presto, covering classical and jazz.
There are two or three big questions though.
The first question is: where should the digital to analogue conversion be done? I think there are good reasons today for this task to be done by a dedicated DAC, pre-amp, AV pre-processor or even active loudspeakers.
The second question is: what about support for other disk formats? When CD was released in 1982, it was absolutely state-of-the-art and pre-dated both the internet and mobile phones. SACD with its Direct Stream Digital underpinning came in 1999, so it is 25 years old. HDMI only appeared in 2004. Since then, much higher density disks have appeared, including 4K video disks and Blu-ray audio formats.
The third question is: how many channels of audio should you consider? SACDs usually have 5 channel audio, with or without an extra subwoofer channel. They also contain a ‘stereo’ section and most are also hybrid with a standard CD layer. This is nowhere near state-of-the-art. For example Dolby Atmos provides for up to 32 virtual sound sources which can independently move in 3-d space.
Is this relevant for music? I would answer yes. Many films are about music and have brilliant soundtracks. If you dig classical, some orchestras like LSO Live routinely deliver SACD and Blue-ray video, the Berlin Philharmonic with its digital concert hall has absolutely stunning recordings of classical concerts including video options. Opera and ballet without video provide less than half the picture (pun intended). Audio-only rock recordings can be equally impressive – try Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms in 5-channel SACD or Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon in Atmos. For state-of-the-art recordings go to Norwegian company 2L, website 2L.no, where their newer offerings contain 2 disks per pack, for example: a full SACD plus a Pure Audio Blu-ray. The later includes: 2.0 LPCM 192/24; 5.1 DTS HD-MA 192/24; 7.1.4 Auro-3D 96kHz; 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos 48kHz.
You can see where this is leading. My recommendation is to buy a universal disc player which can handle SACD and also 4k, Blu-ray, DVD and CD. There is a caveat though. Unlike the brilliant Oppo players, now only available second-hand, the DACs on universal Reavon and some Magnetar players do not natively handle DSD. The exception is the Magnetar UDP900.
The cheap Sony assumes you will output HMDI, and like the other players, provides for a separate audio-only HDMI connection. You won’t get an audiophile pride-of-ownership feeling from this transport, but I doubt that there is any discernible difference in the quality of HDMI audio output compared with the more expensive players, provided you use the recommended 40-Gbps Ethernet-enabled HDMI cable. This means you only need a disk transport, thereby saving a heap on analogue cabling. Lasers do not last forever, and transports are cheaper to replace than players.
My story (all prices approximate in Australian dollars): I have been reading the Gramophone magazine for about 7 decades, and take note of what they provide their reviewers. When the laser burnt out on my $3000 Marantz CD player, I bought a $3000 Marantz universal disk player which did great service until its laser suddenly gave out. By then, its analogue outputs were feeding a $6000 Marantz 8802A audio-visual pre-processor. I also had a $1000 Panasonic 4k player (no SACD ability) and a very good $2000 Sony CD player with balanced outputs. My main speakers were Quad electrostatics – $20,000 ESL-2905 – fed by a $8000 Krell KSA-80 plus an 18” Velodyne sub about $7000.
I had just got the Quads working after replacing panels, so the failure was annoying. I just had time to visit a couple of HiFi shops in Canberra. The first scoffed at why I wanted to play SACDs and pushed me towards records. I did not have the heart to say I had about 70 SACDs just in my motorhome (where I have the cheap $250 Sony transport). I left him demonstrating techno to an unsuspecting prospect.
The second shop listened to my tale of woe, and said they might have just the thing – the then brand new $3000 Reavon UBR-X200. I’d never even heard of Reavon, but they guaranteed it would play CDs as well or better than my Sony CD player, would play 4k video better than my Panasonic, and SACD better than my Marantz. I splashed the cash there and then, took it home and connected the analogue outputs, including 2-channel balanced. Set the options according to the manual. Put on the CD I always use for evaluating speakers – Decca’s 1969 ADD recording of Britten conducting his “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”. Apart from highlighting most orchestral instruments, the finale of this piece builds from the faintest triangle strokes to the most complex percussion cross-rhythms and awesome brass overlays.
Did the Reavon match sound-wise? Tick. Then West Side Story on 4k. Was it better than the Panasonic? Certainly started 10 times faster. Better picture. Tick. Now for SACD. I test with the second movement of Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto on Hyperion, where the soft piano notes can just hang in the air.
What I heard was full volume pink (or white?) noise. WTF. Checked all the cables, checked the manual. Eventually changed the settings to the opposite – not easy as the machine has to be rebooted. Success – at least I was hearing 5-channel sound. Did the piano notes hand in the air? No. WTF. Check the specifications of the Texas Instruments Burr-Brown DACs, one for the balanced CD output, the other for multi-channel output. Neither mentioned DSD. Email Reavon support. No, our multi-channel SACD is down-converted to CD quality. WTF. Wait a minute, what about 2-channel SACD through the balanced output? Sorry, that’s CD quality too.
The discontinued Oppo players use Sabre ESS DACs and as it happens, my Marantz AV pre-processor contains no less than eight 2-channel DACs from Japanese company Asahi Kasei Microdevices. These have almost identical specifications to the Sabre DACs. Setting up the Reavon to output over HDMI gave stunning results, and there’s no need to reboot.
Oddly, the Sony is fed 12V DC from a wall-wart, so it would be simple to power it from a battery, eliminating any desire for mains filtering. So to me, the choice boils down to the cheap $250 Sony transport, the $2000 Reavon UBR-X110 (no analogue) transport or the $5000 Magnetar UDP900 player if you really want on-board DACs. The latter two have a big steel plate in the base, so at least feel audiophile grade!
My head says Sony, my heart Reavon or Magnetar.
