Tonight I did a little comparison between my Integra CD player and the borrowed Pioneer SACD/DVD player. First, I compared a burned to the standard track on the SACD on the Integra to see if there was any difference, I didn't notice anything. When I'd switch from one to another it seemed like the "new" one was slightly better until I switched again. Next I forced the SACD player into standard mode and noticed a huge difference in soundstage between the two. The Integra has a much fuller and wider soundstage compared to the Pioneer that was more centered. With standard CDs, the Integra sounded better to me. When I compared the Integra with the SACD track on the Pioneer the soundstage was about the same, BUT with the added quality of the SACD it now sounded like it was happening live and very front and center. I found it interesting that the same soundstage difference was there but went from a negative to a positive with added fidelity. As a note, when I compared the standard CD versions, I swapped disks in the players to confirm that the burned version wasn't audibly different.
I find it hard to compare at time because my audible memory is pretty weak, but some things simply can't be missed.