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SACD & other Formats

I'm a vinyl guy and have invested lots of money in my TT rig and listen primarily to vinyl because it can sound so much better than digital.

I want to buy a CDP that will satisfy and understand a well mastered CD can sound good as well. I abandoned red book play back 10 yrs back because it was very frustrating finding satisfaction. Too many poorly mastered CDs that could not communicate the music. Have things improved? I know you can get better digital sound for less $$, but has the quality of mastering improved?

Looking through stores online I see SACDs are getting a lot of new mastering attention, gold CDs are available, XRCDs, etc. Is SACD the direction to look? are the current SACD issues of titles living up to the marketing hype/price? sonically? the key is in the software, availability and mastering.
128x128musichead
highendbob
4 posts
 
SACD is the way to go IMHO. Buy the Oppo 105 and have Modwright instruments give it the full mod. The player becomes a giant killer in multiformat players. I have one as well as the 25k EMM labs XDS1 they are closer than they should be for the price difference.

Good luck
ptss
1,964 posts
 
High end Bob. Could you describe the improvements with your EMM XDS1.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"03-04-15: Highendbob
SACD is the way to go IMHO. Buy the Oppo 105 and have Modwright instruments give it the full mod. The player becomes a giant killer in multiformat players. I have one as well as the 25k EMM labs XDS1 they are closer than they should be for the price difference."

Why not just buy a player that was made right the first time, like an Ayre 5 series universal player, or something similar? You will also be wasting money on video features that will never be used.
musichead's avatar
musichead OP
94 posts
 
The SACD direction looks appealing because there seems to be a market push for the product.

I am running a Rega Osiris amp and the Rega Isis is very attractive given my amp and the balance of my equipment but it doesn't read SACDs.

I understand the Hybrid SACD have a SACD layer and a red book layer. Assuming both layers are from the same mastering could a CDP like the Isis reading the red book out perform or be as good as say a Modified Modwright reading the SACD level?

Do people buy SACDs for the red book layer? in theory it should contain the same mastering.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"I understand the Hybrid SACD have a SACD layer and a red book layer. Assuming both layers are from the same mastering could a CDP like the Isis reading the red book out perform or be as good as say a Modified Modwright reading the SACD level?"

I think the biggest mistake made with SACD, was to allow both single and dual layer discs. If Sony only allowed for hybrid discs, people would have been building their SACD collections even if they didn't know what SACD's were. The format may not have failed.

As far as quality goes, that's something you have to decide for yourself. I thought CD's sounded better on my Wadia than an SACD of the same recording, did on my Sony 9000ES. But its a judgement call that you have to make.

"Do people buy SACDs for the red book layer? in theory it should contain the same mastering."

Yes, but unfortunately most SACD's are single layer.
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