SACD & other Formats

ZD542, the $18 to $30 is on the hi-res download sites HDTracks and Acoustic Sounds Super HiRez. There were some titles at HDTracks on sale for $15.

Colekat, SACDs outside of classical are being released at the rate of one or two a month except for Japanese SHM SACDs which cost $40 to $90 apiece. The most desirable out of print SACDS go for very high prices. Only the ones no one wants are cheap. So I would say that SACD is not a vibrant, growing format. I enjoy SACDs and wish there were a lot of them that I wanted at good prices, but there just are not very many.

Musichead, I would recommend looking at Marantz or Esoteric for SACD players. I would also recommend looking at Amazon, Ebay, Acoustic Sounds and Music Direct to see if there are enough SACDs that you want available before buying an SACD player.

Many people feel that their cds sound better when ripped to a music server. So if you want to get something soon, find out if you're one of those people. If you are, get a music server and rip away and buy the high-res downloads you're willing to pay the price for.

If you get a server, I would make sure it handles both DSD and at least 24/192 PCM. Many servers don't do DSD, which is how SACDs are recorded. High-res downloads are available in DSD, 24/96 and 24/192. Those bit rates will probably go higher in the future, but I can't say exactly when. It's something you want to consider when buying a server or DAC though.

"03-07-15: Tomcy6
ZD542, the $18 to $30 is on the hi-res download sites HDTracks and Acoustic Sounds Super HiRez. There were some titles at HDTracks on sale for $15.

Colekat, SACDs outside of classical are being released at the rate of one or two a month except for Japanese SHM SACDs which cost $40 to $90 apiece. The most desirable out of print SACDS go for very high prices. Only the ones no one wants are cheap. So I would say that SACD is not a vibrant, growing format. I enjoy SACDs and wish there were a lot of them that I wanted at good prices, but there just are not very many."

That's foolish. People like this never learn. All they're going to do is drive people to download without paying.

To try SACD in my system can I just buy a cheaper SACD player and and use it as a transport to feed my DAC? Or is a full player required?

The trick about CD and SACD, or any comparison, is that you need to get the volume equal from either source in blind testing.

Wonder what we would say if we could do that?

Is the SACD signal louder? When I compare components I also do background listening. If it's musical it will draw you in if it's not it can be annoying or you don't even notice it. This is the subconscious response to it vs direct analysis of sound. This is where vinyl kills most digital systems.