Comparing SACD sound to High Res

Gammajo, The problem with SACDS is the low number of them available. Before investing in an SACD player I'd check out Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct and ebay to see if there are enough that you want available to make the cost of an SACD player worthwhile. If you like Classical music there are plenty available, but other genres, not too many. There are a lot of Japanese SHM SACDs being released, but they're very expensive.

You may be better off getting a server and dac that can accommodate all the hi-res formats. There are many more downloads available in multiple formats than SACDs.

You'll probably want streaming capabilities in your system too. It's not clear yet whether downloads or streaming will eventually be the format of choice. Downloads are pretty expensive and streaming is pretty cheap, at least for the time being. CD quality is the best quality available in streaming at present, I believe.

Last night I listened to a 2L recording from the same high bit master of the same music on Blue Ray compared to SACD. The recording engineer states that he prefers Blue Ray as even clearer, more detailed and dynamic, but some prefer the SACD as more rounded and beautiful. I heard the differences he spoke about in the two formats. On the advice here I have ordered a few SACD and Blue Ray to see which I prefer. Looking at the Oppo 105 and the Ayre and other used options, if I feel it is worthwhile. I do love classical as well as other styles, but I am of the impression that of my top 100 favorite CDs (particularly based on performance as opposed to sound quality) very few of them are in any higher res format.

OK, I have now listened to a half dozen well recorded Blue Ray and SACD through my $120 Sony DVD player plugged into my Ayon preamp, and compared this to the well recorded CD version from the same masters of the same pieces through the transport/DAC section of the same Ayon CD5s. All the high res was very clear, clean, and non harsh, yet seemed to be a touch more two dimensional (flatter) and lacking air and bloom and engagement compared to the CD versions through the Ayon. Is this characteristic of these high res formats, or could it be either the cheap Sony and ICs used to connect to the Ayon in my test? Debating whether to try a more sophisticated universal player given so far not hearing a great improvement with the high res.

The signal path disparity between the HD recordings via the
Sony and the CD recordings via the Ayon transport/DAC is
significant. In my comparisons between identical HD
recordings and their CD siblings via the same DAC/system
invariably favor the HD. Even using identical CD recordings
and their up-sampled HD siblings never favors the CD although
that difference is usually small or indeterminate.

Thanks Kr4. I just of another option for comparing tonight -duh! I will play the CD version as well as the High Res version all through the Sony into the Ayon preamp section, to take the different pathway out of the equation. If there is a significant difference between CD and High Res to my ears, then I will pursue a better universal player to bring up the level of play to more comparable to the Ayon Transport/DAC on CD.