Sorry, goners, I forgot to mention my SACD is Sony 9000ES CD/SACD/DVD combo. I was comparing CD's through the CAL/3.1DAC to SACD's on the Sony.
I do not dispute that there are some crummy recordings getting made into SACD's, but when it's done properly with a good recording, the CD does not even come close to what you can hear from SACD. I am now using Siltech FTM-4 IC's from Sony to the preamp, and the sense of space and three dimensionality, the presence of some voices and instruments in the room is freaky, dudes. I have been lucky to not get any of the stinker SACD's yet, but I'm sure they're out there, lurking, waiting to snag and waste my money and time. From what I've heard so far, the best SACD's feature simple recording set-ups of voices and acoustic instruments with little electronic processing. Electronic stuff with lots of production nonsense and gimmicks does not come across as well. Unfortunately, some of the vintage recordings Sony has chosen to reissue were bad to begin with, and SACD will probably not do much for them, maybe even make them sound worse. I listened to Blonde on Blonde again tonight, which has never sounded good. Remastered on SACD, it sounds almost like real music. I eagerly await more triumphs like that, and I believe they will outnumber the failures.