SACD, MSB/Upsampling, LPs Compared


Using a S9000ES, Audiophile Audition reviewed 10 SACDs and compared them to the identical CDs (using the S9000ES and MSB DAC with upsampling) and at times to LPs. SACD was the clear winner, even though the LPs were close. The article even noted that the CD layer on hybred discs sounded better than the CD.

http://www.audaud.com/audaud/FEB01/setFEB01.html
tommart
Thanks for pointing out the article and the link to it. I have had an SACD player for a few months now, and I would agree that the sound is extremely nice on good recordings. As with every medium, there is bad software out there as well, so SACD is not the silver bullet.

My fear with both SACD and MD is that both will go the way of the Betamax. Althougg Beta was better quality than VHS, it still lost the format wars. Same for MD, it seems to be loosing the format wat to MP3 players, despite the fact that the audio quality is better. Reason it is loosing? Cost and marketing, IMO.

Niels.
Drubin: J-10, in his review of SCD-1 id Stereophile also said that RedBook part of hybrid disc sound worse then sinle layer CD's. So you are not alone in this opinion. My 2 cents that in all identical recordings I compared available as single CD and Redbook part of hybrid, hybrid ALWAYS won and with big margin. But, I am not professional reviewer. The difference is huge and one had to be blind not to hear it. Unless, entire system is highly colored, of course - Simon
Interesting, I guess there is something to this after all. And if you ask me, "professional reviewer" don't mean squat. Most of those guys are bozos just like the rest of us, or worse. :-)