SACD 2 channel vs Hybrid SACD

Irishdog: The first four are due out November 11--see the following link:

http://consumers.umusic.com/sacd/future.html

Listening to the master tapes with Frederick Fennell?? You're even older than I!! That must have been an experience, all right--were you a student at Rochester at the time?

Rprince: No, I was not at Eastman at the time, although I have known a number of musicians/teachers who were. I was teaching English at Penn Manor High School in Millersville, Pa., and was helping out with that year's district band festival. I got the job (What a job!!!) of being Fennell's host for the weekend. He mentioned that the had the masters of two forthcoming releases ("Diverse Winds", and "West Point") with him, and was looking for a place where he could review them and grant approval for pressing and release. I happened to know a recording engineer in Lancaster who had all the good stuff (Ampex 300, Goodmans corner horns, Scott monoblocks etc.). We listened with Dr. Fennell, and I was blown away by the sound! From that day on, I KNEW what was meant by "just like master tape"!

I'm confused!!! So what's new?!

I have an Arcam cdp that plays both redbook and HDCDs. Does anyone issue HDCDs anymore? Anyway, when I play a HDCD, a red light comes on.

I've picked up a couple of SACD titles (Dylan reissues) and they sound great on the Arcam. Here's the strange thing (to me, anyway):

When I play a Dylan SACD sampler (the one that comes with the "Masked and Anonymous" soundtrack), the red light on the Arcam comes on. When I play one of the reissued Dylan titles, the red light does not come on.

So, is my Arcam playing the CD layer or the SACD layer? If it's playing the CD layer, why does it sound so much better than the original redbook disc? I presume the CD layer itself has also been remastered... yes?

If it's the SACD layer, what is the difference between SACD and HDCD?

You are playing the remastered redbook.

Dave

Your Arcam cannot read the SACD layer of the discs you mention, but they are hybrid discs, with a CD layer as well as an SACD layer--you're hearing the CD layer. I think the big difference between the old and new redbook discs is that the new Dylan discs were remastered much better than before. I didn't know that the Dylan CD layer was HDCD encoded, but there are apparently a number of such discs that are HDCD but not labeled as such, so maybe this was one of them. HDCD is still alive (Reference Recordings is its biggest proponent, but other labels use it too), just hadn't heard of Sony using it till now!