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What I want to see in the next gen of SACD players

I was listening to a few SACD's the other night that I have owned for a while. With few exceptions I prefer the sound of most multi-channel CD's in the SACD stereo mode. I decided to do further comparisons between 2-channel and multi-channel on 3 SACD's. Elton John's GYBR, The Allman Brothers Eat a Peach and The Who's Tommy. All three of these I have stated in previous posts sound better in stereo as opposed to multi-channel. Overall, I still feel that way but on further review I found I liked some songs on those CD's better in multi-channel than two channel. Say 2-3 songs on each CD that sounded great in multi-channel with all the others sounding better in 2-channel. This sets up my next point.
I would really like to see SACD players have the ability to "memorize" a preference for a particular disc. In other words, be able to program those one or two songs to automatically play in multi-channel with the others in 2-channel. Currently I have to stop the CD, push the button for multi-channel and then restart the CD over again.
Another function I'd like to see with SACD (and DVD video) is the "marriage" between these two formats. NOT in the DVDA envisionment where there is video content on a music "album" but rather motion pictures whose audio has been mastered/re-mastered in SACD. It seems the next generation of DVD players that will do hi-def (blu-ray for example) should use an SACD sountrack to go with the picture. This would "eliminate" the need for Dolby Digital or DTS I would think while providing better quality audio! And with Sony being the major backer of Blu-Ray you'd think this would be a no-brainer!
Anyway, this is what I want my next SACD player and/or DVD-SACD player to do! What else would you like to see in the next generation of SACD players?
treyhoss
treyhoss OP
287 posts
 
Maineiac, are you able to instantly toggle back and forth between multi-channel and stereo while the disc is still playing? If so, what SACD player do you have? Thanks!
tfkaudio
591 posts
 
I'd like to see some discs come out in 2.1 format (Stereo plus the LFE channel). As for players, I would like more that have a volume control so you can plug straight into an amp.

Tom
quadophile's avatar
quadophile
418 posts
 
Tom,

Just my opinion, is it not better to have straight two channel rather than 2 +LFE? Since having LFE will mean some sort of processing in the player. If someone has a subwoofer with high level input there is not really any processing done but the crossover simply takes care of it.Which ultimately will mean that the integrity of the sound will be intact.

Correct me if I am wrong in my assumption.

Anyone else has any comment on this?

Just for the record I use the Philips 963SACD/ DVD player and I have the REL STrata III connected directly to my poweramp and I think the sound is great and I have a feeling that it is seamlessly integrated (at least to my ears. My system is two channel only.
maineiac
649 posts
 
I have a Denon 2900, you can't jump between multi and stereo while the disc is playing. I am guessing that you can't do that because those are two different layers of the disc. There is a button on the front of the player that toggles between redbook, stereo SACD, and Multi-SACD but it stops playing the disc. You can set up a macro on your remote to do that from the OSD menu on your player to prevent actually getting off the couch.
tfkaudio
591 posts
 
Quadophile,
You are probably right. My system is multi-channel and my sub is passive. The sub output of my multi-channel pre-amp is connected to the amp that runs my subwoofer. When listening to a stereo SACD, there is no output to the sub. I don't know how I could utilize the sub for both stereo and multi-channel in my system without re-cabling every time.
That is why I thought 2.1 would be good. If you can tell me how I might utilize the sub in both stereo and multi-channel configurations, I'd definitely give it a try.

Tom
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