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SACD... can you hear the difference?

I'm fairly new to SACD as it's only been a month since I purchased my first player that takes advantage of the format. Some say even on a good system which is set up properly that they can not notice a difference between SACD and standard CD.

For example my Wife is a huge James Taylor fan. A couple weeks ago I found 2 original master recording SACD disks from a company called Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs. Both James Taylor just as she has on CD. I dialed them in perfect and OH MAN! To me the difference was like night and day, but she couldn't tell the difference in sound quality.

So either I'm imagining things or I'm able to pick up on musical pitch and clarity much better than her. I'm sure of what I'm hearing with no doubt, but she thinks I'm crazy.

Can anyone here notice how much better SACD sounds on their system verses a standard CD.
pigchild
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dbphd
1,631 posts
 
I use an Ayre C-5xeMP, Oppo BDP-105, and Sony XA5400ES as disc players. It seems to me that the difference between CDs and SACDs depends to an extent on the player. Both CDs and DSD can be excellent when played on the Ayre; DSD is far superior to CDs when played on the Sony, and pretty much equivalent to DSD played on the Ayre. Only the Oppo does analog surround, and DTS on Blu-ray is superb. I prefer either the Ayre or Sony for CDs and SACDs, and strongly prefer the Ayre for CDs.

For stereo, all three go through a Parasound JC-2 that feeds a Proceed HPA 3 that drives a pair of KEF Reference 107/2s.

db
dfontalbert
12 posts
 
I would say that I can definitely hear a difference on 90% of the SACD's vs. CD's I own. Mastering does make a difference of course. To me, the difference is definition, i.e. seperation of the instruments (voice included). Audiophile SACD recordings such as "Songbirds" and "Seachange" by Beck will convince you. But... not to start a debate, but neither SACD or CD can touch vinyl on a "good" system. IMHO SACD and CD do not have the "air" and breadth of vinyl, though admittedly they are much more convenient.
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dbphd
1,631 posts
 
I think the best vinyl of small groups, e.g., the 45 RPM of the Brubeck Quartet's Time Out, sounds a bit better than DSD, but I'm not sure that extends to large orchestrations.

Thorens TD124, SME Series III arm, Ortofon SME 30H cartridge, Parasound JC-3 phono stage.

db
zd542
5,339 posts
 
The best sound quality with vinyl is when the recording and playback is all analog. If you have a modern digital recording on vinyl, it sounds like better digital, but not as good as an all analog recording. At least to me.
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in_shore
596 posts
 
SACD ,I don't care much for it .I'm fairly new to digital play back and currently use a EMM labs sacd player ,However my first digital player in a long while which I borrowed was a ModWright ultimate Sony 5400 which after listening to a well recorded CD with the EMM labs for 2 minutes the Sony was packed up and sent back the following day.
The few sacd disks that I do have came highly recommended as must own which I purchased only because I am familiar with and have on vinyl.
This push in the industry for DSD Hi Res down loads as a standard is qurious

I tend to value recording quality production over getting hung up on sample rate topologies , DSD , XYZ and what have you only effecting the listening experience.
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