SHM Universal Japan SACDs

I listened to the Who's Next SHM-SACD today. I wish I could say I was impressed, but I'd swear my CD version sounds better. It's too bad; I had high hopes for the SACD. I compared it with the CD on two different players and even with the Classic Records LP. There was no clear winner in terms of sound quality alone. The CD might have been the most enjoyable. Considering price and convenience then, the CD is the best bet.
Perhaps it's the source material.
Hopefully Yellow Brick Road will be better (it was backordered at musicdirect). If not, I'm through with SACD.

Hi Lenny, hope the car is doing great and the speeding tickets are elusive :)

I just bought 6 more SHM titles today. I was so impressed with Bill Evan's Alone, I just had a try a few more. I'll report back next weekend. One title Getz/Gilberto I have on SACD (verve), vinyl, and now SHM. So can compare formats some...

Hi, yes to both. When you get the discs and have some time, let's get together and listen.

Hi Achilles,

Your assessment of the Cream - Wheels of Fire SHM-SACD is valid, although far from poor I prefer the DCC Gold CD of this one. Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is an excellent SHM-SACD; I have the DVD-Audio of this as well and I much prefer the SHM-SACD. Regarding the Steely Dan - Aja SHM-SACD and Gaucho SHM-SACD, these are outstanding reproductions of meticulously produced recordings. I highly recommend these discs!

The CD medium is the only alternative when considering "bang for the buck,” but if one possesses equipment that can realistically reproduce the sound of a live performance, an investment in high-end recordings can be a new frontier!

Give me your impression of Yellow Brick Road.

All the best,

MikeC

Thanks for the tips, MikeC. I look forward to listening to Yellow Brick Road. I'm not optimistic though. As I've mentioned in other posts, SACD just never seems to work well in my system. DVD-A works wonderfully. (You mentioned Gaucho, that's probably the best DVD-A I have.)
I wonder if it's possible, as it seems to me, that your system somehow favors SACD more than mine? I have a pretty good setup I think, but SACD usually disappoints. Maybe it's my player. The NAD M5 is a great CD player, but maybe its SACD circuit is subpar. The mitigating factor is I also have a Denon 2910 in the same system that displays the same bias. So a common factor is my cables and amp. But surely my cables and integrated amp don't favor one high rez format over another!
Which leads me to believe it's just my ears. Maybe they respond better to something in DVD-A than whatever they hear in SACD.
Anyway I'll give Yellow Brick a fair shot when it gets here.