read the stereophile review of Pink Floyd dark side of the moon SACD/hybrid and JA's comments regarding the two different layers sonic comparisons
Quality of CD layer on hybrid SACD's
I was reading a review of the Dodson 218 DAC in an old issue of Enjoy the Music. The reveiwer was Wayne Donnelly. In a section of the review where he was comparing the performance of the Dodson to SACD on his SCD-777, he said, and I quote:
"One observation deserves commentary, however. The difficult-to-distinguish comparisons described here were between the original single-layer CDs and the SACD layers of the hybrids. The CD layers of the hybrids were inferior to both the SACD layers and the single-layer CDs. I have heard two theories about this. One is that the necessity of reading through the SACD layer disrupts the laser just enough to cause some degradation of the CD layer's sound. The other -- what we may call the conspiracy theory -- holds that in order to promote SACD, the CD layers of hybrid discs are deliberately being made to sound worse. I'm damned if I know; does anyone out there have an explanation?"
Has anyone else compared the CD layer of a hybrid with a redbook version of the same CD? Just curious......
"One observation deserves commentary, however. The difficult-to-distinguish comparisons described here were between the original single-layer CDs and the SACD layers of the hybrids. The CD layers of the hybrids were inferior to both the SACD layers and the single-layer CDs. I have heard two theories about this. One is that the necessity of reading through the SACD layer disrupts the laser just enough to cause some degradation of the CD layer's sound. The other -- what we may call the conspiracy theory -- holds that in order to promote SACD, the CD layers of hybrid discs are deliberately being made to sound worse. I'm damned if I know; does anyone out there have an explanation?"
Has anyone else compared the CD layer of a hybrid with a redbook version of the same CD? Just curious......