Your right about how much better SACD is than CD. Too bad greed killed the SACD.
1. Artists representative insisted on triple royalties for each hybrid disc -- one for the CD layer, one for the 2-channel SACD layer, and one for the multi-channel CD layer.
2. Record companies, in their endless and misguided attempt to prevent copying, wouldn't permit SACD with digital transfer, so it could only be played through analog cables, necessitating 6 cables for multichannel.
3. Sony jacked up the price on SACD, instead of offering all records as hybrids, complicated by the 3-royalty problem, and, further, by putting some discs out as hybrids and others separately as SACD-only or CD-only.
As for players, your probably good with the Sony. I have been using a Sony DVP-S9000ES for over 5 years and it does sound good. I think I'm switching to a Marantz
DV8300, as it plays multi-channel, CDR, and DVD-A, which the 9000ES does not. The 9000ES was a rare value when it came out. Built like a tank, you can now find it for less than $400, used, on audiogon. If it needs repair, Sony has a flat fee of $133 for factory repair, regardless of the problem.
DVD-A was a bigger failure, probably due to the format war with SACD and the dumb idea that you needed to have a video interface to access a menu in order to make the selection to play the disc.
TOO BAD! SACD is much better than CD, especially newer discs that were recorded with DSD (Direct Stream Digital).
(Footnote: Still, it's not vinyl!) |
SACD beats CD for me, too. I am fortunate that most of my music is available on SACD. It helps to like classical and a tiny smattering of jazz. It also helps that MOST SACD releases are simply mastered better - even the CD layer on SACD's sound better than the originals. Some companies are going back to the master tapes and re-encoding them into DSD. The difference between the original CD (released in the 1980's) and the 2007 remaster is usually pretty obvious.
All the best from sunny Australia, Keith. |
Esoteric DV-50's can be had for a reasonable amount - and they are fantastic players.... quite close to my old Linn Unidisk 1.1. |
A few years back was at my then local stereo store, since moved and bought out, and heard a Diana Krall Cd on their set up, then using the same set up, heard the same album in SACD, there was no going back to just plain CD thereafter.
Its a few years old but since vinyl is my main focus, it works for me, the Marantz SA-14, way outshines the 8260, which gets a lot of play.
Did a test between the two, my son owned the 8260. Put it in my system for 3 days to warm up, hooked into aux, put on the same CD, no contest, the SA-14, won hands down, he was quite disapointed.
Wasn't produced for long, don't know why, but works for me and should be around $1000 or so used. |
I'm going to sell my SACD's and player as my new CD player makes the CD layer sound better than my old player made the SACD's sound. The SACD player was a top of the line Sony but my new player sounds sooo much better and it's only CD...but 5 years of technology improvements makes a difference. If there were actually some titles coming out on SACD that I was interested in I might have stayed with it, but Classical is about all that is being released on the format anymore so what's the point if you don't listen to it? I only have 25 single layer SACD's and am in the process of copying them to CD (analog) with little loss of fidelity actually. The other 75 or so Hybrid SACD's will play fine on my CD player...and I have about 5,000 CD's so why buy a special player for 100 of them? See ya! |
My Sony DVP-S9000es died a few months ago. Before it died I would compare it to my trusty Resolution Audio CD-50. The RA playing redbook gave nothing up to the Sony and usually sounded better to me.
Ncarv, how does the Sony repair policy work. I'd love to get mine repaired for $133. Thanks. |
Jim,
Glad to hear you still like the DV-50!
Ken |
Timhu,
Google Sony to get their email address for service, then send them an email. They will send you an authorization via email along with shipping details.
My 9000ES has functioned flawlessly since being reurned from Sony. I've read warnings about not Sony not retuning original cartons, so I'd avoid sending it in that, but I have no actual experience, given that I had a parcel service pack the unit.
db |
Nodaker, Your on the path I want-a CD player that sounds as good as or better than a good SACD played on the NS 9100ES-very adaquate sound. Mind saying what CD player you updated to. After listening to CD through the NS9100ES I notice it's quite veiled through my Spectral/MIT system; such that an HDCD, "Reference Recordings 30th Anniversary Album", played through my modest Toshiba SD 9200 simply "blows it away" musically with clarity, dynamics and timbre that are leagues beyond the newer Sony. I'm surprised that the Sony is so inferior since the Toshiba is 6 years older-but, knowing Sony somewhat, is it possible they just don't put their best effort into 'plain old CD'. |
Timrhu, here's the link:
http://eservice.sony.com/webrma/web/index.do?ref=http%253A//www.sony.com/index.php
Dbphd is right -- Sony does not return the original carton, so, if you want to keep yours, send it in a generic box. Unfortunately, I lost mine to Sony. BUT - the player is working fine. It wasn't reading the SACD layer when I sent it in. |
Ncarv, that's very interesting about the artists wanting more money for a dual layer disc. I think they shd have been happy to get paid for each disc sold, regardless the format(s). |
Jim swanko. I find the Esoteric a bit much for my CD player budget-not saying that its not worth every penny;I think we in the high end listening corp are lucky to have such huge reputable,reliable companies creating masterpieces for our enjoyment. It moves all reproduction forward with business competition. However, I'd like to spend $1500 or less for(fleeting?) CD playback. |
Ncarv, isn't it also a little unbelievable how the DVD-A consortium ruined the sound benefits by the video screen requirement. |
Is it really DVD consortium's fault, or the implementation of player's navigation system? With my Denon universal I can just pop in DVD-A, hit play, and the music comes out, just like CD or SACD. I don't have a video monitor connected to Denon, and I don't feel a need.
When playing DVD movies, I noticed some players will go directly to featured movie bypassing the menu system, some other players will play through the previews but let you skip forward, some other players will not let you even fast forward the previews. I don't think it's the format's fault. It's the better engineering and UI design. Similarly, you can have DVD-A player that doesn't require a video connection all the times with proper UI. |
Very interesting to know. Perhaps it is just the implementation. Unfortunate really as I thought improved sound for all out of their DVD player would have encouraged even better recording quality. Denon gets so much good press I'm going to try and demo the 3910. |
