SACD Demo


Went to Denver two weeks ago to hear an Accuphase demo system playing SACDs. I went wanting/expecting to be impressed. Etalon speakers, sound treated room, top end Accuphase amp, pre and SACD players. Lots of fellow audiophiles sitting around going owww ya. After moving from chair to chair and keeping my mouth shut and ears open for 30 minutes I said out loud the sound was indistict, bloted, and lacking highend detail. All of a sudden several of the other listeners declared they too had reservations. Actually I still don't believe what I heard. It's tough listening in an alien room through an entire system that your not familiar with so I will try again sometime at a different store/room etc. What concerns me is the number of golden ears that were ready to accept what I was hearing as the best they had ever heard. I have a system that most of you would rank as good but not great Sonic Frontiers SFD2M2/Line3/Krell KSA200s/Thiel 3.6s, and it was clearly better then what I heard. I really want the new technology to be better, I'm ready to buy but demo's can really dance on your head.
keis

Showing 1 response by seniorm62bf

I am 1st and foremost a vinyl fan but have quite a CD collection and and have tried to maximize that format. I drive Eidelon speakers with Pass Aleph 1.2 mono's with XLO limited edition interconnects and speaker cables and previously had a Theta Jade transport and Gen V DAC that I recently replaced with dCS Delius and Purcell which upsamples to 24/192. The sonics were superior to the Theta and quite good. On a whim and thanx to a great deal on Audiogon I purchased a Sony 777 Sacd player and in my particular configuration the SACD sounds fabulous, arguably as good as vinyl on a very good turntable, arm and cart. I must say I was surprised, pleasantly so. But even more amazing was the regular CD playback on the 777, as good or better then the dCS upsampled material. I actually like the 777 better to the extent I'm selling the Delius and Purcell. I went into this endeavor with no expectations, high or low and objectively find the Sony an extraordinary product, especially given the 777 has been reduced from $3500 to $2500. I have a Basis 2500 TT, Graham 2 arm and Miyabi cart with a Klyne phono pre, and the SACD is unequivocally right there, and the regular CD playback is as good or better than the $13000 upsampled dCS gear. Go figure. I'm cautiously optimistic about the SACD format, hoping it won't go the way of Beta, but at the price is definitely worth serious consideration considering the , in my opinion, astounding sonic benefits.