SACD - Just Starting Out

Well, try some of the later albums because I bought two of my favorite old Stones albums (December's Children and the More Hot Rocks double CD) and the sound is still as bad as the original CDs sound, in my opinion! Those early albums just were not recorded well, obviously, and even in SACD they sound like they're coming from the bottom of an aluminum garbage can. Just like when I first heard these records.

Beggars Banquet and Let it Bleed are the best sound according as far as many reviews go.I own both and they are excellent.Roger Waters is an excellent live show if you like Pink Floyd.Kind of Blue, Miles Davis.Enjoy!

We are in exactly the same boat I just picked up mine this weekend and asked someone the exact same question. I bought Let it bleed and Beggars Banquet for the Stones now classical Mozart Sinfonia concertante this is both 2 channel and 5.1 if you are so inclined my dealer loaned me a neat sacd from Al Demiola something about Sanfrancisco and surprisingly Dylan's Blonde on blonde for an older cd it was a neat recording. I just ordered J T's Hourglass and Patricia Barber Modern Cool. So here we go again a new format the one to end all formats " only kidding" the only rule of thumb I am using is I am trying not to replace stuff I already have the idea of comparing the two can make you nuts and in the end all you have are two recordings of the same stuff I am looking at this to expand my collection and hear some great recordings on my system for the first time then as time and money and technology permit I will augment some of my cd's with duplicates Good Luck

Patricia Barbers, modern cool and night club, on the mobile fidelity label are simply outstanding. Hilary Hahn plays stravinsky and brahms is also very good if you like those two composers. Jacintha, lush life, is also excellent if you like female jazz vocals. She is smoother more precise in her presentation than diana krall. I have had my SACD player (SCD-1) for about six months now and have enjoyed every minute of ownership. SACD is as close as it gets to analog without the hassles.

Chuck

The Al Dimeola SACD "Live in San Francisco" is excellent if you like acoustic jazz guitar, a very dynamic performance. If you like James Taylor and have multi-channel SACD, the imaging on a couple of tracks lets you know what SACD is all about. Carol King"s Tapestry is not that much better than the CD. I hope and pray this format does not die like my sony beta vcr. They need more artists recording in SACD.

If you like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Kosmo's Factory and Willie and the Poor boys have just been released by acoustic sounds. Remastering done by steve hoffman.

Absolutely get 'New Favorite' by Alison Krause if you like bluegrass. It's a bit more pop than pure bluegrass, but the music and the recording is excellent. This is one where you can't believe that the CD layer and the SACD layer were taken from the same master. The SACD is that good.

So much great classic Jazz:
Miles Davis- Kind of Blue
Duke Ellington- Blues in Orbit
Dave Brubeck- Time Out
Thelonious Monk- Straight, No Chaser
Charles Mingus- Ah Um
McCoy Tyner- New York Reunion
Weather Report- Heavy Weather
Paquito D'Rivera- Tropicana Nights

Rock
Rolling Stones- Hot Rocks and.......
CCR- Willie and the Poor Boys and Cosmos Factory

Vocals
Dave's True Story- Unauthorized
Willie Nelson- Stardust
Alison Krauss- Forget About It, New Favorite and Now That I've Found You
Patricia Barber- Modern Cool and Café Blue

Classical
Nature's Realm- Philadelphia Orchestra

According to The Absolute Sound Oct/Nov 2002; the near future is very exciting for SACD. EMI who had supported DVD-A has agreed to release SACD's of Bob Belden, Bobby McFerrin, Norah Jones, Sarah Brightman, Cassandra Wilson and more Coltrane. Universal Music has chosen to support SACD with future releases of Andtea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel, John Coltrane, Ella & Louis, Steely Dan, Allman Brothers, Muddy Waters and Diana Krall. Delos Int'l is planning two releases per month, and the list of small labels continues to grow. As TAS states "Weather SACD is really superior to well-recorded and reproduced DVD-A, Sony and Philips' carefully orchestrated introduction of SACD......." it appears the SACD has "earned it sufficient support to suggest that it will not go the way of Betamax."

I made the plunge big time, I have bought more than 30 SACDs my favorites are Showcase by OPUS 3, it is a sampler and it has 14 cuts all very well recorded. this is the best. In addition to what the other recomended, I would also recommend "let's get lost" by Terence Blanchard. He is playing with Dian Krall, Jane Monhet, Dianne Reevs, and Cassandra Wilson.

Thanks guys.

You've helped me sort out some rules and given me some great ideas.

1) I will not keep buying the same old stuff I've bought 3 or 4 times already

2) I will try out new artists/ideas

3) I will not pay more than $20 for a single SACD. (Maybe if everyone adopted that idea, it would force those greedy morons at the major record companies to introduce a little sanity into their pricing structure. Naaah. Oh well)

Thanks again.