SACD & other Formats


I'm a vinyl guy and have invested lots of money in my TT rig and listen primarily to vinyl because it can sound so much better than digital.

I want to buy a CDP that will satisfy and understand a well mastered CD can sound good as well. I abandoned red book play back 10 yrs back because it was very frustrating finding satisfaction. Too many poorly mastered CDs that could not communicate the music. Have things improved? I know you can get better digital sound for less $$, but has the quality of mastering improved?

Looking through stores online I see SACDs are getting a lot of new mastering attention, gold CDs are available, XRCDs, etc. Is SACD the direction to look? are the current SACD issues of titles living up to the marketing hype/price? sonically? the key is in the software, availability and mastering.
128x128musichead

Showing 2 responses by kijanki

I have few CDs that sound incredible, showing that format limitations play small role compare to mixing. Compression is necessary for average Joe to listen on small size speakers without membranes buzzing, but in case of vinyl they know it is purchased by audiophiles and larger dynamics can be allowed. I'm just guessing, since last time I had TT in 80s.
I've read interview with Roger Sanders. He believes that red book CD format is perfect and vinyl is inherently flawed. He quotes Nyquist etc. He forgets that Nyquist theorem applies only to continuous waves and fails short with short samples especially of high frequency (like cymbals). SACD contains 4x more information and is collected with weak or no antialias filters making for better pulse response. It is difficult to compare two, since SACD players are often not the best redbook players.