SACD - what gives?

Agree, Detlof, you're always welcome here as well, it's not that long a flight (although there are many things I prefer about your side of the pond). The Audio Logic DAC also changes the pcm signal to DSD, that's why I like it so much. At some point I'd like to hear the Meitner, as I think my modded unit might give it a run for the money.

Detlof, I do remember that some early DSD recordings I heard seemed a little reticent or rolled in the highs (a fault I initially attributed to my equipment but still there even after my latest upgrades which have improved the system's high frequency extension markedly), but the recent SACDs I mentioned in an earlier post have high frequency extension galore that is extremely natural and adds to the openness of the format's presentation. It's easy to hear Telarc's sonic evolution in their DSD recordings, perhaps that may be a part of it as well as the playback mechanisms.

I join Mgottlieb and Tbone and the few others in the minority here who are still enthused about SACD. I find little of the high frequency problems Detlof has found, although I would have to say my system cannot be as revealing in that area as his Soundlabs, and perhaps my mods from Jerry Ozment have something to do with it as well (the latest transformer mod is even more pronounced in its improvements to my SACD player than they were with my DAC, which surprised Mr. O as well as me). As far as new recordings taking advantage of the medium, there are more and more classical recordings coming out in pure DSD recordings that really show off the medium's advantages over CD--the Telarc Vaughn Williams Sea Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony Mahler cycle are absolutely spectacular examples, and there are more and more of them, although admittedly the analog remasters still are in the vast majority here (much as it was in the early days of CDs as well). I still prefer a good LP on my vinyl rig, especially where the master tape isn't the greatest and I don't want to hear everything on it, but the glimpses of what SACD can be I've been getting from the most recent DSD releases are closing the gap on analog significantly and widening the gap between SACD and CD. All that said, I still don't think the medium will be anything more than a niche market; hopefully we'll at least get some good recordings and performances to listen to from the specialty recording companies or perhaps the orchestras themselves (LSO Live, perhaps, as they record in DSD, to go with the SFO).

Eldartford is pretty much right, but part of the problem also is that some of those master tapes weren't so great to begin with, particularly with some labels who seemed to like to put mikes in musicians' laps or which had producers who wanted a "hot" mix to better catch your ear on a small transistor radio. In those cases, the warmth and lack of absolute ultimate resolution of vinyl are a Godsend, as they let you enjoy the music instead of hearing the recording.

Definitely try the Vaughn Williams Sea Symphony (I'd have preferred a different VW symphony, although this one is growing on me) with the Atlanta Symphony and chorus conducted by Spano, whose work I like a lot and who I wish was available for our orchestra here in New Jersey. It won a Grammy and actually deserved that award. Tough to reproduce the massed voices well on a home stereo system, and it was only when I had the transformer upgrade for my player that I realized just how good this recording is. Telarc's Mahler cycle with Zander is quite good too, although a friend of mine felt at least the Mahler 5 sounds too much like B&W speakers, which he doesn't like. The Debussy/Turina and Berloz discs with the Cincinnati Orchestra are also quite good, although it's a drier acoustic so not as spacious-sounding as the VW--if you compare these discs with the early-DSD Dukas disc with the same orchestra I think you'll hear a bit of a difference in the sonics, perhaps some changes made to the hall, perhaps the recording stream. I also think you might like the SFO's Mahler cycle, which is a bit closer miked than the Telarc recordings but has tremendous dynamic range, very transparent and natural sound and good performances, in my view.