The really good ones are expensive and hard to find. I would be on the lookout for:
Alison Krauss and Union Station Live
John Hiatt Master of Disaster (skip track 1)
Dolly Parton Little Sparrow
Muddy Waters Folk Singer
Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall
All 3 BS &T's
Chicago Soundtrack
O'Brother Soundtrack
Marvin Gaye Collection
Sam Cooke
There are also some samplers that have a variety of genres that include jazz, pop, rock and even Hugh Masakela!
Some are better than others, some great, some debatable if better than the cd but overall pretty good quality. Good luck!
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A 2nd on the John Hiatt and Muddy Waters recommendations. New West Records doesn't charge an SACD premium on the Hiatt; I got it for five bucks during one of the label's sales! I love the Dylan w/ The Band Planet Waves album (both musically and sonically), and Mobile Fidelity offers it on a hybrid Stereo SACD. It's clearance priced right now at $19.99; get it while you can! One of the best sounding albums I've ever heard is Tea For The Tillerman by Cat Stevens. Analogue Productions offers it on a hybrid Stereo SACD for $30.00. Cat is a little too "girl's music" for my liking (I once played it while seducing a young woman ;-), but the sound is really incredible. Good for demoing hi-fi equipment if nothing else.
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The early Elton John releases sound really good. Think Tumbleweed Connection,Honky Chateau,Madman Across The Water,etc. |
Most of the Analogue Productions SACDs are excellent.
Yes, you will be able to hear a difference. I have A-B'ed between SACD discs and regular CDs. The SACD's sound similar to vinyl, while the regular CDs play as though the sound is muffled. With the SACD's, you will hear extended frequency response on both ends of the spectrum and details in the music which you have never heard before. |
Here is a source for SACD: https://store.acousticsounds.com/cat/4/SACD Since the Oppo also acts like a DAC, you can purchase DSD files from the same site and play through it. I think you will enjoy the music though SACDs. |
My experience, SADC, the real difference is that the noise floor is lower, music emanates from a black pool of silence.
Oscar Peterson,
Music for my Friends :Piano/Silence, a good example of that I found.
After a while, I decided, it's a bit un-natural, so I stopped buying them.
Then, I got back into good old noisy LP's, more enjoyable, and my best source: Reel to Reel is noisier than LP |
I find the difference between CDs and SACDs usually subtle, but it is a difference that I find enjoyable on many SACDs. I don’t think you’re going to be blown away and start buying lots of SACDs. If you’re not a collector type audiophile, you may just want to improve your streaming gear to take advantage of the many Hi-Res albums available on Qobuz. Tidal and its MQA resolution is controversial, as you probably know, and I’m not familiar with their sound quality. That said, an excellent SACD that I think is clearly better than its CD cousins and is still in print is Hendrix’s "Axis: Bold As Love." Review here:
https://www.analogplanet.com/content/best-digital-release-ever-analogue-productions-reissues-%E2%80%9Caxis-bold-love%E2%80%9D-sacd
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Diana Krall- Temptation, Look of Love, Love in Paris, etc.
James Taylor- Hourglass
Jennifer Warnes - any of them if available.
Jacintha- any of them |
Thanks guys. Some good stuff to look into.
Got a little sticker shock when I looked for Wish You Where Here SACD on eBay. None used. Lowest price new was about $55.
I certainly believe a SACD can sound better than a CD but am skeptical that it would sound 10 times better! ;-)
Just read the review above, and some others, of the Hendrix album. It is $45 but I might bite on that one.
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@n80,
Check to see if Acoustic Sounds still has them. The are the ones who produced the SACD. I think I paid around 40$ from them when they first came out. If you find it, be careful. There are 4 versions on the disk: the surround sound on SACD and the stereo version on SACD. Also you have the stereo CD version and the surround CD version all on 1 cd. Thats why it is a bit more expensive. |
SACDs have a much higher bit rate than Red Book CDs. They should sound better, all things being equal. |
Just tuning in. Thank you OP for the question and thanks for all the great suggestions. Any interest in SACD multichannel? |
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2nd
John Hiatt - Master of Disater.
My Reference - Jamie Cullum -Twentysomething.
Happy Listening!
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Oh, and Mobile Fidelity has issued a lot of The Band's albums on SACD. The 2nd album ("brown") sounds the best, and is many people's favorite musically. If you like that one, get the 1st (Music From Big Pink) next. |
@bdp24 , I have Music From Big Pink on fairly early release vinyl. I like it, but I'm almost embarrassed to say that it doesn't move me the way it moves the critics and the other great musicians it influenced.
I might look into the second album for SACD
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