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Sacd/dvd-a, The Hype Is Dead, For Me At Least...

SACD, DVD-A....

I purchased a 2000.00 Universal and about 10 titles mostly SACD

SACD- Nice on surround, actual 5.1 disks, Stereo SACD well if you can get a Re-mastered CD or a Hybrid then its just as good on an awesome Redbook player as thru an SACD decoder... It is interesting.

DVD-A- Most of them ended up very UNDERWHELMING.... as stated earlier, and just a PAIN IN THE A$$...

Vinyl- I am only mentioning this as it seems viable for the discussion, as much garbage as it takes to turn on a DVD-A disc half the time I can put a LP on my VPI record cleaner, and Que it up just as well and it BLOWS away the DVD-A, and Most SACD's... I am not an Analog protector, as a matter of fact I bought My Analog RIG after ATTEMPTING SACD/DVD-A universal world.

CD- Bottom line Re-mastered Cd's and SACD Hybrids sound superior on a good old 16x BIT WADIA 4000.00 player than the SACD on the top of the line Marantz SACD player(this was borrowed)... This will catch much Heat I am sure, but drop the drama, invest Redbook, You can't buy anything on SACD or DVD-a in comparison to well recorded Redbook on a Very good redbook machine unless you are looking for the true benefit of surround SACD's. 2 channel I do not see the point.

Now let me back up, I am irritated only because, I am young, never had vinyl, and I started my High-end(audiophile) Life right in the Middle of SACD/DVD-A War about 2 years ago, so of course I had to have it... I will never go back to the headach of it now that someone was kind enough to show me the true sound of a Wadia player and a Vinyl rig in comparison to it.

I sold all Hi-Def Audio Software and Hardware and took all that money to the used market and Purchased the Wadia and Vinyl rig with YES an old fashoned Record cleaner to get the most out of it, and could not be Happier! Plus 90% of everything you could want is on Vinyl and CD, including New bands, many re-issues, etc...

Don't get me wrong, If you are into the titles that are in abundance on the SACD format GO FOR IT! It sounds VERY VERY good, but if you like maybe 10 CD's that exist on it, take the extra Money and purchase at least a Theta, Wadia, Maybe even Krell Machine(but I do not like the sound as much)... Okay don't take this as bashing, this is Truly my opinion on what I have heard and spent much time testing, And these were all done in home comparisons with Equal cost equipment for the most part for many months. And done in a very good room, good cables, speaker placement, power supply, and acoustic treated room that sounds excellent and does not lie....

I have nothing against the Hi-res music, hell I wanted it, I tried it as a newbee, and there is some definate impressive stuff, the MAIN thing I love about using Hi-res is When you can get your favorite guys in concert with DTS up on the HDTV in front of you, that so far is the only worthy format I have found worth the money and the cause, So I have a Seperate MOVIE / Slash / Concert DVD system that is a lot of fun and phoenominal results... But 2 Channel, get the best CD's or Hybrids, because the Hybrids do for some reason sound better than the originals probably due to they are Re-mastered very well, and a rewarding CD player will show this as much as the SACD counterpart if in a correctly setup system. And Vinyl, Ha well lets just say coming out of college recently my friends laugh until they here it cranked and can't believe it, especially if you have some good stuff to back it, but there is "DOG" recordings on ALL formats so don't think any sytem will Turn coal into a diamond in front of you.

But this all costs money No doubt, I only threw this little thread in here to maybe help some people save some cash... We can't have it all, but you can have it better if you know the direction to go in, I did not, but I found it, and it was full circle all the way back to the begining.. Don't let Hype rule your ears.
matrix
henryhk
648 posts
 
1. It strikes me that there is an element of apples to oranges. One needs to compare players, regardless of whether its CD or CD/SACD, in a similiar price range. The flow of logic and commentary does not always seem to be the case.

2. As it took sometime to redbook to develop with also profileration of players, same thing with SACD. Interestingly as SACD titles slow down, new players are being introduced by various mfrs. Typically they start with their flagship and then provide more economic models. Ayre just introduced a universal two channel only no video player for example.

3. The claim, no I would say assumption that CD/SACD players are not as good on redbook as pure redbook players I find very misleading...it all depends on the player themselves. Compared to a redbook only player in a similiar price range, Meitner, Esoteric, Ayre, dcs (all SACD) or Arcam, Meridien (DVD_A) all I think have nothing to be ashamed of, and indeed in certain cases actually exceed their redbook counterparts on redbook.

4. The real question remains title availability, especially those recorded in DSD (which makes a huge difference) and u got me there. For me thus high rex is icing on the cake, a niche to pursue while NOT sacrficing redbook performance. I feel the Meitner gear provides superior redbook performance (compared to say Wadia) so there u go.
matrix OP
305 posts
 
Okay.... I agree, drop 10,000 and it better take a step above 5000.00 just not always the case. So be it, if you can get the 8000.00 universal to be as good on all formats and better than an 8000.00 dedicated Redbook even on redbook , more power to you and if we could have access to this equipment without haveing to buy it to test used, which is mostly the case unless you have dealers in every state that carries every one of these variations, and Meitner or whatever modified machines we will all never find the holy grail as it is called.. So be happy with what you have, if you can make a step towards a very high expense in experimentation do it. This is an audio site for opinion, but seems that points are taken in the wrong direction completly, and we are all Long winded inferior writters in the end trying to prove something, but never come to an answer. Good luck, live on, I have said my peace.. Thanks guys for making it competitive and hopefully with the 9000 posts of jargon someone can come up with an idea of what it all means in the end.
dolfan
104 posts
 
Matrix I think if you had tried a Modwright Sony, APL Denon or Exemplar Denon all of which are universal players and cost less than the $4000 Wadia you would have the best of both worlds you were looking for. It is too bad these were not your second choice after the Marantz you would have saved some dough and had state of the art redbook or SACD capability. Just my humble opinion.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
piece.

Try $3500.
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