CD vs SACD in STEREO

I only listen to SACDs in two channel on a McIntosh MCD85 player with balanced cables connected to a McIntosh MA365 IA. Considering the investment I can say that some (only some) equal my best vinyl in sound quality. Others sound only slightly better than a CD.  

Considering the price of a MCD85, I could have purchased a lot of pristine vinyl; maybe even my whole collection. But I jumped into SACD wallet first and found limited content available with same buyer beware cautions as vinyl.

But I also use the different inputs on the MCD85 for streaming from multiple sources so I can leverage its excellent DAC. So it's not all a lost investment.

Ok, you got me listening to the Brothers In Arms SACD.  Cracking the volume up, blue metes bouncing. It does sound really awesome and realistic. Great sound stage and bass notes. Hope the neighbors enjoy the free concert. 

@boltapuresource 

Anyone know of a good placed to buy SACD’s other than Discogs or Music Direct?

If you are into classical or jazz, try Presto Music | All things musical… on your doorstep.  They have over 6000 new SACDs listed.  The low prices may knock your socks off.  They offer one of the best streaming services for classical as well.

@kraftwerkturbo 

If you think DSOTM is good on 5.1 channel SACD, you will be blown out of the water by the Dolby Atmos version on Pure Audi Blu-ray.

Dire Straits Brothers in Arms kick started CD sales in Europe, and nearly 50 years later it has been released as 5.1 channel SACD.  Don’t miss it!

@mark200mph

Spot on with your Marantz AV-preprocessor suggestion.  Either the 10 or the 20.  They are the logical successors to my Marantz AV-8802 which only has 13.2 output channels, all balanced.  The 8802 uses 8 superb AKM 2-channel dacs, but since the AKM factory fire, seem to have switched to ESS Sabre dacs.  The number of dacs is determined by the number of output channels divided by the channels per dac.

HDMI is the only logical choice for hooking up multi-channel transports, despite what PS Audio and McIntosh attempt!

Nothing could be simpler than hooking up HDMI.  Oh, I also have a Panasonic universal silver disk player, but Panasonic won’t pay SACD fees to their rival Sony, so no SACD capability there.

Meanwhile, time to spin some vinyl ...

@boltapuresource Need to sit down and take my time and put in the Brothers in Arms SACD (and run A-B with the various CD versions I have). I just have to be careful to not put the CD into one of my low grade CD players I still have hooked up in the stack. 

What PLAYS a ’Dolby Atmos Pure Audi Blu-ray? I have a Q7 Audi SUV, that should work, right (just joking). Need to google what Pure Audi Blu-ray is and if Oppo for example plays those. And requirements for Dolby Atmos; I only own 20 or so speakers, so may have to borrow a few more (recently saw some asinine 15.4 (meaning 19 speakers?) Marantz AV10 Reference mentioned for a ’good SACD receiver’. Yeah, not going to happen (neither the $8k nor the 19 speakers). 

Update: This one? https://pureaudiorecordings.com/produkt/pink-floyd-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-50th-anniversary-blu-ray/ 

or this https://shop.pinkfloyd.com/products/the-dark-side-of-the-moon-50th-anniversary-bluray?srsltid=AfmBOoqf9RiiQxBhbbAXjNLXtsXj280sxqMPnt2nphSNyRF5o5bnsdel

@kraftwerkturbo 

What PLAYS a ’Dolby Atmos Pure Audi Blu-ray?

Any Blu-ray player / transport will also handle Pure Audio.  Brilliant!

Now your pre-processor or receiver must also be able to decode Dolby Atmos unless you want to stick with multi-channel high resolution PCM.  Most likely it will have HDMI inputs because you need the audio bandwidth.

These transports do not have to be expensive - check out the super cheap Sony universal disk transport UBP-X700 for just a couple of hundred dollars.  It will play virtually any silver disk. As a transport, it will be just as good as the dacs it feeds.  It has two HDMI outputs, one reserved for audio only.

Obviously Sony and Marantz are volume manufacturers, and you get the benefit in terms of bang for the buck.

For what it is worth, I only have eight speakers connected plus a subwoofer.  I deliberately do not have a centre channel and never will.  It is not a problem for the pre-processor, for SACD it just adds the centre channel to main left and main right. 

Dolby Atmos just defines virtual point sources in 3d-space, the receiver is responsible for mapping them to whatever speakers you have connected.

Either of the 50th Anniversary websites will do for DSOTM.  The disk comes in the most confusing packaging ever, but includes 2-channel and 5.1 channel PCM as well as Dolby Atmos.  Your biggest problem should be getting the disk out of the pack!  Tip: slide the stuff behind the triangular window to the right ...