CD vs SACD in STEREO

@yoyoyaya Just curious: some of the best CD I heard were very simple (almost?), 'direct to digital' with a minimum or no mixing, mastering, etc. Ideally a few mics, volume mix, A to D conversion and 'burnt' onto disc. In this context, I remember one guy who experimented with digital tape recorder early on (40 years ago). One recording he played was in the middle of the night (low background noise level) recording a tripping faucet in a small bathroom, and then someone opening the door quickly. Played back from the digital recorder over a stereo with a 'bed' size sub (built like a queen size bed), the dripping was eerie, but when the door opened, the pressure increase in the small bathroom was noticeably reproduced by the sub. 

SO, are there some (obscure), maybe 'audio test' CD for SACD that make use of very little 'mix mash'?

Found this. Am I on the right track? 

Top SACD Recommendations with Minimal Processing

The following SACDs are renowned for their "purist" approach, often using a single microphone array or recording live to a DSD master without any intermediate digital edits.

• Patricia Barber – Café Blue (Un-Mastered): This specific "Un-Mastered" version (Impex Records) is highly regarded because it removes the typical compression and EQ adjustments applied for radio. It offers a raw, in-the-room realism that highlights the dynamic capabilities of the DSD format.

• Jazz at the Pawnshop (30th Anniversary Edition): A classic audiophile staple recorded in 1976 using simple Nagra recorders and two microphones. The SACD layer preserves the natural room acoustics and "clink" of glasses, making it one of the most immersive live recordings ever made.

• Muddy Waters – Folk Singer (Analogue Productions): Often cited as the definitive "unplugged" blues recording. The SACD mastering is intentionally minimal to keep the session "breathing" rather than sounding scrubbed clean by digital noise reduction.

• David Elias – Acoustic Trio (DSD Sessions): A modern "Pure DSD" benchmark. This was recorded live to DSD64 with minimal miking and no edits or overdubs, specifically designed to demonstrate how DSD can capture the natural decay of acoustic instruments.

Someone said that redbooks are not 24 bit . I have a lot of them. SACD is one bit. Same guy says SACD was always about 5.1 surround. The original single layer ones from 1999 on mostly blue colored discs only play on dedicated SACD players and none were surround only 2 channel stereo like music has always been. The multi channel discs came in when they started to produce hybrid with 2 layers , top one is redbook and imbedded layer is SACD.

@yoyoyaya 

The state of computer technology at the time would not have made it feasible to mix it digitally, and it wasn't recorded to hard disc in the first place anyway

The computer technology was there, but the cost would have been prohibitively high if the mixing had to be computed in real time!

My understanding is that Brothers in Arms was recorded direct to a 24-track Sony digital tape recorder.  Being digital, it really does not matter what the medium is.  The first 'mainframe' I programmed had direct access storage devices (to use IBM's name for disks) which were actually based on 2-m continuous loops of 2" wide magnetic tape blown round by compressed air.

The record scandal was the other way round - disks were marketed as all-analogue but used digital files!

Anyway, happy new year

@zx10 

Someone said that redbooks are not 24 bit . I have a lot of them. SACD is one bit. Same guy says SACD was always about 5.1 surround. The original single layer ones from 1999 on mostly blue colored discs only play on dedicated SACD players and none were surround only 2 channel stereo like music has always been. The multi channel discs came in when they started to produce hybrid with 2 layers , top one is redbook and imbedded layer is SACD.

That would have been me.  I did not quote this earlier, but ChatGPT is absolutely right on this one:

A "24-bit Red Book CD" is a contradiction because Red Book CD (Standard CD) is strictly defined as 16-bit audio at a 44.1 kHz sample rate, offering about 96dB dynamic range, while 24-bit audio is a higher-resolution format (like Hi-Res Audio) with significantly more dynamic range (up to 144dB), used in streaming or downloads, not standard CDs. You can’t natively burn 24-bit files to a standard CD; they must be converted down to 16-bit/44.1kHz for playback on CD players, although professionals use 24-bit for better mixing headroom before creating the final 16-bit master

SACD is similarly defined by Philip’s Scarlet Book available under licence. 

ChatGPT says:

Key aspects of the Scarlet Book and multichannel audio:

• High-Resolution Audio: SACD is a high-resolution format, primarily using Direct Stream Digital (DSD) technology, offering superior dynamic range and frequency response compared to standard CDs.
• Multichannel Support: The format was designed to support both high-quality stereo and multichannel surround sound (e.g., 5.1 surround). Multichannel SACDs provide a more immersive listening experience with discrete back and center channels.
• Mandatory Stereo Layer: While early SACDs could be multichannel-only, revisions to the Scarlet Book in March 2004 made the inclusion of a 2-channel stereo content layer mandatory on every released SACD.

So SACD was always multi-channel from the get-go, the two-channel inclusion was mandated 5 years later.

Like Compact Discs, the format was designed around classical music, not pop/rock.  Classical music dominates SACD production.  North America in this regard is an outlier compared with Europe and Japan.