Sony DVP 9000

Stehno, I believe you that the SCD-1 is a fantastic player. I was mostly referring to some of the other comments about high end CD-only players. I can understand that if you want digital as your main source,you will want a good player. The SCD-1 has a leg up (IMHO) on the other high dollar players because it has the SACD capability. I have posted before that I think that it is no contest between CD and SACD, with SACD the clear winner in sonics. The reason I bought my 9000 was because of the dual format capability. I would never have paid that much for a CD-only deck. I think digital has its place, and I have a digital player and digital music. The 9000 is my first CD player that wasn't in my car. I went 20 years without succumbing to the digital scourge in my house. And 10 years with no system at all. Finally, I thought that with SACD coming out, I would try to take another shot at audio. I knew that I would have to go digital, since that was the prevalent format and I has sold all my analog stuff years before. After 3 months of listening to digital, and really wanting to like it, I bought another analog system. I am now replenishing my record collection. I don't think that I could make a stronger statement than that. And please, the problem is not in my deck. The problem is in the CD format. Yes, CD is quiet. Yes, CD sounds dead, in comparison to analog. I don't even have the world's best analog system, but it's a good one, and there is no comparison. No amount of wishing, or tweaking, or cable rolling, or money spending will make up the difference. It is a simple case of GIGO(garbage in, garbage out). I can't change that, but I can recognize it. I made what I consider to be a rational decision to stop throwing good money after bad in a chase for the "Holy Grail" that doesn't exist, and re-direct my expenditures toward a medium that will fulfill my musical needs. Luckily for me, that decision came early, before I spent too much on digital software. Yes, analog has shortcomings, but they are primarily in the areas of record care and stylus wear. Not in the area of musicality, which is where the digital weaknesses lie. A dead quiet background is of no use to me if the music is also dead.

Twl
If on a scale of 1 to 10 anolog was a 10,what would CD rate?
SACD?
Tim

Twl, The SCD-1 has a leg up because it is an excllent CD player that happens to also sound excellent with SACD.

SACD is not the clear winner over redbook CD. That conclusion, as always, depends on the quality of the recording and the quality of the music. There's good and bad SACD software and there's good and bad CD software.

SACD has never bowled me over (it kinda sneaks up on me) to be the clear and distinct winner in a format war. Of course, the same goes for analog verses digital. There's good analog, and there's good digital.

Everything (the recording, the format, the music, the equipment, speaker placement, the electrical supply, the room acoustics, the listener's mental state at a given time) has to do with the quality of sound reproduction.

Just like you said, garbage in, garbage out. Cheap analog will sound like, well... cheap hi-fi analog and the same goes for digital.

-IMO

Stehno, I agree with your points. I was speaking more generally, than specifically to the points of disc recording quality. I have also noticed, like you have, that SACD is not a "bowl you over" improvement, but on good recordings has a roundness and 3 dimensional sound that CD lacks when playing the same recording A/B in both formats. I think this speaks to the ability of SACD to hold more info than CD. Again, I agree, that SACD does not make a poor recording better. You just hear more of the poor recording. A good test is Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells on hybrid CD/SACD. Very noticeable improvement on SACD. I don't hate CD. I only try to make the point that there are better things out there if done correctly.

Flemke, if I were to rate the formats on an absolute scale, I would put CD at 8, SACD at 9 and analog at 10. With 10 being the highest known source quality at this time. Of course, as Stehno points out above, the advantages are not always realized on poor recordings. A great CD may sound better than a poor vinyl record, but not because of format reasons. Strictly by apples and oranges comparison of great recording vs poor recording. As I said to Stehno, I am not a CD hater. I am just pointing out the relative differences and strengths in these source formats.