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Re: The difference between SACD and really great redbook

Sordidman,

An interesting and thought-provoking thread (well, sub-thread). I was an early SACD convert and early this year bought the Ayre C-5xe. I've never LEFT vinyl.

Charlie Hansen makes it clear that one should think of the C-5xe as an extremely good RBCD player that also has 'universal' capabilities. I couldn't agree more. I participated in a shoot-out of a number of moderate to very high priced units a while back. It seemed to me that there was little question that the quality gap between RBCD and SACD narrowed as the overall quality (as defined by the participants) rose. We even had a few casual single blind tests, in which the listeners did not know whether they were listening to Redbook or SACD. Almost without exception, they picked out the SACD as sounding better. Admittedly, these sorts of tests were heavy on the classical content, which others have said - and with which I agree - tend to display the greatest disparity in perceived sound quality between the two formats.

I have also conducted an interesting test for myself and a couple of audio buddies. I have several of the Living Stereos on SACD, on CD (mastered around 1990, I believe), and on vinyl. There is no doubt whatever that vinyl is the superior format in most - but not all - respects. Typically, bass extension and definition are better on SACD, but that's about it. However, the SACDs are close...in some cases, DAMN close. Given the relative unavailability of quality vinyl copies, the SACDs of these performances should be considered a true treasure. The CDs are another matter entirely. Harry Pearson notwithstanding, and keeping in mind that I own a very limited sample of duplicated CD/'other', I find these discs to range from decent to stop-the-pain-I'm-going-to-run-screaming-from-the-room.

The vast majority of my listening is to either classical or bluegrass, with hefty shots of jazz and a tiny sprinkling of rock thrown in for good measure. The two main genres tend to have higher concentrations of quality SACDs (much newer material, in the case of the bluegrass), so I am perhaps a bit blinkered when it comes to concerns about availability and could not agree with "SACD sound becomes the after thought that it should be, given the lack of discs available." Regardless, thanks for the interesting discussion.

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