My SACD Experience

WOW!

Before SACD Listening - Let me start by saying, if I had to place a grade on the audio portion of my system; on a scale from 1 - 10, I'd say its about a 7 (all things considered).

After SACD Listening - If I had to place a grade on the audio portion of my system; on a scale from 1 - 10, I'd say its a 10 (all things considered).

THE IMPROVED SOUND QUALITY FROM SACD IN MY SYSTEM IS TRULY UNBELIEVABLE.

No exaggeration, it sounds like I have an entirely different system now. The experience was like the first time I walked into a high end audio demo and all I could say was WOW! I bet this stuff cost allot of money!

After running through all modes, the music was more enjoyable in Upsampling

My demo started with:

Diana Krall - The Look of Love- I have several CD's from Diana but I'd never heard her sing like this before. The sound stage was more defined than ever before. I was able to close my eyes, get up and walk to the area where she was single...amazing. Symbols and drum beats were soft, tight, defined but never hash. I even heard the drummer drag the sticks across the snare; this was not intentional but preparation for the next motion....yes it was that detailed.

Andy Narell - The Passage - Music for Steel Orchestra(Hybrid Multichannel&Stereo)- Let me begin by saying, you don't have to be a lover of Caribbean/Calypso to appreciate this music. I've listened to Andy for some 20 years, been to the Caribbean and NEVER have I heard a steel drum appear so revealing. Michael Breker, Paquito O'Rivera, Hugh Masekela and band literally bring you onto the island and into a jazz club. Notes from the steel drum were as precise a sound reproduction could be. The Martin Logan's really revealed themselves and lived up to the reputation of electrostats.

...and last
Concord Jazz Sampler (Hybrid SACD)- although most of these tracks were miles above my listening experiences, they were breathless nonetheless. Artists that stood out for me were
- The Stan Getz Quartet (Blood Count)
- Poncho Sanchez w/Mongo Santamaria (Watermelon Man)
- The Charlie Byrd Trio w/Ken Peplowski (O Nosso Amor)
- Mel Torme, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass (Love Walked In)

Once again these tracks displayed details you would normally hear during a live performance. I'm not a fan of Big Band but this demo was amazing. Standing slightly to the right of the drummer was the bass player sliding his fingers up and down the axle, and the drummer using the very tip of the right stick to tap symbols while sashaying the steel brush across the snare. Without a doubt, the piano was center stage as it was the most dominant piece. Voices were deep and warm each time the single took a breath....oh so amazing. I had a big band playing in my theater.

Some may say I'm a day late and a dollar short but woohoo for SACD. Too bad more artist/producers and production companies aren't available on SACD. If there's anyone in this forum who hasn't listened to SACD, try it and I guarantee you'll be hooked. I am!

nice system EJ, are those martin logan speakers? how do you like them? you might also look on the telarc website for sacd's. I purchased the yellowjackets and spyra gyra from their headsup division descent stuff.

Thanks loopy. Yes they are ML. I wouldn't buy another speaker...I absolutely love the ML's. I'll take a look at Telarc. My HT is fully operational but a work in progress.

If you're a classical fan, there is quite a healthy catalogue on SACD, and more coming out all the time. Selection in popular music is spotty, though... I doubt we'll ever see SACD approach the mainstream, but it seems to have established a stable niche, with many smaller labels issuing excellent releases.

To my ears, the distance between a stereo SACD and the very, very best CD's is pretty thin. But the percentage of SACD's that are excellent is much higher, I can only think of a couple that are lackluster. Plus, you have the option for surround sound. Bowie and the Moody Blues, just to pick two at random, are glorious in surround.

Nice setup you've got, too!

I have to agree that SACD can sound very, very good. I guess I'm less convinced about the multi-channel aspect of it. I find it distracting unless it is subtle or right the other way to 'spin room just for fun'. I must say I had similar feelings about my return to vinyl though. Suddenly there are nuances and clarity that make the listening more real. Digital is wonderfully transparent and clean and SACD is probably the best example of that medium.
Just curious though, ej, why someone with such an awesome set of hardware wouldn't have tried SACD before? The format is quite old now and decent players have been available for a while at price points you can obviously afford. Caution is always laudable but I'd like to know your reasoning?

I can fully agree on the merits of multi Channel High Rez recordings on the 990. I've owned 3 different recievers who supported that format. None comes close to the 990.
Mark Knofners Shangra la( DVD-A) was always a favorite but lacked in over all sound qualities. the 990 puts it right there with the best recornings now.Trully an amazing feat.What I'm now finding out is, those less than great SACD's/ DVD-A when played on my previous units, sound rejuvinated on the 990.
I'll agree that on Multi Channel Hi Rez the 990's a 10. I do feel though that even so the DVD-V playback is different than my other recievers, I'm still just getting used to it.It sound different, better use of the surround channels for sure. Once I keep tweaking all the different set ups for Digital D and DTS I hope I can get the same performence for those playbacks as I do for 7.1.Hopefuly it's just a matter of time.

ej and other multi channel music lovers:
I'm curious as to where you are placing your surround speakers. At ear level? Or 2 to 3 feet above ear level, which my understanding is typical for movies. And what type of speakers-direct radiate, dipole, etc.

My side surrounds are direct radiating speakers set probably 3 feet above ear level, basically directly to the side (maybe a foot behind) the listening position. For movies, I think my Paradigm Studio ADP's (dipoles) are better side surrounds than my Axiom M3ti's (direct radiating), but the Studios are also a definite step up the speaker food chain. Unfortunately, mounting the ADP's anywhere on my side walls was not possible, so they moved to rear surround and the M3ti's took their place. For surround music, I think the direct radiating speakers may work out slightly better - it probably ends up real close to a wash in my case, although better direct radiating side surrounds might tip the scale in that direction.

I use towers , front and rear.The surrounds I had to elevate to 7'6 off floor since I didn't have the floor space to set them up without them being to close. Both surround are on there sides , angled down to listening position. For one I made a rack suspended from cieling . ( open beam cieling) The other I atached a shelf to wall with a angled rack for it to sit on.

I use direct radiated (Monitor Audio Bronze - $300) and they're installed roughly 3 feet above and behind the last row of seats in the theater. They sound ok and do what they're suppose to do. Frankly, I've listened to allot of speakers and I've never had my socks blown off by a pair of surrounds; no matter what the cost. That said, other than playing SACD or DVD-A, I normally listen to 2-channel music.

ej I to have recently caught the SACD DVD-A bug. My current favs are of course DSOTM Pink floyd and Come Away With Me, Norah Jones. Something in your post however caught my eye:
"After running through all modes, the music was more enjoyable in Upsampling". You are refering to CD?? I didn't think upsampling worked with SACD or DVD-A.

A few random thoughts - from someone who has been doing SACD for a couple of years.

For stereo listening I doubt very much that there is any audible difference between "normal" and "SACD" tracks - on the same disc.

For older recordings that has be re-released on SACD (like much of the Stone's catalogue), the audible difference between it and the older reelases is due to the remastering.

That same remastering into multi-channel is what has impressed me the most about the format. I believe that I can hear an audible improvement in the surround channels - but since I've never set up to do a proper comparison, it is perhaps attributable to wishful thinking on my part.

My bottom line is that I can spend hours and hours in my main theater listening to remastered multi-channel SACDs.