SACD problems

[kyle bermingham]

I have a Sony SACD player that is about seven years old. It seems to work well, but I only have a handful of SACDs that I play on it. I recently purchased The Who (Tommy) and The Doors (The Doors) in SACD that were described as hybrid.

The problem I am having is my player does not recognize their 5.1 format. When I put in Steely Dan, it reads "Hybrid" and also, in a different place "5.1"; it will play it in either 5- or 2-channel. My two recent purchases play in only 2-channel, and when the cd/sacd button is pressed, the screen reads "not hybrid."

Are SACD players kind of like Bluray in that only the recent models will read/decode the newest movies (or require an upgrade)? Is there possibly another issue?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

All of my components are hooked up to my Marantz AV 7701.

 

[Adam]

Hi, everyone. There's another version of this thread here that has been responded to, so please add comments in that thread. Thanks!

 

[TLS Guy]

I have a Sony SACD player that is about seven years old. It seems to work well, but I only have a handful of SACDs that I play on it. I recently purchased The Who (Tommy) and The Doors (The Doors) in SACD that were described as hybrid.

The problem I am having is my player does not recognize their 5.1 format. When I put in Steely Dan, it reads "Hybrid" and also, in a different place "5.1"; it will play it in either 5- or 2-channel. My two recent purchases play in only 2-channel, and when the cd/sacd button is pressed, the screen reads "not hybrid."

Are SACD players kind of like Bluray in that only the recent models will read/decode the newest movies (or require an upgrade)? Is there possibly another issue?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

All of my components are hooked up to my Marantz AV 7701.

First of all the Who is a 2 channel SACD, so 2 channel stereo is what you will get. The Doors is multichannel SACD is multichannel. I do not know if it has subwoofer channel. I suspect it does not as it was made form a 8 channel analog tape. The diagram on the back of the case will tell you which speakers sound. If you are using the multichannel in and outs, then you can only make the sub sound with an external analog crossover, ad that gets very complicated. If you player will convert to multichannel PCM via HDMI, then your receiver will make your sub sound.

SACD is misbegotten format. It takes a lot of work and thought to get all SACDs to play as the producers intended. Very, very few people on Earth can figure it out. It gets worse when the European and US multichannel formats are different. Only a minority of my SACDs have a sub channel.. So this means I have to switch to analog external crossovers when playing those. I have figured out how to properly play any CD out there, but it is a steep climb.

 

[Adam]

Or just ignore my redirect and post here...

 

[kyle bermingham]

Interesting. I did not know any SACDs were anything but 5.1 channel. On the back, Tommy reads "SACD Stereo/SACD Surround Sound/CD Audio; it looks like it was produced in America. However, The Doors was produced in Austria.

I believed I was purchasing two discs that were in 5-channel. My first batch of SCADs (Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, Meatloaf, and BOC) all worked without issue and sounded great in 5 channel. In the future, how can I determine what i will be getting? How did you find out Tommy is 2-channel and what is 2-channel super audio? (If these answers are easy to find, ignore; I will do some research.) Thanks.

My player does not have HDMI. I have it hooked up with optical wire for CDs and 5 analogs for SACD.


I suspect that may be part of the issue.

The model is SCD-CE595. I am also wondering if from where bought the CDs may be an issue (ImportCD.com). The only thing I can come up with is my Sony SACD player is too old to play the newest version of SACD, or the discs themselves are actually not Super Audio . . .

Next time I will only post in 1 thread.

 

[Adam]

(If you can't beat 'em... )

Mark is incorrect. Tommy has a 5.1 audio track on the SACD layer. Well, given the reviews on Amazon and the fact that your copy says that it has it. Because it has both a stereo SACD layer and 5.1 SACD layer, you may need to toggle between them.

There are stereo-only SACDs, though. The number of audio channels should be in the description of the product, so that's how you find out.

Where you bought the discs shouldn't matter. I'll take a look at the manual for your player and see if anything catches my attention.

EDIT: Mark might have checked out the Japanese version of the Tommy SACD, which is stereo.

 

[Adam]

Okay, Kyle. When you load either of those two new discs, does the "Hybrid" symbol light up on the front panel? I know that you said that you get an error when you try to toggle between CD and SACD layers, but I'm wondering if that symbol comes on. Thanks.

 

[kyle bermingham]

Adam, no it does not. It does for my Steely Dan and Pink Floyd, but when I try to toggle between SACD and CD, is when it reads "NOT HYBRID."

 

[Adam]

I just Googled your issue, and there are a number of people who have that player (and other Sony's) that run into trouble reading hybrid SACDs after some amount of time. Some folks say that the transport gets misaligned. However, they report that the player will no longer read any hybrids, but yours still reads all of your older ones, right?

So, seems likes it's not a universal problem with your player. Have you tried cleaning the lens, though?

 

[kyle bermingham]

I have not tried cleaning, but I will. Yes, they all show up as HYBRID. (I actually thought they were just SACD, but I was wrong.) If things are misaligned, I will be contemplating getting a new player anyway. I just don't want to junk it if the problem is the discs themselves. I appreciate you help and will see what cleaning will do. What is weird is it has no problem playing either in 2-channel, or recognizing the older SACDs for what they are.

 

[Adam]

I'm assuming that it's playing the CD layer, but...have you tried pressing the "MULTI/2CH" button to see if it will toggle over? Maybe it's already playing the SACD layer. Just wondering.

 

[kyle bermingham]

I was wrong about Tommy--it was also produced in Austria. I suspect it may be a combination of some players are having issues reading newer SACDs, and the commonality may be that they are all produced in Europe, which TLS Guy indicated was an issue with compatibility. I checked SA-Cd.net and others have had the same issue with Tommy.

 

[kyle bermingham]

Yes, I tried--I will not toggle over.

 

[TLS Guy]

(If you can't beat 'em... )

Mark is incorrect. Tommy has a 5.1 audio track on the SACD layer. Well, given the reviews on Amazon and the fact that your copy says that it has it. Because it has both a stereo SACD layer and 5.1 SACD layer, you may need to toggle between them.

There are stereo-only SACDs, though. The number of audio channels should be in the description of the product, so that's how you find out.

Where you bought the discs shouldn't matter. I'll take a look at the manual for your player and see if anything catches my attention.

EDIT: Mark might have checked out the Japanese version of the Tommy SACD, which is stereo.

According to a specialist SACD site it is two channel. That is an old recording. If there is a multichannel it will be bogus. I suspect as in a lot of older recordings it ha been remastered in a number of versions. There will a code of the channel configuration of what his disc is on the case. If that is not on it heaven knows what concoction it is. From the date of the original master two channel stereo would be the correct format and sound best.

I suspect the disc and not the player

 

[Adam]

According to a specialist SACD site it is two channel.

I wouldn't be surprised if the original master is two-channel, but there are two-channel and multi-channel versions available on SACD. If you check Amazon, you'll see a version that has both the two-channel and multi-channel tracks. The few reviews that I read seemed very favorable to the surround mix, but they also say how good the two-channel sounds.

 

[TLS Guy]

I wouldn't be surprised if the original master is two-channel, but there are two-channel and multi-channel versions available on SACD. If you check Amazon, you'll see a version that has both the two-channel and multi-channel tracks. The few reviews that I read seemed very favorable to the surround mix, but they also say how good the two-channel sounds.

I bet his SACD layer is two channel.

 

[Adam]

I bet his SACD layer is two channel.

But his packaging says that it has both the two-channel and multi-channel versions.

 

[kyle bermingham]

The forums on SA-CD.net indicate others are having problems with this sacd--but many are able to listen to it in 5-channel. It is a SACD that plays five channels. However, mine might be defective, or completely bogus, or it could be my player. It seems some can listen to it in 5-channel, but there are dropouts.

 

[j_garcia]

Don't ask the same thing in multiple forums.

 

[Adam]

Don't ask the same thing in multiple forums.

He knows. I tried to direct folks to just one thread but was unsuccessful.